June 19, 2006
Web standards v2
Today someone asked how she could persuade a colleague to include accessibility and standards compliance in the requirements for a major site redesign. I can’t meet with every hostile boss and nay-sayer on the planet, gently persuading each of them to see the light. But I can talk to them through the quiet pages of DWWS 2e, if you would like me to.
Aahhh…the pain of convincing people that don’t realise the importance of accessibility and web standards!
Jeffrey Zeldman has released his second edition of his very successful book Designing with Web Standards (2nd Edition). Its available for pre-order on the US version of Amazon, but isn’t available here just yet.
For those that haven’t read his first edition book, I highly recommend it. And for those that thought you had it covered with standards compliancy…well I guess we’ve got more to catch up on!
I usually just tell them that if they’re a business and they’re based in the UK then they’re legally liable to provide an accessible web site. Of course some of the worst sites I’ve come across are actually government or local council web sites.
The people who they award those contracts to develop some of those piles of shit should be thrown into fermenting ferret urine. Oh, and then squashed by a giant squashing machine that can only be pictured in my strange and dearanged mind (you can be rest assured this squashing machine in my head is of such awesome squashing-ness that all those that behold it quiver in a squashing frenzy).
Comment by Jonathan Conway — June 20, 2006 @ 2:22 pm
Jon - you been overdosing on the sweets again?
Its true though, there are so many sites out there that don’t even meet the right levels of accessibility, and those that do adhere to the guidelines are often not accessible anyway because they haven’t tested it with the relevant end users that use screen readers, magnifiers, etc.
Comment by caroline — June 20, 2006 @ 6:26 pm