#22933
Another Way of Looking at Accessibility
Lorraine Ireland writes about her experiences of learning about web accessibility, having been in the business of selling adaptive technology for a number of years.
Ireland, Lorraine. Accessify (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#22975
The Applicability of the ADA to the Internet
As the Internet has increased in prominence in all sectors of society, interested individuals have begun to question whether or not the Internet should be included in the regulations set forth by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Right now there is no explicit reference to the Internet in any of the language of the act.
Bohman, Paul. WebAIM (2000). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Policies and Procedures
#19184
Applied Theory: Working Toward an Accessible Web Site
With the passage of Section 508 and the efforts of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), interest in Web site accessibility continues to increase. Web designers and Web content developers are finding that knowledge in Web accessibility is becoming essential to be marketable to government contracts and private industry since accessibility is becoming a best practice, and in some cases a legal requirement, in Web development. This article is written for those who already have a general knowledge about the reasons for, and the techniques of, designing accessible Web sites. In this article, I will share the steps that I have taken to work toward transforming a Web site that I manage to one that is accessible according to the W3C recommendations.
McConnell, Kim. Usability Interface (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Section 508
#28663
Applying Color Theory to Digital Displays
For backgrounds behind text, use solid, contrasting colors, and avoid the use of textures and patterns, which can make letterforms difficult to distinguish or even illegible. Choose combinations of text color and background color with care. Value contrast between body text and its background color should be a minimum of about eighty percent.
Gabriel-Petit, Pabini. UXmatters (2007). Design>User Interface>Accessibility>Color
#31643
Approaches to Professionalism--A Codified Body of Knowledge 
Professionalism is a recurrent topic of discussion—formally and informally—among technical communication scholars and practitioners. In the diversity among our programs and approaches to technical communication, the difficult issues surrounding certification in technical communication is a professional goal that major stakeholders have typically considered too complex to be addressed. Increasingly, however, many of these stakeholders agree that we can no longer continue to ignore these complex issues. In an earlier article, I have described twelve issues that must be addressed and tasks that must be undertaken to move the profession towards meaningful certification. In that discussion, I also suggest approaches to begin the work on each of these steps. In this present discussion, I address the first of these steps—codification of the bodies of knowledge through the development of an encyclopedia of technical and professional communication. In order to accomplish this, I describe the categories of knowledge in the field and the editorial and organizational structure of the project.
Rainey, Kenneth T. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>TC>Professionalism>Body of Knowledge
#19224
This report is the result of research conducted into the arrangements that can be implemented by awarding bodies on behalf of disabled candidates in the UK. Findings are based on the procedures and advice made available by a selection of awarding bodies. Applications of technology in this area are of particular importance to the work of TechDis in enhancing access to learning, teaching and assessment.
Harrison, Sue. TechDis (2003). Academic>Accessibility>Technology
#27220
The Art of Defensive Programming
If you can't understand a program, then you can't debug it. Even with code that you have written yourself, if you come back to it six months or a year later, you may find yourself wondering “Why on earth did I write that? What was it for?” It doesn't take long to forget the details of a program when you aren't working on it any more. Make life easier for yourself, and write programs as clearly as possible. Also, provide such defences as you can against the possibility that VBA might change between versions of Word.
West, Jonathan. Word MVP Site, The (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Programming>Microsoft Word
#20060
Assistive Device Behaviour Chart 
These charts have been produced to help developers understand how assistive devices work. We're in the early days of collating the data, and would appreciate feedback from users of assistive devices to ensure our results are accurate. This page contains many features that are advocated for accessibility, allowing you to send feedback on how your particular assistive device behaves. If we don't have a category for your assistive device, please send your results and we will add a category for the device. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated, and should make this an invaluable resource for developers.
Juicy Studio (2003). Design>Accessibility
#23610
Assistive Listening Systems: Crucial For Skilled Listeners With a Hearing Loss
Technical communicators are skilled listeners. Whether interviewing subject matter experts or working on teams, good communication is essential. But if you have a hearing loss, assistive listening systems (ALSs) can help.
Vinegar, Judy A. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>TC>Accessibility>Audio
#21693
Assistive Technology: What Is It?
The term 'assistive technology device' means any item, piece of equipment, or product system, whether acquired commercially off the shelf, modified, or customized, that is used to increase, maintain, or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability.
