'Tis the season to be jolly (fa la la la la e.tc.) So, Christmas is once more approaching and we are feeling all warm and generous and yummy here at Access-by Design. To mark the festive season we are giving away a FREE access audit - normally worth £50! We don't mean ... Read More...

Today, Clive the Director of Access-by Design, was pleased to be able to address the business community in Chichester at the 'Business Breakfast' at Chichester College of Technology on the subject of 'Getting more business from your Website - Website problems and how to resolve them.' The presentation covered the four ... Read More...

The following is a transcript from the Access - by design presentation 'Getting more business from your Website - Website problems and how to resolve them.' Please follow this link to get the actual Powerpoint Presentation Getting more business from your Website. Website problems and how to resolve them. Presentation created by ... Read More...

Access-by Design are still recruiting for people of all ages who consider themselves disabled, use assistive technologies or have particular needs when browsing the internet (such as very long sighted, dyslexia or even advanced technophobia (!) ) to join our team of website testers. This is a paid job! We are looking ... Read More...

The most constant (and infuriating mistake) for many users who rely on mark-up for accessibility is the common practice by designers of using multiple h2 elements. In this article the <> around the mark up has been removed so it does not get applied to the text. Although, with more designers ... Read More...

Many of our clients have found that with expansion and staff reorganisations they need additional training sessions beyond those given after the website is first launched. We offer training for clients, designers and bespoke accessible design packages for ... Read More...

We are thrilled to be able to offer a variety of web accessibility information seminars and workshops. These are  a bespoke service to fit the individual needs of  businesses, charities, colleges, universities and  larger institutions and public bodies. Seminars and workshops are led by Clive and Jess Loseby, who  are confident ... Read More...

We are please to announce that now we have a growing team of testers with various disabilities to help us, we are able to relaunch our web auditing service. Web accessibility is no longer just for 'disabled websites'.  If you have a website, you MUST try and adhere to basic web ... Read More...

The following article was found via Twitter - please read in full at: http://www.nakedlaw.com/2009/06/human-right-to-internet-access-.html Yesterday I went to the CUTEC conference here in Cambridge which provided a forum for encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. One of the major themes this year was around social responsibility and empowering individuals - big aims ... Read More...

In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) does not refer explicitly to website accessibility, but makes it illegal to discriminate against people with disabilities. The DDA applies to anyone providing a service; public, private and voluntary sectors. The Code of Practice: Rights of Access - Goods, Facilities, Services ... Read More...

[singlepic id=161 w=320 h=240 float=left]Links. Once people start running their own websites we teach them how to keep them as accessible as possible. However, you our clients,  are not web designers and don't worry if you do forget the odd thing! However, we have identified one of the most common problems that ... Read More...

Some are – and its getting better but most designers would admit that it would be fair to say that this is often more luck than judgement. [singlepic id=169 w=320 h=240 float=left]Making a website is accessible is HARD WORK.  You have to leave behind all the 'old' ( old ... Read More...

[singlepic id=170 w=320 h=240 float=none]We think these elements are top of the list as to why our websites are different to all the others out there. Firstly, you run your website yourself. If you can send an email you or anyone in your company can do it without any special software ... Read More...

[singlepic id=172 w=320 h=240 float=none] Well, firstly because we are sure that you are a nice person and that if YOU had a disability, YOU would like to still use your website. Secondly if you are in business, in the UK  alone, the "disabled pound" is worth 80 BILLION  GBP and ... Read More...

[singlepic id=171 w=320 h=240 float=none]There is widespread confusion as to whom and what the words “web accessibility” refer. Most businesses (understandably) expect their web designers to know about web accessibility. However, as the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) review of 1,000 websites found, 81% failed to meet even the most basic ... Read More...

[singlepic id=161 w=320 h=240 float=none]“For me being online is everything. It's my hi-fi, my source of income, my supermarket, my telephone. It's my way in.” Lynn Holdsworth, screen reader user, Web Developer and Programmer from: webaccess@rnib.org.uk

AbilityNet report finds fault with top sites Charlotte Baxter, IT Week, 24 Jan 2008 [singlepic id=200 w=320 h=240 float=none] Disabled users are facing a "technological lock-out" when it comes to accessing social networking sites, a new report by web consultancy AbilityNet has revealed. Even the most popular social networks, including Facebook, MySpace, and ... Read More...

