May 10, 2004
Information Design Watch
From Dynamic Diagrams
Consultants in Visual Logic
In This Issue:
INFORMATION DESIGN
- The Current State of Web Accessibility
- Web Accessibility Resources
VISUAL EXPLANATION
- Saturation Coverage
DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
- Where to Go Wireless
INFORMATION DESIGN
The Current State of Web Accessibility
The U.K.-based Disability Rights Commission recently released a formal investigative report on accessibility. Based on an analysis of Web sites popular with the British public, the results are disheartening for users with disabilities:
"Most websites (81%) fail to satisfy the most basic Web Accessibility Initiative category....Few (19%) websites comply even with the lowest priority [W3C] Checkpoints for accessibility."
Another key finding is that checklists and automatic tools for testing accessibility do not substitute for usability testing:
"As many as 45% of the problems experienced by the user group were not a violation of any Checkpoint, and would not have been detected without user testing."
A summary of the report is presented in this press release:
The actual report can be downloaded from:
Web Accessibility Resources
Two important sets of Web Accessibility guidelines are the U.S. Government's Section 508 standards and the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative, whose priority-based "Checkpoints" are probably the most commonly used accessibility standard:
Interestingly, the W3C has responded to the Disability Rights Commission report described above, arguing that:
"Essentially, the interpretation of the data in the report fails to account for the role of browser and media player accessibility, and the role of interoperability with assistive technologies, in ensuring that people with disabilities can use Web sites effectively."
The W3C argues that browsers and media players should provide better documentation on their accessibility features. Web designers who need to make a site more accessible may want to add pointers to such features, rather than expecting users to search for application documentation.
VISUAL EXPLANATION
Saturation Coverage
Based on data from the Google News aggregator, Marcos Weskamp's "Newsmap" uses similar algorithms as the well known
Map of the Market to show the amount of news coverage in regards to prominent stories:
"Newsmap does not pretend to replace the googlenews aggregator. It's objective is to simply demonstrate visually the relationships between data and the unseen patterns in news media. It is not thought to display an unbiased view of the news, on the contrary it is thought to ironically accentuate the bias of it."
DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION
Where to Go Wireless
If you're traveling — to Brighton Beach, say, or a San Francisco Giants baseball game — JiWire has a guide to wireless hot spots around the world:
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