Weblogs: Web Accessibility

Voting machines: victory in Florida

• newspress.com: Audio vote ruling has wide impact
• Sun-Sentinel: Disabled win lawsuit requiring audio system on voting machines
• Miami Herald: ADA ruling for voters is far-reaching
• LJWorld: Accessibility issues may close some Kansas voting sites

  The law [Help America Vote Act] promised states $3.9 billion over four years to replace outdated voting machines, including those inaccessible to the disabled, and improve voter education and poll-worker training.

Websites

• Register: Disabled users struggle to access FTSE 100 sites

  It found that almost 90 per cent of sites failed basic levels of accessibility making it difficult - or even impossible - for some people to access information on these sites.

• Internet Magazine: Top businesses ignore accessibility

  Nomensa found that 79 per cent of the websites did not provide alternate text for images, 56 per cent did not have useful alternate text, and 77 per cent did not allow the font size to be rescaled.

• ElectricNews.net: US launches senior-friendly health Web site

  The US government has launched a specially designed Web site that provides health information for older people. NIHSeniorHealth.gov is an initiative of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that aims to encourage senior citizens to use the Internet as a resource for health-related information. The site was designed using techniques developed by the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine to create a site that is easy for older adults to read, understand and navigate. The site features large print and short segments of information in a variety of formats, including video and audio, as well as consistent page layouts and navigational prompts.

• pressI: James Hay relaunches website (James Hay is an Abbey National intermediary)

  As well as the immediate benefits in terms of better navigation and ease of use, a better online presence will help sustain James Hay's market leading position and enhance our association with the Abbey Wrap proposition

• out-law: Web sites of leading UK companies fail on accessibility

  There is consensus that the best practice is to comply at least with a minimum accessibility level defined by the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C. It is widely believed that this minimum standard - known as Level One or Level A - is the standard required to fulfil a legal obligation in the UK's Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. The Act states that it is unlawful for "a provider of services" to discriminate against a disabled person in failing to comply with its provisions.

Software

• LinuxElectrons: Free standards group drives accessibility for Linux

  First-year goals for the Free Standards Group Accessibility Workgroup include the adoption of the Assistive Technology Service Provider Interface (AT-SPI), which enables AT tools such as screen readers and magnifiers to query and interact with GUI controls consistently

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