Abrahams Accessibility on IT-Analysis.com

Lotus Symphony 3 beta 2 available for testing

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100

IBM Lotus recently announced the availability of the latest beta for Lotus Symphony and I have been trying it out for the last week. I have been very impressed by the new functions available. For... [Read More...]

Technology Bill of Rights for the Blind Act of 2010

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 07:00:00 +0100

In January 2010, a new act was submitted to Congress in the United States of America, which, if it becomes law, may have a profound affect on accessibility of technology devices. The brief... [Read More...]

Accessibility 2010 start this week

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0100

2010 is going to be another big year for accessibility. Firstly because, in 2006, European ministers agreed that all public websites in Europe should be accessible by 2010: not all of them are yet so... [Read More...]

Accessibility Conferences

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0100

There is a constant stream of accessibility and disability related conferences it seems to me to be useful to have a blog listing these. [Read More...]

Nominations open for Doing IT Differently Award 2009

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 07:00:00 +0100

RADAR's People of the Year Awards includes the category 'Doing IT Differently' for people who have Innovated IT for people with disabilities. [Read More...]

Testing websites with the WebAnywhere screen-reader

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Understanding the problems faced by screen-reader users is difficult for web designers. WebAnywhere is a free screen-reader that will help in the design and testing of websites. [Read More...]

A hole in section 508

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Section 508 does not ask a vital question, are the outputs from the product accessible. For tools that are used to create output such as web content or documents this is more important than the accessibility of the tool. [Read More...]

Accessibility on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalguar Square London

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 07:00:00 +0100

The view from the fourth plinth will be described using speech technology. Showing the benefits for any computer users includes those with disabilities. [Read More...]

Apple push accessibility to the front

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Apple's latest announcement of Mac OS and iPhone 3Gs promote the new accessibility features. It is good to see Apple take accessibility really seriously. [Read More...]

Major step forward in Accessible PDF Standards

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 07:00:00 +0100

PDF/UA (Universal Accessibility) project is now an ISO Approved Work Item, the first step to becoming a full standard. [Read More...]

Accessibility has its rewards

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Graeme Whippy, a leading member of the accessibility community, gets public recognition. [Read More...]

Wheelchairs and accessible ICT

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:00:00 +0100

Wheelchairs are not an ICT accessibility barrier but maybe we can learn indirectly from wheelchair accessibility and the physical world. [Read More...]

Latest iPod Shuffle smallest and accessible

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:00:00 +0100

The latest Shuffle is too small for a screen so it uses voice output. As a by-product it is accessible to people with vision impairments. [Read More...]

WCAG 2.0 Rap and Easy YouTube

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:00:00 +0100

Need a short accessibility video before a coffee break? Here is an answer for you. [Read More...]

How to tag documents with multiple languages and scripts.

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:00:00 +0100

This article contains English, Hebrew and Arabic. It needs to be tagged with precision. [Read More...]

Web Content Accessiblity Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 published December 2008

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 are a significant improvement over 1.0. They are easier to understand and provide much more help in implementation. [Read More...]

A key new accessible websites standard is ready for review

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 07:00:00 +0100

The draft of a new standard on accessible websites is available for public comment. Based on PAS 78 it is a really useful document but it does need commenting upon so that it can be turned into an excellent and essential document. [Read More...]

Major new accessibility features in Firefox 3.0.4

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Firefox now has an accessibility menu which includes a host of tools that will improve the accessibility of Firefox by people with disabilities [Read More...]

Google Book Library for the print-disabled

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:00:00 +0100

An agreement between Google and the publishing industry will make more books available to people who find it difficult to access standard printed books. [Read More...]

The latest Assistive Technology: Skype

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0100

A Skype video link enables people with little sight to be more independent. [Read More...]

Using scripting to improve accessibility

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 07:00:00 +0100

The first of a series of conferences on Scripting Enabled was held in London recently. Lots of useful information and ideas were explored. [Read More...]

iPod Nano accessible and more usable

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 07:00:00 +0100

The latest Apple 4G iPod Nano is accessible and answers all my previous criticisms. The benefits extend to a much wider audience, leaving me with one criticism and one suggestion. [Read More...]

Non-accessible websites will be costly

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0100

A class action has just cost the US retailer Target 6 million dollars plus expenses. Making the website accessible would have been a much more profitable option. [Read More...]

Accessible website navigation pt3

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Being able to navigate around a web site easily is important to all users but for people with disabilities getting to the required information with the minimum number of clicks can be critical to the usability. Part 3. [Read More...]

Accessible website navigation pt2

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Accessible website navigation pt1

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 07:00:00 +0100

When is an accessible PDF accessible?

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Documents produced by the standards bodies are not as accessible as they should be. Looking at one particular document suggests changes that should be made. [Read More...]

Standards must be accessible

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Documents produced by standards bodies such as BSi, in the UK, and CEN in Europe are normally not accessible. Can there be any excuse and when will this change? [Read More...]

European e-Inclusion Awards 2008 - please enter

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0100

The European Union is becoming much more active in the e-inclusion arena. This latest award announcement could give valuable public exposure to organisations that take disability and accessibility seriously. [Read More...]

Accessibility and process and control - a response to a blog

Peter Abrahams, Bloor Research — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0100

Your business should have an accessibility policy and it needs IT processes and controls to ensure the policy is supported and adhered to by projects of all sizes and flavours. [Read More...]