Wayne State Web Communications Blog » accessibility http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog We build user centered Web sites from the ground up. Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:08:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 en hourly 1 November 12, 2009: World Usability Day – Designing for a Sustainable World http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/09/24/november-12-2009-world-usability-day-designing-for-a-sustainable-world/ http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/09/24/november-12-2009-world-usability-day-designing-for-a-sustainable-world/#comments Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:28:02 +0000 Nick DeNardis http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/?p=1554 The 5th World Usability Day and the 7th Annual Usability and Accessibility Conference at Michigan State University, will be held on Thursday, November 12, 2009, at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center on the MSU campus.

Designing for a Sustainable World

Designing for a Sustainable World focuses on how our products and services impact our world. The ‘Cradle to Cradle’ approach is to start the design with the premise of using materials that can fully enter a new life cycle by either going back to nature or going back into the design process as a new product. This holistic approach to sustainable design shows how usability can apply to all of what we do and build.

Please “Save the Date” for this program that will be relevant to researchers, professionals, and students alike. Explore advanced and timely topics of usability, accessibility and human-technology interface design in the sustainable global knowledge economy.

Tours of the MSU Usability & Accessibility Center are included in the day’s agenda.

For information on how to get involved, please visit http://www.usability.msu.edu/conf/2009/.

]]> http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/09/24/november-12-2009-world-usability-day-designing-for-a-sustainable-world/feed/ 0 Getting Around Campus On The Go http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/03/16/getting-around-campus-on-the-go/ http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/03/16/getting-around-campus-on-the-go/#comments Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:00:01 +0000 Nick DeNardis http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/?p=890 iPhone MapWe have begun adding functionality to our Campus Map, which is currently developed in Flash, to be accessible to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

The iPhone cannot view the Flash site so if you wanted to look at or follow the map you were out of luck. With a little iPhone detection we redirect users to: http://campusmap.wayne.edu/iphone/

Instead of getting a flash version of the map we converted it to an SVG image and embedded it. This allows for the fully viewable main campus map to be viewable and scalable without getting blurry. Although it is not the best solution it is a step in the right direction.

What’s Next?

As we continue to support the iPhone and iPod Touch features we will soon release a fully searchable map that includes all our campuses. It will also be able to link to the built in Google Map to pinpoint its location.

As C&IT expands wireless availability on campus the easier it is to get oriented with campus while you are walking through it.

Your Opinion

What would you like to see on the campus map? Are we missing something or is something not working like you expected? Let us know, we would love to hear about it. Just comment on this post.

]]> http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/03/16/getting-around-campus-on-the-go/feed/ 0 Advocating for Web Standards and Accessibility http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/03/08/advocating-for-web-standards-and-accessibility/ http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/03/08/advocating-for-web-standards-and-accessibility/#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2009 13:44:12 +0000 Nick DeNardis http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/?p=881 Earlier this week I gave a presentation about Web Standards and Accessibility to the ASIS&T Wayne State Student Chapter.

I gave the presentation as an overview of the importance of web standards and accessibility. Not only as the right thing to do but also how they can benefit any web project. Not only is there a cost savings to having and using standards but there is also a search engine benefit and overall your users will be happier.

Unfortunately the real world execution is not so cut and dry. Scope, time constraints and lack of communication effect the end result of both standards and accessibility. The key is communication, letting everyone know what the standards are and if there is an addition. Making standards and accessibility a habit and baking it into every piece of work you do will make it that much easier to execute on a consistent basis.

Presentation Video

Presentation Slides

View more presentations from Nick Denardis. (tags: web standards)

Resources

Last but not least

!important is not your friend, please stop using it.

]]> http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/03/08/advocating-for-web-standards-and-accessibility/feed/ 1 Eateries now available on Campus Map http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/02/21/eateries-now-available-on-campus-map/ http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/02/21/eateries-now-available-on-campus-map/#comments Sun, 22 Feb 2009 00:37:22 +0000 Shaun Pezeshki http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/?p=862 Looking for a place to eat on campus?

Well search no further, check out Wayne State Campus Map for food venues around campus!

If you are not familiar with our campus map, click here

eateries

]]> http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2009/02/21/eateries-now-available-on-campus-map/feed/ 1 WCAG 2.0 is official, now what? http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2008/12/16/wcag-20-is-official-now-what/ http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/2008/12/16/wcag-20-is-official-now-what/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:00:08 +0000 Nick DeNardis http://wcs.wayne.edu/blog/?p=631 Ten years after WCAG 1.0 was published WCAG 2.0 is official, so what do we do now? Its time to look inside and start updating.

WCAG 2.0 applies broadly to more advanced technologies; is easier to use and understand; and is more precisely testable with automated testing and human evaluation.

W3C WAI recommends using WCAG 2.0, instead of WCAG 1.0.

Most Web sites that conform to WCAG 1.0 will not require significant changes in order to conform to WCAG 2.0, and some may not need any changes. To help you move to WCAG 2.0, WAI is developing:

WCAG 2.0 has 12 guidelines that are organized under 4 principles: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust. For each guideline, there are testable success criteria, which are at three levels: A, AA, and AAA.

For a short summary of the WCAG 2.0 guidelines, see WCAG 2.0 at a Glance.

The best place to start working with WCAG 2.0 is the How to Meet WCAG 2.0 (Quick Reference).

Remember we are here to help so any questions about your site being accessible let us know and we can give you a complete evaluation.

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