What exactly do we mean by ‘accessibility’? It’s not easy to define, since the term can cover many areas and aspects of a resource or product. But when it comes to web sites, “web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the web”. (definition courtesy of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative). Simple as that. So then why is it so difficult, seemingly, for developers to create a web site that can be accessed by everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not?
To be fair, it’s not always the developer’s fault. There are times when their hands are tied, even though they may have the best intentions at heart, by budget constraints – or by a customer who is not willing to pay a little extra money for features that will make their website more accessible. There is also the lack of tools in their working environment which would enable them to fully test a web site (the cost of these tools is not inconsiderable). The aforementioned problems and hindrances can all add up to the development of a product that does not meet accessibility standards. Continue reading Web accessibility for online publishing sites
What exactly do we mean by ‘accessibility’? It’s not easy to define, since the term can cover many areas and aspects of a resource or product. But when it comes to web sites, “web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the web”. (definition courtesy of the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative). Simple as that. So then why is it so difficult, seemingly, for developers to create a web site that can be accessed by everyone, regardless of whether they have a disability or not?
To be fair, it’s not always the developer’s fault. There are times when their hands are tied, even though they may have the best intentions at heart, by budget constraints – or by a customer who is not willing to pay a little extra money for features that will make their website more accessible. There is also the lack of tools in their working environment which would enable them to fully test a web site (the cost of these tools is not inconsiderable). The aforementioned problems and hindrances can all add up to the development of a product that does not meet accessibility standards. Continue reading 
Federated authentication systems such as Shibboleth and OpenID exist to solve identity management problems but they both suffer from similar usability problems when users login and logout.
Here are my top seven attributes of effective project management: the things we PMs ought to be doing to keep everything on track …