Some of the documents available on our websites for download are formatted as Adobe Acrobat PDF documents for simple web distribution. We are aware that previously these have had  accessibility problems, however many of these issues have now been rectified by Adobe. Please follow the link below to read about ... Read More...

The following steps have been taken to improve and promote website accessibility: XHTML and CSS These pages are created using XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD and pages are validated using the W3C’s XHTML and CSS validators. Markup Markup is written to conform to the XHTML 1.0 Strict DTD Whist we rely on third ... Read More...

If the style sheet options included on our websites do not suit your visual needs you can turn the styles off and reset your own. This option is recommended for any user with specific visual or manual requirements. Most mobile phone and PDA browsers can be also be set ... Read More...

We use a number of accessible features with our graphics All images are routinely used with "alt" tags Some of our sites use randomly generated imagery. Obviously these cannot be described as they are random but are also marked up with an alt tag of "randomly generated imagery" to indicate ... Read More...

We try to design all our sites with a high level of contrast and avoid ‘problematic’ colour combinations. However, occasionally a client will request ‘difficult’ colours (perhaps to tie in with a long-term logo or feature) and so we try and provide alternative by the use of alternative CSS ... Read More...

The pages on our websites are also designed to use php and CSS styles to control layout and colour. Text sizes can also be quickly changed by using this function which is supplied as standard in all of our designs. We do not use absolute text sizes in pixels or ... Read More...

We recommend that you view the site using Internet Explorer 7+ or FireFox 2.0+ All our sites have active Site Maps that allow quick keyboard-only navigation (or ‘tabbing’) You may be surprised to learn that we currently do not use Access keys (keyboard shortcuts). Our research suggests that ... Read More...

We are finding it a constant struggle to find, write and/or adapt existing e-commerce solutions that are fully accessible. We are committed to finding new and innovative ways to combat the problem of predominantly inaccessible e-commerce solutions. We have recently made some significant breakthroughs in accessible shopping carts but it ... Read More...

We feel there is frequently a serious misunderstanding of the word ‘accessibility’. It means both ‘multi platform' (i.e. it works on various computer systems) and ‘disability-friendly’. Complying with one type of accessibility does NOT necessarily mean meeting the criteria of the second We are extremely unhappy that many website companies, design houses ... Read More...

Website Accessibility primarily means that pages and features on a website are accessible to all visitors with a disability. People with a disability might use speech readers, keyboard only (no mouse) navigation (try using the tab key to see what this is like!), have difficulties with large blocks of text, ... Read More...

Access-by Design is committed to providing accessible websites to our clients- not surprising as our lead web-designer IS disabled! The following guide has been provided by Access- by Design to provide you with a range of help and support in accessing this site, other sites created by Access-by ... Read More...

Website Accessibility Audits For information of how accessibility legislation and web standards affect your website, please see our accessible web design information page. We audit websites for all sizes of companies. Our reports contain no Disability Discrimination Act scaremongering. We highlight potential problems and offer solutions and alternatives to improve access on ... Read More...

We build websites that are accessible to everyone, from any machine, anywhere because we understand access needs - our chief designer is disabled! All our websites meet the WC3 web standards and all our pages aim for Priority 3 (AAA) accessibility; surpassing world standards (WC3) and access guidelines, the ... Read More...

Full article: http://www.phoenixrealm.com/the-growing-importance-of-accessible-websites/ published by Gary in Accessibility Do you think you don’t need to create accessible websites simply because you don’t cater to “that” kind of audience? Well, you definitely need a reality check. I’m not going to present statistics on how many physically challenged people access the Internet because ... Read More...

How to commission an accessible website This article: http://www.out-law.com/page-6713 OUT-LAW News, 09/03/2006 The British Standards Institution published new guidance yesterday for those who commission or maintain websites, to ensure that any site they make or maintain is user-friendly for disabled people. It could help with legal compliance. PAS 78: Guide to good practice ... Read More...