Nine Accessible Web Articles
From: Stanford Weekend Reading - 08/14/2009


New Accessibility Features in Microsoft Internet Explorer 8

The IE team has been working towards making IE8 the most accessible browser
possible, and we wanted to detail some of the work we've done toward this
end. In this post I will provide you with some background on Accessibility,
I'll cover new UI features (Caret Browsing, Find on Page, Adaptive Zoom, High
DPI, etc) and also platform features (support for ARIA, support for
IAccessibleEx, and support for additional WinEvents) that improve the
Accessibility of the browser. 

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/12/10/new-accessibility-features-in-ie8.aspx

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University of Wisconsin Researchers Develop Tool to Prevent Seizures 

For some people, the quick flashes or bright colors of online advertisements
can set off seizures in a matter of seconds. Now researchers at the
University of Wisconsin at Madison have designed the Photosensitive Epilepsy
Analysis Tool-or PEAT-a free software tool that will help Web developers
design safer Web pages and advertisements. 

http://chronicle.com/blogPost/U-of-Wisconsin-Researchers/7606/ 

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Designing for Dyslexia

People with dyslexia frequently experience discomfort when reading because
they find it more difficult to 'decode' the words on the page, and can also
find it difficult to remain focused on a particular piece of text. Some
people may also have to concentrate more to remember what they have already
read, which means they will tire more easily. So how do we help? 

http://www.thepickards.co.uk/index.php/200512/designing-for-dyslexia

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Compliancy vs Usability

Many times great effort and resource is put into making sure that a site is
compliant with Section 508 or the WCAG requirements. All the ALT text is in
place, input fields have labels, headings and page titles are used, etc.
Everything is set and ready to go - at least from a technical standpoint.
What often gets overlooked is the usability of the site. No matter how
'compliant' your site is it can still be unusable or at least not as easy to
use as you may think. How so? 

http://theaccesspond.com/2009/08/11/compliancy-vs-usability/

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Deep Ties Bind Accessibility, Mobile Web

Shawn Lawton Henry, who leads worldwide education and outreach activities for
the Worldwide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative, says there's a
lesson for mobile developers in its Web Accessibility Guidelines. As mobility
continues its skyward trajectory, the consortium, also known as W3C, has
found the requirements for accessing mobile content deeply intertwined with
those to help people with disabilities use desktop or laptop computers - and
mobile devices. 

http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/features/articles/blog/deep-ties-bind-accessibility-mobile-web/?cs=32954 

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Creating Accessibility-aware Silverlight 2 Content

If you haven't heard, accessibility is one of the most important aspects of a
Web site experience. By using the accessibility features in Silverlight 2,
you can provide the best experience for all users. Building a rich Internet
experience can be a daunting task when you have to balance a cool visual
design with usability. 

http://www.code-magazine.com/article.aspx?quickid=0810062&page=1 

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Color and Accessibility

In the United States, about 7 percent of the male population - or about 10.5
million men - and 0.4 percent of the female population either cannot
distinguish red from green, or see red and green differently (Howard Hughes
Medical Institute, 2006). And, more than 10% of the male population is
color-blind in all over the world. There are various forms of
color-blindness: red-green, green-brown, and so on. Of course, we cannot
possibly avoid all of the colors that could be misinterpreted by all visitors
with color vision impairment... 

http://www.merttol.com/articles/web/color-and-accessibility.html 

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SEO and Accessibility Overlap

The skills we had developed in the field of web accessibility were, it
seemed, directly applicable to many of the search engine optimization (SEO)
challenges that face search specialists every day. 

http://www.communis.co.uk/blog/2009-08-06-seo-and-accessibility-overlap

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Benefits of Closed Captioning

Did you know that closed captioning benefits people other than the deaf and
hard of hearing community? For hearing children learning how to read and
people learning English as a second language closed captioning is very
valuable. It has even been proven to help viewers retain information! 

http://deafness.about.com/od/captioning/a/captionbenefits.htm  

Link:
Stanford Captioning - now providing video transcription and captioning
services to Stanford's community
http://captioning.stanford.edu