blind_html Re: List name
- From: "Robin L. Clark" <lighthouse101@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blind_html@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:01:04 -0500
Hey Elf;
I'm using these browsers to test my pages; Internet Explorer, FireFox with Fire
Vox screen reader (a bit of a pain to get it working half decent), Safari,
WebIE with Thunder screen reader (not too bad) and Opera under Windows XP Pro.
My old computer took a dump after a Microsoft update a few weeks ago messed the
registry system up beyond restore and I'm using my wife's computer. Her name is
Robin, I'm Blaine. I'm toying with the idea of doing a clean install on the old
computer with some distribution of Linux, probably Ubuntu or Fedora. I'd like
to do this for two main reasons. To get rid of Microsoft. I've had trouble
after every single major security update since about February. We've got one
friend who's had trouble with Internet Explorer not connecting, which was our
problem mostly. Every other browser worked just fine but not IE. Another friend
has lost connection with Outlook Express. He has to use his browser to go
online to his ISP and get his email that way. I think MS has finally updated
themselves into some trouble this summer. The other reason I'd like to use
Linux is that it's used commercially by many companies and also by a fairly
large chunk of the public, especially in England and parts of Europe. I think
it might be a good idea to use it and some compatible open source browsers to
make sure everything is OK for those who use Linux. I don't know if there are
any comparable accessibility programs, but I'll find out.
I've looked w3c.org over and also a few other 'authorities'. To say the
tutorials are a bit misleading is OK, but when different 'authorities' can't
agree on what is good page structure, then it's pretty much just do something
and see how it goes for anyone who has the time to check what's been done and
get back with a critique. For example, some authorities say don't use Java
Script for anything, others say it's OK except for visual effects which can
mess up some screen readers. Some say don't use any graphics, others say
graphics are OK as long as they are tagged with alt or title or both.
Headers? I like headers because I'm sighted and they stand out. Didn't realize
they worked well for VI's too. Great!
I've used headers and small graphic bars in place of HR code. Now I'm wondering
if the little bars are too much. Back to the HR code, how well do screen
readers interpret that? Would I be better off using HR?
Hmm... Didn't know about the graphic's name and link problem with screen
readers. I haven't used them and so hadn't tested any of them with my so - so
screen readers. I'll file that bit of info away for later.
I knew that graphics were a bit of a hog, just didn't know how much with screen
readers.
I've heard that frames and iframes are a no - no by some, and OK by others, so
I stay away from them. I have used a bit of list formatting, the ordered,
unordered and definitions styles. Haven't done much with tables.
I haven't used Java Script for anything except obfuscating email address and
playing around with a site search utility so far.
I haven't tried one bit of CGI or PHP yet. I'm still playing around learning
HTML and CSS and a bit of Java Script. Speaking of CSS, I've got a CSS styled
drop down menu that works exactly like the Java Script drop down menu. I
haven't used it in a page yet because I'm not sure how screen readers handle
that. I'm a bit leery since it does work and move just like the Java Script
type.
Now, pages with a ton of links ... I've done that. Didn't know it was such a
pain. Is there a decent way to present a large lineup of links? I've got one
page each of local support links, state-wide support links, US support links
and world-wide support links. That's four pages full! I'd like to keep them
available. When I started the links, I had them all on one page and it grew
into a little monster, so I cut it up, but it's a hydra! It keeps growing!
Graphics again. This brings up an interesting one ... the one group I belong to
just had a convention and when they get the videos and some pictures processed,
they'd like me to arrange them on some pages. I've started a rough draft until
I get a handle of some sort on the size, type and number of files. I've got
them set up from the main index page to a visual index page. That way, totals
or very low vision people can just bypass that index file altogether.
For a font I use Arial Rounded MT bold, Helvetica, Sans Serif. I read a report
that claimed this font was the best all around one to use for low vision and
full vision viewing. I have to agree that it does look good and it reads easy.
I load it in the body statement in a CSS file but I don't make any part of the
CSS persistent, so that anyone who has styles set for their personal browser or
magnifier shouldn't have a problem over-riding my CSS.
For the state PCB site I've used a light tan background with black font. That
went over well with all the low visions that checked the pages. And I now see
that's the primary format on the AFB site! Too much contrast, like black on
white, white on black, red on green and several others can be very tiring to
look at. As a guess, anyone who has a screen magnifier program would probably
have their browser and magnifier set to display everything to what they prefer,
so really, isn't the change colors and more page a bit redundant?
I've worked with the Pennsylvania Council of the Blind main state
organization's Communications Committee to cleanup and brighten up their site.
It's http://pcb1.org/.
I'm also working solo on a main site and a sub-site for our local chapter of
the PCB. The main site is http://pcb-clrfld-jeff.pbwiki.com/ and there's no way
I can clean up all the PBwiki clutter on those pages. I don't have access to
that part of it.
The sub-site is one level below the previous site,
http://pcb-clrfld-jeff.pbwiki.com/f/FrontPage.htm. It's clean of the PBwiki
page coding. For the sub-site, I've used a combination of background images and
background colors from page to page. Waiting to get more input on which is
preferred. Later on, I think I'll trim the upper directory to probably one
introductory page and direct to the index file in the subdirectory.
Thanks Elf
Blaine
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