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    <title><![CDATA[Discussion on Poll: Is accessibility a consideration when you code? ]]></title>
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        <title><![CDATA[Accessibility Starts at the Beginning]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3221322]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Absolutely, everything we develop has an accessibility component built into from the beginning. Having done it for years, it has become a natural part of our development processes, and beyond the initial learning period, adds next to no additional costs to a development project.ATutor is an example. It is a Learning Management System designed to be accessible to everyone, regardless if you are a student, instructor, or an administrator. It is a model for accessible Web application. http://www.atutor.caAChecker is another (http://www.achecker.ca), designed for those who don't know a lot about Web accessibility. It evaluates Web content for compliance with various international accessibility guidelines.Fluid is another (http://www.fluidproject.org) designing a set of UI components for web developers, building accessibility into dynamic UI components that have traditionally been inaccessible to people with disability's (like drag-and-drop components, and dynamically collapsible menus).]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3221322]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[atutor]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:15:42 -0800</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Americans with Disabilities Act means it's law in USA too.]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3145675]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[To me it's not a feature, but a philosophy. I'm setting my site up so that it already takes on vision imparement. Also I'm aware that motor impairment may mean not depending too much on keyboard or mouse, but a good mix of both.  Web platform is a bit mouse focused, but I do my best to minimise those issues too.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3145675]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[mattohare@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Sun, 23 Aug 2009 13:15:17 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: Poll: Is accessibility a consideration when you code?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3144522]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Most developers are influenced by client demand &amp; or what his/ her community deems important. So it isn't a hard and fast rule.For Instance, when I mention accessibility to most of my clients; they show little concern for the development.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3144522]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[anngenita@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:50:37 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Thank you, Justin]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143739]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[For all this.I, too, must approach, earnestly design for, and execute successfully for the &quot;challenged&quot; in so many ways.I would have approached you at the Gathering. But, you had a set to your face that said, &quot;Do not approach.&quot;Let us hope you are not challenged.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143739]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[santeewelding]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 21:19:11 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[That is really unfortunate]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143725]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[That's rather sad to hear, to be honest. I hope things straighten out so they can correct the situation!J.Ja]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143725]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Justin James]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:53:57 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: Poll: Is accessibility a consideration when you code?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143559]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Since I work for a non-profit organization that portrays itself as full of services for people with disabilities, it is of the utmost importance that the work that I do be as much section 508 compliant as possible. That being said, several sites I maintain are not due to budgetary issues. Nor, unfortunately, is the budget currently available to insure continued adherence on the already compliant sites.]]></description>
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        <dc:creator><![CDATA[tavogardo@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:41:51 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Depends on what you call an &quot;application&quot;]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143456]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[For better or for worse, technologies like AJAX are here to stay... and they often make accessibility that much more difficult, if not impossible!You are right, if you design from the beginning for accessibility, it doesn't have to be hard (assuming that you are well educated on how to do it). But in doing so, you are implicitly accepting a lot of functional limits (again, AJAX immediately comes to mind) that a lot of developers or management teams are not willing to accept.J.Ja]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143456]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Justin James]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:22:10 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Nope]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143444]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Windows Forms handles it all through the OS for me, so I don't have to worry.As for web programming...well...maybe someday.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143444]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[jck]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 11:48:38 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[I do it right]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143132]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[My pages are all accessible and pass both the W3C HTML and CSS validators. I use existing pages which do not pass validation as a selling point to get customers to switch from their existing devlopers to our company. We provide only valid and accessible pages. In fact all our pages work fine with CSS and Scripting disabled and are tested using Chrome, Opera, IE, Firefox, Opera and Lynx.It isn't that hard.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143132]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Thomas Moser]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:45:43 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Lots of small things, built in wth windows though]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143083]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[not always set.Hot keys and short cuts (e.g Esc to cancel a modal dialog)Killer one often missed Tab order.Then there's being able to degrade gracefully to lower resolution displays such as 640x480 or 800x600. Things like colour blindness when doing graphics. Keeping to standards so accessibility tools like the magnifying glass and speech recognition work.When you see a form that only works full screen and with a particular font size , you often wonder how far people have their head up their arse for a non-disabled user...]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143083]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tony Hopkinson]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:24:43 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[it's really not THAT hard]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143082]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I have to design my apps for accessibility as we wall under both federal and state regulations for accessibility.  If you design from the beginning for accessibility, it really isn't THAT hard. It's all about standards, following the guidelines, testing and Progressive Enhancement: http://is.gd/2oqw8. Grab the FAE firefox extension (http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu/ or if you dont like firefox, you can have the site test pages for you: http://fae.cita.illinois.edu/) and run reports as you design. Follow the summaries.In this day and age, with the tools (most of which are free) we have at our disposal, the online guides, etc. not coding your site for ADA is just laziness/ignorance.]]></description>
