past postings.....

Here is the archive of what I have posted on my site from time to time. I hope you find the information here useful and feel free to contact me with any queries.

Accessibility Failure

Accessibilty of websites by users with disabilities has been legislation for quite sometime. Though Recent research has discovered that the vast majority of website designers are failing to design sites that meet the minimum guidlines for accessiblity for all. United Nations commisioned Nomensa to investigate site`s from many of the world leading organisations, they included sites from the UK - British Airways, Marks & Spencers, Lloyds TSB and Prime Minister Tony Blair`s site. The report tested 100 sites and found only 3 to pass minimum standards, one was Mr Blair`s site, that leaves 97% of sites discriminating against users with disabilities.

The Nomensa report revealed a few shortcomings on most of the sites tested.

• 93% failed to include sufficient text descriptions in the alt tags for their graphics.
• Colour contrast was not adequate in 78% of the sites, causing problems for colour blind sufferers.
• Poor navigation by 89%.
• Resizing pages was denied by 97%.

On a legal, commercial and moral basis its important for organisations to put in place strategies for their websites that include accessibility for everyone, "both in terms of quick wins and longer term improvements" stated by Alex Metcalfe, Nomensa`s head of client services. The World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that about 10% of the population in the world suffers from a disability and has critised web designers for not designing sites with their interests in mind.

The Importance Of Accessibility

• Disibility Act 1995 has now made it law for websites in the UK to be accessible.
• It makes business sense, 10 million people in the UK have a disability with the combined spending power of £80 billion.
• Search engines love accessible websites - increasing your search engine ranking, therefore again better for business.
• Different browsers and devices for accessing the internet are being increasingly used by users. Accessibility ensures the website experience is the same for all and protects your brand integrity, once again makes commercial sense.

Accessibilty is a very important aspect of website design that seems to be ignored, but for how long, maybe until prosecutions start arriving for websites that are not accessible will designers start to change their ways. I can do an accessiblity audit for your website to test if it makes the grade in line with the Disability Act.

down with tables, long live CSS

CSS or should I say Cascading Style Sheets is a simple language that allows you to declare how a document is displayed by web browsers. A web page can be changed through the application of CSS, more specifically it can change - the fonts, colours, layout, graphics, links and more. CSS lets you separate the presentation code from the content of a website, which is good design practice i.e. you can create a single style sheet that styles the entire site.

Style sheets for output devices like mobile phones and printers can be developed to aid with viewing and what appropriate content should be included e.g. with a print out you may only want the text and not any other aspects of the page in question, we don't want the navigation table printed out. With the practice of using style sheets you can also increase accessibility for disabled users.

In the past the use of tables for presentation was the norm and is still used by many web designers, but this practice can mean the site is less accessible, increases file size and not so flexible. To read more on this topic check this article "throwing tables out the window", which will give you a more detailed explanation for not using tables for presentation. Gusmedia and other HTML sites e.g. Paul Maxwell Gardens that I design use only CSS for presentation and no tables, that should only be used to display tabular data as it was designed to do originally.

my latest project update

Check out the recent update to my new site, had to be done fast to be in time for the festival. So key information has been added first, but later some more artistic factors will be put in. Stay tuned for more updates to come at City Comedy.

City Comedy site

I have been recently working on a website called City Comedy for comedian Kevin Knite , he is heavily involved in the forth coming comedy extravaganza called the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Though it has been put on line, it is not finished. Which is a cardinal sin, but that is what kevin wanted, so who am I to argue with that.

Being from Edinburgh myself, I was really excited to be asked to do a web site that was connected to the festival, I hope I can wangle a few tickets to go and see the show.

its alive

my new site has just gone live, though it will be forever evolving. Come back to see updates that will come and go through out the months to come. I will try to keep the site new and exciting, unless I am away on holiday having a well earned rest.