February 13, 2004

Librarians' Strategies for Keeping Current

In the Library Journal article, Strategies for Keeping Current, Roy Tennant offers some nuggets of advice to librarians for keeping up to date with technology.

Perhaps the most important nugget is this one:

Be responsible: You are accountable for your own learning. No one is more responsible for your professional development than you. Don't expect the organization that hired you to make sure you are developing as a professional.
Posted by Andrew at 12:39 AM

April 03, 2003

An accessibility rant

The following was a little piece that I wrote in response to some posts on the Web4Lib discussion list commenting on the inherent inaccessibility of DHTML menus.


***************************************

Replies inline:

TD> that you have
TD> a responsibility to support users who use keyboard navigation and those
TD> who have Javascript disabled. Making essential site navigation
TD> available only through Javascript mouseovers is a serious accessibility
TD> failure.

Very true, but it isn't as hard to make such things accessible as some
people would have you believe.

Creating a keyboard navigation-compatible DHTML menu isn't any more
difficult than creating keyboard navigation on any other page.

It's also quite easy to make JavaScript-based navigation degrade to simple HTML links when
JavaScript is turned off.

<div class="menuLabel" id="menuLabel1"><a class="ml" onclick="menuShow(event,1); return false;"
onmouseover="menuShow(event,1)" href="items.html" accesskey="l"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">L</span>abel1</a></div>

<div class="menuBox" id="menu1">
<a class="m" href="item1.html" accesskey="1">Item <span style="text-decoration: underline;">1</span></a><br>
<a class="m" href="item2.html" accesskey="2">Item <span style="text-decoration: underline;">2</span></a><br>
<a class="m" href="item3.html" accesskey="3">Item <span style="text-decoration: underline;">3</span></a><br>
</div>


The example above shows the markup for a simple DHTML menu.

The first couple lines contain define the menu label. Including an
href and the "return false" within the on onclick event handler allows
the menu label to function as a plain HTML link when JavaScript is
turned off.

Also, you'll notice that each of the menu links employs an accesskey
to ease keyboard navigation.


EO> please also include
EO> some method to skip the navigation for text/limited-or-no-sight browser
EO> users. Methods include the 1x1 pixel "invisible" gif with link to anchor
EO> after the navigation and/or use CSS to create an aural (and/or print)
EO> stylesheet. If anyone has another method, please let me know.

Another method is to use CSS set the link text's display to "hidden".

Examples of both methods are below:

<a name="topofpage" id="linktocontent" href="#content" style="display:hidden;">skip to main content</a>
<a href="#content" title="skip to main content"><img src="spacer.gif" alt="skip to main content - image link" border="0"></a>

Both of these methods will satisfy section o of Section 508:
A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive
navigation links.


PLP> I run into this issue frequently. Some people think javascript mouseover
PLP> menus are a good way of cramming lots of choices on the page, without making
PLP> it look crowded.

Menus are a very good way of placing many choices into a small area.
Additionally, menu conventions are firmly established, with OS GUIs
making wide use of menus.

PLP> So, before using javascript, I think one should try to organize their pages
PLP> better, perhaps a different schema is needed if the menus are necessary.

Menus are rarely necessary, however they can greatly clean up an
interface that would otherwise be cluttered. Also,

PLP> If on the other hand, it must be, my understanding of accessibility is that
PLP> as long as there is an alternative, it is fine.

Yes and no.

Yes, if you can't make your pages accessible through other means, then
alternatives are needed. Again, this is clearly stated in Section
508:

(k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be
provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when
compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the
text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.

Please note the words "cannot be accomplished in any other way"
above.

In addition to creating a duplicate site maintenance need, alternative
content and/or functionality is all too often simply slapped onto a
site. While this may technically provide compliance, it can lead to
an attitude of complacency towards accessibility and site design for
alternate access devices.

Remember, accessibility is just one part of site design. You still
must make an effort to make sure that your users will be able to
effectively interact with your site no matter which user agent they
are using. You can create a site that complies with all of the
accessibility guidelines, yet still be a nightmare to use with an
alternate access device.

Just like site design for conventional visual browsers, accessibility
(ensuring cross-browser compatibility is simply accessibility applied
to visual browsers) is just one aspect of ensuring that your site
functions well, and no level of accessibility guideline compliance
alone will ensure that your users will be able to easily use your
site.