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        <dc:creator><![CDATA[techrepublic.com.com@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 07:24:03 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[People don't know how to define accessibility]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143033]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[How many people can actually tell you what accissiblity includes? Probably not many.I automatically add these things in the process of creating a site:Alt and title on all imagesTitle on all linksAbility to change the text sizeText only versionWe also have a contract with a screen reader company. I just add the tags into the html where I want them the read the page.So the 'accessiblity bar' has:Home, Text Only, Read Page, Print, Change Text Size, Site MapIt is always placed at the top, so that if someone is using a screen reader, it hits the accessiblity bar first and they don't have to go through the whole page to get to it.The accessiblity bar items also all have access keys.All menus are accessible using the keyboard only.These can be accounted for right at the beginning of any project and don't actually need to increase your workload if it is something you automatically do.Is this enough for accessiblity? Not sure. I can say I think about it, but do I do enough?I don't account for those who don't enable javascript. Last year we also had a change screen size option for 800x600 and 1024x768 but we have dropped that now with a redesign.Doing the basic stuff adds very little actual time to development, beyond that you are then going into adding features and that may be where most people either won't have the time, knowledge, or budget.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3143033]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[lorraine.wales@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:37:10 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[I hope it's not &quot;not telling the truth&quot;]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142739]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[Given the things I've been reading on the HTML 5 working group mailing list, and having seen in person, either the readers here are the most conciencous group of developers out there, they do not truly understand what it means to make an application accessible, or they are not telling the truth. I hope it's the first, but I suspect that it is the second. Accessibility is *so* much more than just using the alt attribute, and every week I learn something new about it. In fact, from what I can tell, the amount of effort needed to make an application (especially Web applications) truly accessible could represent 10% - 25% of the overall effort spent on the project. That is not a great ratio, without a legal mandate to do it, as far as the decision makers are concerned.J.Ja]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142739]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Justin James]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:50:49 -0700</pubDate>
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    <item>
        <title><![CDATA[Some one is not telling the truth here...]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142672]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I worked all over the software industry from MS doing server software and database software, and end-user to shrink-wrap and back as a QA guy for many, many years. Testing this and noting that it was missing lead my QA reports often, to the disaproval of many because of its PR aspect. Let's all ignore it and it will go away, if no one mentions it we won't have to deal with it. Like the emperor's clothes if no one said anything it was ignored. I had many a QA report come up missing when the disabled word came up.EVERY company either viewed access for the disabled as an after thought or it wasn't even on their radar.If you ever found an issue that cost money and dealt with the disabled access (in those companies that even cared a little) the disabled lost.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142672]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[mikifinaz1@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:46:02 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Reminds me of a close friend]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142631]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I was constantly going behind him fixing patch cables o crossover cable he had made.  I even had little cards made for both standards.  I never really said anything since we were friends.  He told me a few years later he was color blind, which finally explained it.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142631]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Forum Surfer]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:35:05 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[At the very least, support for the color-blind is important]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142626]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I do a lot of &quot;back-office&quot; site development and at least one of my company's users is color-blind. This requires me to use high contrast and very few fonts using reds or purples - and never dark or black backgrounds.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142626]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[guitardave8077]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:19:45 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Blind doesn't mean dumb ....]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142554]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[There are a number of possible disabilities that we routinely miss designing for.A sight-limited person can't see your fancy sales video (although they can hear it) nor can they see that fancy graphic.However, equipment exists that can translate text into words. So while a sight-limited person can't see that fancy, dancy script picture you've put into your site, they can hear the description you've put on the picture or the sales copy you've written on your site.A hearing-limited can't hear your fancy video or audio (although they can see it). So unless you've got it in clear text somewhere that sales script you worked so hard on isn't going to work too well.And since 15% of the market is now considered disabled at one level or another and the numbers are increasing -- that's a big chunk of the market you are ignoring!Although I've concentrated on web marketing in my reply, the same considerations apply to non-web software and hardware.Glen Ford, PMPhttp://www.TrainingNOW.cahttp://apps.LearningCreators.com/blog]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142554]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[PMPsicle]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:12:40 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[RE: Poll: Is accessibility a consideration when you code?]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142531]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I make sure that all my pages are accessible even for the blind who maybe using a reader.  And as I have gotten older I find there are some pages I would like to read but the page is such low contrast it is impossible to read. I leave those sites in a hurry, even if I could have used their information. They do not care enough to make their site easily visible even for the those who are just beginning to have visual problems let alone the many males, and the few females who are color blind.  It is very little trouble to use high contrast printing and colors that the color blind can easily interpert as black and white when you need people to read your information and it will soon become second nature to do so. If you have information that you want as many people as possible to read then make it easy to do so. Not to do that in my opinion is counterproductive. I never use many bells and whistles as they become boring very quickly.Ed Brown]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142531]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[ebrown1927]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:30:59 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[Confused]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142489]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[I don't know what is meant by accessibility. What could I do with a web page that could possibly help someone who can't walk or is blind? Or is it bigger fonts for people with poor site? I don't get it. Just curious, not trying to be difficult or a smart ass.I guess our company doesn't bother, I've never heard it discussed.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142489]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[captxunderpants@...]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 11:16:19 -0700</pubDate>
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        <title><![CDATA[I don't. Winders desktop apps]]></title>
        <link><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142322]]></link>
        <description><![CDATA[in my case.]]></description>
        <guid><![CDATA[http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-315375-3142322]]></guid>
        <dc:creator><![CDATA[Tony Hopkinson]]></dc:creator>
        <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2009 07:40:24 -0700</pubDate>
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