Hawk Software

The #1 reason I browse the Internet is to look for information and news.  The #2 reason is to look at all the cool things web designers come up with.  Cool layouts, color schemes, navigation, etc.  However, all the while in the back of my mind I always wonder about accessibility: are these cool pages still accessible to those using alternative browsers or screen readers?  The sad thing is many times the answer is ‘no’, but they could have been.  Menus (and links in general) are the worst offenders, and usually JavaScript or Flash is an accomplice. Read the rest of this entry »

This was originally going to be a VERY short post; I mean, how tough is this subject?  It is really just common sense that if you are using properly formed, standards compliant HTML or XHTML you are assured any compliant browser will be able to properly parse the page and present it in whatever form the user needs.  For example, many visually impaired users need a browser that incorporates text-to-speech technology, or they may just need to override the style to increase the font size and/or change the background and text colors for higher contrast.

For these reasons I always validate my pages as they are being developed, and occasionally I perform spot checks later.  So I was VERY surprised when I validated my last blog entry and discovered it was no longer valid XHTML Strict due to an attribute I had never heard of:  ‘aria-required’. Read the rest of this entry »

First, in the interest of being honest and not putting myself above other web developers, I must admit to using tables on this website in the past.  Even worse, before that I used frames, but that is another topic

I have been advocating the use of CSS instead of tables for layout for over six years after I was convinced by several articles on the subject.  This has been considered a web ‘best practice’ for many years now, so it is very surprising that so many websites STILL use them for layout.  I see several reasons this is so: Read the rest of this entry »

Headings (h1-h6) should be used to begin sections; they should NOT be used for font effects (that is what CSS is for).  Using one h1 tag, and progressive h2-h6 tags not only creates a page structure which is easy to scan and find relevant content for sighted users, but it enhances accessibility for users of screen reader software. Read the rest of this entry »

There was much debate in the past about these tags, and if you are not concerned with accessibility then you can stop reading right now!  But if accessibility DOES concern you, read on… Read the rest of this entry »