Constructing Accessible Web Sites (Paperback)

~ Jim Thatcher (Author), Cynthia Waddell (Author), Shawn Henry (Author), Sarah Swierenga (Author), Mark Urban (Author), Michael Burks (Author), Paul Bohman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[glasshaus has] gathered information from an extraordinary collection of accessibility experts providing outstanding advice every designer should find helpful..." -- Bob Regan, Senior Product Manager for Accessibility, Macromedia --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

<p>Accessibility is about making websites that don't exclude people with visual, aural, or physical disabilities. Through real-world examples, this practical book will teach you how to create or retrofit accessible websites quickly and easily. </p>

<p>This book is aimed toward web professionals creating accessible websites or updating existing sites to make them accessible. It's also useful for corporate, university, and government policy-makers involved in the development and maintenance of websites for their institutions.</p>

<p>The thorough and practical accessibility techniques outlined in this book come from some of the best accessibility professionals in the business. The techniques are illustrated and accompanied by real-world examples from live sites, demonstrating that accessibility is <b>not</b> the enemy of great visual design.</p>

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Product Details

• Paperback: 415 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (July 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590591488
• ISBN-13: 978-1590591482
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,288,237 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Guiding hand to accessibility, October 21, 2002

By	Thomas Vander Wal (Bethesda, MD, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Constructing Accessible Web Sites (Paperback)

The GlassHaus "Constructing Accessible Web Sites" book has been a great find. I began working to build sites and applications for use in Web browsers that had to be used by individuals with disabilities in 1997. Over these years I picked up a lot of hard won knowledge and experience, but have never run across a resource that fully backed what I had gathered. The GlasHaus Accessibility book not only echoes what I have learned, but has provided new insights to improve upon what I already have. The best part of this book is that I can point others to it and I am assured they will be able to build an accessible site or Web applications that can meet high standards.

Many folks think accessibility is a great inconvenience, but it takes a little thinking and planning to do it right from the beginning. Having a great resource at hand makes the process a cake walk. Not only are the processes and guides helpful for creating sites that are accessible for those that are disabled these steps outlined also make the information in the site future ready. Sites that are accessible are much easier to use with a handheld PDA device or from even a cell phone browser. Accessibility for everybody in more situations improves with structuring the information properly, which is all making Web enabled information really requires to get it ready to be consumed. Is your information ready to be consumed by everybody?

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Current, May 3, 2002

By	Andrew B. King (Ann Arbor, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Constructing Accessible Web Sites (Paperback)

This book addresses a pressing need in the increasingly complex world of the Web: accessibility. From 15 to 30% of the general population has some functional limitation when using technology products. Nearly 10% of Internet users have a disability of some kind. That's tens of millions of people in the US and hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Seniors are joining the online throng in droves. All these numbers mean that addressing Web site accessibility issues is no longer an option, it's a necessity.

But accessibility is not just about following standards and adding ALT tags. Everybody has the right to information on the Web, regardless of disability, location, language, or any other factor. This "access for all" viewpoint requires a different approach than the last-minute band-aid accessibility we've seen in the past. This book shows you how to integrate accessibility into your design process to improve your bottom line. As Vint Cerf said recently, "The Internet is for Everybody."

This book is a team effort, written by a cast of eight experts, including Bob Regan of Macromedia. Regan, Senior Product Manager for Accessibility, talks about the new accessibility features of Flash MX, which was just released recently. Each author addresses topics in their areas of expertise. Glasshaus has got the formula down now, hire a bunch of experts, and crank out a book in record time.

Everything from legal issues, assistive technology, accessible content, navigation, and data input to testing for Section 508 compliance are covered in this 415 page book. The authors rate Web development tools for compliance with the W3C's ATAG guidelines on a star system. While Dreamweaver MX, Frontpage, Golive, and BBEdit have improved, they still have a ways to go.

The authors show you how to separate content from presentation with CSS, and test your code for standards and accessibility compliance. You'll learn how to assess and repair accessibility problems on your site with free evaluation and fix-up tools. Finally, the book closes with an in-depth chapter on US Web accessibility law.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book Ensures Sites Reach for the Gold in Accessibility, July 26, 2002

By	Meryl K. Evans "Content Maven behind meryl.net" (Plano, TX) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Constructing Accessible Web Sites (Paperback)

Don't make the same mistakes the last two official Olympic sites made with regard to accessibility.

With many sites overlooking the simple ALT in images, it's no question that many need educating on this important topic. Statistics shows that 15 to 30 percent of the population has a need for accessibility features on Web sites. Happily, people live longer and aging brings seeing and hearing challenges. Furthermore, seniors are responsible for over 25 percent of online purchases, neglecting this group can be costly to the company that abandons them. The number shoots up to 40 percent when including people over the age of 40.

CEOs, CIOs, C-level whatevers, managers, designers, programmers, and anyone else who has a hand in a Web site will benefit from the book. Not only does it cover the how, but also the whats and whys by saying, "This is why we should do this and this is how to do it." Upper level management benefit from information on the Web accessibility laws, guidelines, reasons for creating accessible sites, and the accessibility organization strategy. If an executive wants to reach far and wide, then she can get that by reading and applying the knowledge found in the book. One unique chapter explains how to structure an organization to handle and support accessibility issues, a rarely addressed topic in the world of Web accessibility. The Internet has opened the gates for businesses to go global and there's information about the laws from countries other than the US.

Designers and programmers get the tools and resources for creating, evaluating, and validating pages for accessibility compliance. Useful is a comparison and report card on Web design software explaining how each program meets or fails to meet in producing accessible code and features. The book echoes the latest cry in the world of Web design in encouraging designers to separate content from presentation.

Having an accessible Web site doesn't mean boring looking pages with nothing but text. Quite the contrary, the authors encourage creating well-design sites while keeping accessibility in mind.

As one who has written articles on Web design, the book offers insight into techniques that I hadn't encountered. With multiple authors, readers are assured they're hearing from the experts on each chapter topic. One notable expert is Bob Regan of Macromedia who discusses the tools and techniques of using Flash MX to make a site accessible. Any site that wants to be successful and reach the greatest number of people will invest in creating an accessible site. This well-rounded book covers it all from laws to code to help ensure the site does it right.