Web Site Accessibility Blog

If you haven’t considered it, and you can make it, I would highly suggest attending Jill Whalen’s High Rankings Seminar in Philadelphia next week (November 3, 4). This seminar is known for the high caliber speakers that frequent to the Search Engine Strategies Conferences, but also offers some good one-on one time among the speakers and attendees. The sessions are full of good information for both newbies and long-time practitioners.

The seminar will be held at the Crowne Plaza Valley Forge details and sign-up is at the High Rankings Web site.

If you want to sign up, use the discount code “KARCHER” to save some cash.

Speaking in Stockholm, Sweden this year and last year has to be one of the most memorable moments of my life. The privilege of being invited alone is one that I appreciate and value, but the experience has been one that will stay with me.

The people and the city are some of the most inviting, welcoming and friendly people I have ever met. The friendly smiles and the history are what struck me the most on this visit. I spent most of my time in The Old Town of Gamla Stan, as I love history and this country is so rich in it. What struck me the most is how we’ll put a plaque on a building that is 200 years old here in the States, but 200 years in the UK is still a “new” house. In Gamla Stan, I was seeing buildings that were built sometime around or before the 15 century, a massive war ship built in 1629 as part of Sweden’s war with Poland, and many museums from Nordic history to coinage.

The view from Stortorget, the main square, of buildings more than 750 years old. One building even has a cannonball embedded in the second floor, a reminder of Danish rule and the fight for independence.

This was a great trip, and I hope to return with my entire family to enjoy this amazing country. The people are welcoming and very helpful, and the country is beautiful. I highly recommend anyone to add Sweden to their travel plans.

Oh yeah, there was a conference as well.

I spoke at a session called “My SEO Toolbox” about the tools and helps that I use to optimize and troubleshoot a website. Of course, I listed the FireFox Browser as my primary tool. As part of the browser, there are three extensions that I highly recommend; Developer Toolbar, Search Status, and Fangs Screen Reader Emulator.

Along with any tool, there should be a safety manual. So I also gave a list of warnings for relying on automated tools, using tools that go against search engine recommendations, and using tools without “reading the directions” (as men are supposedly guilty of neglecting).

It was an amazing conference, if you ever have a chance; I highly recommend attending a Search Engine Strategies conference in the near future. With the new ownership of the conference, it looks as though there will be more local conferences in the future.

It never fails to amaze me when I browse sites. One of the most critical factors on the page that affect everything from rankings, accessibility and usability is overlooked. Many times it is abused to the point of ridiculousness.

What I am talking about is the small, but powerful concept of anchor text; the contextual text that hyperlinks to another page or another site. The problem is the amount of sites that employ the following use of anchor text:

Click here
More info
Skip intro

To me, this is a ghastly oversight, especially when “click here’s” are littered throughout the page. These are links that are supposed to describe what you will find when you click the link. There are three reasons for eliminating this harmful practice from your site; Usability, Accessibility and Search Engine Rankings. When you over look this simple potential for greater success, I am sure that you will spend a few hours working on removing these unusable road signs in your site.

Concerning usability, an anchor text link of “click here” or “more info” provide no information as to what the visitor will find on the other side of those links. The goal of usability is for a site visitor to easily find their way through a site without thinking. Each step is clear and logical; information is easily found and communicated. “Click Here” provides an action, but not a reason.

For accessibility, this creates a headache to anyone using a screen reader or other assistive device to access the page. Most assistive technology allows users to bypass the navigation and go directly to the content. These programs also allow users to list the links on the page, which allows them to quickly navigate to the content. Imagine hearing a page’s link list with “click here” repeated 5 or more times in a row. With no clear description to the page of content – where does that leave the user?

Lastly, using anchor text is a rankings gold mine. Internal page links can have a positive affect on your rankings if they are structured properly. I can’t imagine that many site managers are striving for top rankings for “click here”, but it seems as through there is a competition. You can affect your rankings by changing the anchor text to be more descriptive of the content and using keywords in the description.

On of the better examples I have seen in a use of content in anchor text is the American Cancer Society’s web site, cancer.org. In developing their navigation, they identified the five major groups of visitors that come to the site and the particular interests they have. By identifying their markets and the unique concerns of each group, they were able to formulate descriptive anchor text links into the site. This allows users to quickly find the information they need.

Nick Usborne’s book, “Net Words” defines what I consider to be one of the best uses of anchor text in a web site, the “action-benefit interaction.” The text link should not only describe the information that will be found when clicking on the link, but it should also offer a promise or a benefit to the user.

From a search engine rankings standpoint, employing user benefits in your text, and especially your text link is beneficial. Searchers tend to look for solutions to their problems. When a site is focused on the needs of the users, in the language of their need, it not only increases the chances for your site to rank for those terms, but also your site’s ability to connect with those users and increase your chance to convert them to buyers.

The next time you go to write “click here” in the text of your page, stop and ask yourself; Why should the user click this link? Does it properly describe the benefit to the user? Think through your strategy and rewrite that link.

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) announced an expanded CareerConnect program to assist people with vision loss in their employment. The additional features are intended to help those with vision loss gain employment, learn of assistive technologies and interviewing skills. The site showcases the types of employment and diversity of jobs help by people with vision loss.

The site focuses on employers and rehabilitation counselors in educating them about how businesses can accommodate low vision employees with assistive technology, ADA requirements and interviewing tips.

The expanded program also offers a mentorship program where employed people with vision loss can mentor those who are searching and provide direction and advice. Family and Friends can also use the expanded program to learn of new assistive technologies, professional services and general information for supporting children with vision loss.

Interesting stat from the press release: “A third of those who have jobs have an average monthly pay rate that is 37 percent lower than the pay rate of people who are not disabled. Addressing this issue of low employment, and underemployment, for people with vision loss is a critical objective for AFB.”

This must be IBM’s week. Starting on October 3, 2005, IBM is giving away accessibility software on its website. While some are 90-day trials, and the license cost is certainly affordable. The offerings include:

Keyboard Optimizer: An application that monitors a user’s typing patterns and optimizes for mistakes. This is geared for those situations where users may not be able to lift fingers quickly from the keys.
Mouse Smoothing Software: for users with hand tremors or difficulty moving a mouse.

In addition to these user technologies, IBM is also offering applications ands software for programmers, These are designed to allow development companies increase their accessibility reach by using some very unique products.

I’ve downloaded the aDesigner software program, and I’m sure that I’ll be posting a review of it soon. This software allows programmers to view their site in different vision and blind user modes. The advantage is for designers to actually see what the user sees in the design aspect, rather than reading text-based reporting or line corrections from standard accessibility code testing.

IBM is making significant news in the accessibility world. A few weeks ago they gave FireFox code for additional accessibility features. In reading some background information in a recent article in TechWeb, IBM hired their first disabled employee in 1914. IBM has also been in advance of the times by offering programs for disabled veterans - long before the US Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

In TechWeb, IBM is working on a number of assistive technology products. One of the most anticipated product targets Graphical User Interfaces (GUI’s) as a means of pushing the envelope of assistive technology. The most recent offerings, Home Page Reader, WebAdapt2Me and ViaScribe are all serving aging-related conditions and elderly workers in addition to the typical assistive technology audience.

As a few examples, Homepage Reader is a screen reader product designed for blind users, and uses speech synthesis to read the text on web pages. One of the different features of this program is that hypertext is read with a different voice, to allow listeners to distinguish the links in context. WebAdapt2Me is a product for low-vision users or cognitive/physical disabilities. WebAdapt2Me allows users to customize font sizes, screen displays (removing wallpapers and irritating backgrounds), text spacing and animated icons.