[Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

Thu Feb 7 09:22:47 EST 2008

Hm, is it a rose?

"After nine years of being an award-winning Web authoring tool,
FrontPage will be discontinued in late 2006."

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/frontpage/default.aspx

"Microsoft has proclaimed: FrontPage is dead, long live (or long run)
Microsoft Expression Web . . . "

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2012364,00.asp

"Product summary 

The good: Microsoft Expression Web design software supports XHTML, XML,
CSS, and W3C accessibility standards; integrates with Expression Studio
and Visual Studio. 

The bad: Microsoft Expression Web lacks FrontPage's help for design
beginners; is expensive; offers limited tech support; supports Windows
only. 

The bottom line: Microsoft Expression Web is a solid Web site layout
program that replaces FrontPage and offers tools for dynamic designs,
although we'd like more help for newbies."

http://reviews.cnet.com/web-graphics/microsoft-expression-web/4505-3637_
7-32383169.html

Melora

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Day, James
Sent: Thursday, February 07, 2008 9:05 AM
To: web4lib
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

Microsoft hasn't abandoned FrontPage, it has been updated and renamed
Expression Web as part of a whole Expression web-development suite:

http://www.microsoft.com/expression 

James Day
Library Technology Coordinator
Library Services
Seminole County Government
215 N Oxford Road
Casselberry FL 32707 

Office 407-665-1542
Fax 407-665-1510 

http://www.seminolecountyfl.gov/library

-----Original Message-----
From: Melora Norman [mailto:MNorman at unity.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 3:28 PM
To: Vaughn-Tucker, Dani A.; web4lib
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

Hi there.  Before I replied, I had to read the whole thread, including
anything of course by Karen, whom I also worship ;-).  My apologies to
those for whom the following is way too basic.

Here are a small number of simple things you can try so as to begin to
start understanding some access issues for visually impaired users:

1. Go to accessibility options and set your display to use high
contrast.  You will see that anybody needing to use this will prefer
black text on a white background, because high contrast turns the black
into white and the white into black.  A color on a color can be
virtually (or even completely) illegible in this mode.

2. Run your cursor over every item on your page.  Can you copy and paste
all text?  Does every image have alt text (when you run your cursor over
it, text pops up on the screen)?  If not, there are parts of your web
page that will remain nothing but nameless *image* to your blind users.

3. Check this out:
http://www.webaim.org/simulations/screenreader-sim.htm It actually does
a pretty good job of giving a taste of what it's like to use a screen
reader.  If you're really inquisitive, go and download the demo of JAWS
or WINDOWEYES and try reading your page with those.

Beyond that, I'd suggest you use something other than FrontPage, which
even Microsoft has abandoned.  Dreamweaver is my preferred for-$
product; NVU is a really great, really simple open-source editor that
works for basic things.  http://nvudev.com/index.php

Cheers,

Melora Ranney Norman

Melora Ranney Norman
Director, Quimby Library
Unity College, 90 Quaker Hill Rd.
Unity, ME 04988
207.948.3131 x233
mnorman at unity.edu
www.unity.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Vaughn-Tucker, Dani A. [mailto:dvaughntucker at osterhout.lib.pa.us]
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 12:35 PM
To: Melora Norman; web4lib
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

Melora,

I'm interested in your topic.  I just redid our website and I'm sure
that it is probably not in compliance with ADA.  But I'm just really
learning the basics of webpage development (and I'm using FrontPage).
Do you or anyone else have any recommendations?  By the way, I tried to
stick to our colors which are blue, yellow and white.  Our url is
http://www.luzerneco.lib.pa.us/.

Regards,

Dani 

"Success is nothing without someone you love to share it with..." Billy
Dee Williams in Mahogany

-----Original Message-----
From: web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:web4lib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Melora Norman
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 12:20 PM
To: web4lib
Subject: RE: [Web4lib] Web technologies and public access

The recent experiences I had working with blind people challenged my
perspective on these issues.

Many of the blind people I spoke with had given up on physical libraries
altogether; there was very little in most *typical* libraries for most
blind people.  Now that we are designing online experiences that
parallel or supplement our physical libraries, we have a unique
opportunity to offer information that is also accessible to blind
people--and, one step further, even to offer content that is very usable
for blind people.

For one thing, a few years ago, there were best-practice recommendations
for web design that included the creation of parallel web pages; some
software even supported this practice.  Since then, common wisdom
asserts that CSS and other improvements have made the parallel page
obsolete and unnecessarily redundant.  I question that this is always
entirely true because I believe that usable design for someone who is
very oriented to the use of graphics and usable design for someone who
is using a screen reader may very well be two different things.

Something else many blind computer users mentioned was that
accessibility for someone who has the latest and greatest software is
very different than for someone whose hardware and software are more
basic.  The latter's ability probably more closely resembles that of
someone using a PDA or phone, where a complicated structure--no matter
how closely it conforms with Section 508--may well create a barrier to
use.

Salud,

Melora

Melora Ranney Norman
Director, Quimby Library
Unity College, 90 Quaker Hill Rd.
Unity, ME 04988
207.948.3131 x233
mnorman at unity.edu
www.unity.edu

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-****Florida has a very broad Public Records Law. Virtually all written
communications to or from State and Local Officials and employees are
public records available to the public and media upon request. Seminole
County policy does not differentiate between personal and business
emails. E-mail sent on the County system will be considered public and
will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to
State Law.****-

-****Florida has a very broad Public Records Law. Virtually all written
communications to or from State and Local Officials and employees are
public records available to the public and media upon request. Seminole
County policy does not differentiate between personal and business
emails. E-mail sent on the County system will be considered public and
will only be withheld from disclosure if deemed confidential pursuant to
State Law.****-
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