--
Andrew

Posted by Andrew at 10:56 PM

An accessibility rant

The following was a little piece that I wrote in response to some posts on the Web4Lib discussion list commenting on the inherent inaccessibility of DHTML menus.


***************************************

Replies inline:

TD> that you have
TD> a responsibility to support users who use keyboard navigation and those
TD> who have Javascript disabled. Making essential site navigation
TD> available only through Javascript mouseovers is a serious accessibility
TD> failure.

Very true, but it isn't as hard to make such things accessible as some
people would have you believe.

Creating a keyboard navigation-compatible DHTML menu isn't any more
difficult than creating keyboard navigation on any other page.

It's also quite easy to make JavaScript-based navigation degrade to simple HTML links when
JavaScript is turned off.

<div class="menuLabel" id="menuLabel1"><a class="ml" onclick="menuShow(event,1); return false;"
onmouseover="menuShow(event,1)" href="items.html" accesskey="l"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">L</span>abel1</a></div>

<div class="menuBox" id="menu1">
<a class="m" href="item1.html" accesskey="1">Item <span style="text-decoration: underline;">1</span></a><br>
<a class="m" href="item2.html" accesskey="2">Item <span style="text-decoration: underline;">2</span></a><br>
<a class="m" href="item3.html" accesskey="3">Item <span style="text-decoration: underline;">3</span></a><br>
</div>


The example above shows the markup for a simple DHTML menu.

The first couple lines contain define the menu label. Including an
href and the "return false" within the on onclick event handler allows
the menu label to function as a plain HTML link when JavaScript is
turned off.

Also, you'll notice that each of the menu links employs an accesskey
to ease keyboard navigation.


EO> please also include
EO> some method to skip the navigation for text/limited-or-no-sight browser
EO> users. Methods include the 1x1 pixel "invisible" gif with link to anchor
EO> after the navigation and/or use CSS to create an aural (and/or print)
EO> stylesheet. If anyone has another method, please let me know.

Another method is to use CSS set the link text's display to "hidden".

Examples of both methods are below:

<a name="topofpage" id="linktocontent" href="#content" style="display:hidden;">skip to main content</a>
<a href="#content" title="skip to main content"><img src="spacer.gif" alt="skip to main content - image link" border="0"></a>

Both of these methods will satisfy section o of Section 508:
A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive
navigation links.


PLP> I run into this issue frequently. Some people think javascript mouseover
PLP> menus are a good way of cramming lots of choices on the page, without making
PLP> it look crowded.

Menus are a very good way of placing many choices into a small area.
Additionally, menu conventions are firmly established, with OS GUIs
making wide use of menus.

PLP> So, before using javascript, I think one should try to organize their pages
PLP> better, perhaps a different schema is needed if the menus are necessary.

Menus are rarely necessary, however they can greatly clean up an
interface that would otherwise be cluttered. Also,

PLP> If on the other hand, it must be, my understanding of accessibility is that
PLP> as long as there is an alternative, it is fine.

Yes and no.

Yes, if you can't make your pages accessible through other means, then
alternatives are needed. Again, this is clearly stated in Section
508:

(k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be
provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when
compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the
text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.

Please note the words "cannot be accomplished in any other way"
above.

In addition to creating a duplicate site maintenance need, alternative
content and/or functionality is all too often simply slapped onto a
site. While this may technically provide compliance, it can lead to
an attitude of complacency towards accessibility and site design for
alternate access devices.

Remember, accessibility is just one part of site design. You still
must make an effort to make sure that your users will be able to
effectively interact with your site no matter which user agent they
are using. You can create a site that complies with all of the
accessibility guidelines, yet still be a nightmare to use with an
alternate access device.

Just like site design for conventional visual browsers, accessibility
(ensuring cross-browser compatibility is simply accessibility applied
to visual browsers) is just one aspect of ensuring that your site
functions well, and no level of accessibility guideline compliance
alone will ensure that your users will be able to easily use your
site.


--
Andrew

Posted by Andrew at 10:56 PM

March 02, 2003

New Alexandria library wants it all

The NY Times reports in "Online Library Wants It All, Every Book", that a new library in Alexandria, Egypt has set its aim to be much like the fabled library of ancient Alexandria, namely to have a copy every book know to existence.

Posted by Andrew at 02:02 AM

February 23, 2003

Library Lookup

John Udell's Library Lookup allows you to automatically look to see if books mentioned on a web page are available at your local library.

A must for any bibliophile.

Posted by Andrew at 05:00 AM