ALLTech (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Technology
#30604
ATAG (Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines) Assessment of WordPress
This document assesses WordPress 2.01 against the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Content Management
#23880
Attending an STC Conference on a Shoestring Budget
Companies are reducing their training budgets. During these austere times, the technical writer must get more creative than ever to participate in the annual conference. An informal survey of attendees at the 50th Annual Conference in Dallas showed that many people paid their own way to the conference. There are numerous ways to reduce the cost to attend the conference.
Bine, Katharyn. Usability Interface (2003). Articles>TC>Professionalism>STC
#22932
Attractive, Accessible Web Sites: AKA, Disproving the Myth of Ugly
Web accessibility is not the sexiest subject in the world. Let's be realistic. And selling the concept is never all that easy as a result. Sure, you can harp on about all the 'business benefits' (potential increased audienced, reduced bandwidth costs, good PR), but what you really need to be able to do is show that it's possible to do this without compromising on the design, and that's often where the problems begin.
Accessify (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#19225
Auditing Software Tools for SENDA Compliance
This project has identified a number of tools that may be of use to the academic community. The starting point of this investigation was the W3C WAI web page that lists existing evaluation, repair, and transformation tools for Web Content Accessibility.
#25835
AuthorIT: Creating a 2-Column Glossary in Word
How to modify AuthorIT objects to get a 2-column glossary in the Word output.
Bracey, Rhonda. CyberText Consulting (2003). Articles>Word Processing>Style Sheets
#28153
Automating Production with WebWorks AutoMap
WebWorks AutoMap is an extremely useful tool for performing unattended documentation builds. Out of the box, AutoMap can generate reasonable documents. By adding the power of scripting, the results can be amazing.
Bate, Simon. Carolina Communique (2006). Articles>Documentation>Software>Word Processing
#18632
Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design
This document is one of several resources created to assist the preparation of a business case for the implementation of Web accessibility. It describes the many business, technical and other benefits to the organization above and beyond the straightforward benefits to people with disabilities that can be realized by applying the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) to Web sites.
Arch, Andrew and Chuck Letourneau. W3C (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#26363
Describes an alternative to automatic page refresh in HTML. Automatic page refresh can confuse users with cognitive disabilities when a page reloads without the user's request. This article provides you with instructions on how to apply explicit manual control of page refreshing.
Microsoft (2003). Design>Accessibility>Web Design
#25968
Describes an alternative to automatic page refresh in HTML. Automatic page refresh can confuse users with cognitive disabilities when a page reloads without the user's request. This article provides you with instructions on how to apply explicit manual control of page refreshing.
Microsoft (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>DHTML
#20660
AWARE: Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education Center
AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education, and its mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility.
#30471
Charles L. Chen and T. V Raman have developed a common JavaScript framework to enhance the accessibility of AJAX-based applications. The framework is called AxsJAX, pronounced, 'Access JAX.'
Lemon, Gez. Juicy Studio (2007). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Ajax
#31147
Barrierefreie Informationstechnik: ein Thema nicht nur für behinderte Menschen 
Abgeflachte Bürgersteige, Rampen statt Stufen, tiefergelegte Busse - an den alltäglichen baulichen Barrieren für Kinderwägen und Rollstuhlfahrer wird gearbeitet. Im IT-Bereich dagegen ließ Barrierefreiheit bislang auf sich warten: Viele Websites sind nicht für jeden zugänglich. Mit dem Gesetz zur Gleichstellung behinderter Menschen sind öffentliche Institutionen seit Anfang Mai 2002 verpflichtet, ihre Websites barrierefrei zu gestalten.
Heuwinkel, Roland. Doculine (2002). (German) Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Accessibility>User Interface
#19203
Barrierefreies Webdesign - manchmal auch Zugänglichkeit oder Accessibility genannt - ist die Kunst, Webseiten so zu programmieren, dass jeder sie lesen kann.
Hellbusch, Jan Eric. Barrierefreies-Webdesign. Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#28918
Information Architects are often put on the defensive by spears flung by brethren in related disciplines. In taking the accusations seriously and accepting truths within them, Grant Campbell reveals greatest strengths in shallowness, insularity, and being 'relegated' to history.
Campbell, Grant. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Information Design>Professionalism
#21441
Nearly everyone has a licenced or unlicenced version of Winzip or any other compatible utility installed. You can do a lot more with them than just to compress and combine files into a single archive. E.g. you can "freeze" the present state of a project or use the CRCs to identify files.
von Obert, Alexander. Techwriter.de (2003). (German) Articles>Communication>Software>Compression
