You Are Here: IT Accessibility Committee January 2006 Newsletter
### Edited by Joel Obuchowski
January IT Accessibility Committee Meeting
Thursday, January 12, 2:30-4:00
NYS Forum offices, 411 State Street, Albany
Please be sure to join us for our January IT Accessibility Committee meeting.
At our December meeting, members of the committee volunteered to adopt various sections of our curriculum (from our resource site at http://www.nysforum.org/accessibility/resources/) and review them with a view toward updating them. We will be offering several components of the curriculum during the spring, and need to ensure that what we have is current, accurate, and reflects best practices.
Here are the assignments:
- Background: Policy and Law - Recently updated, okay as is
- Eating the Elephant - Mike Short
- Images and Visual Elements - Debi Orton
- Cascading Style Sheets - Jason Gleman
- Tables - Debi Orton
- Forms - Kathy Farrell
- Scripting and Programmatic Elements - Jason Gleman
- Adobe® PDF Documents and Other Proprietary Formats - Ellen Cataldo
- XML - Mike Short
- Multimedia - Sharon Trerise
- Usability - Sharon Trerise
- Validation and Testing - Debi Orton
If you have adopted a section, please be prepared to provide a status report on your efforts.
We will also be discussing the status of the GOER/PEF training on Successful Web Communications, options for our participation in the Governor's AT Expo in May, our efforts to encourage validation vendors to provide assistance in implementing a testing solution for the NYS accessibility guidelines, and recent assistance provided to agencies.
As always, there will also be time for attendees to discuss the issues they are encountering. If you have any questions, problems, etc., bring them with you.
RECENT NEWS
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE WORLD WIDE WEB
Happy Birthday, WWW!
That's right, the World Wide Web celebrated its fifteenth birthday on December 23, 2005. Talk about a growth spurt!
Governor Announces $10 Million in "Access to Home" Grants
On Wednesday, December 7, 2005, Governor George E. Pataki today announced State funding awards worth over $10.2 million to help New York seniors and those with disabilities to remain in their homes and out of nursing homes. These awards mark the first round of funding under the State's new "Access to Home" program launched by the Governor earlier this year in his State of the State address.
The following is the link to the complete press release: http://www.ny.gov/governor/press/05/1207053.htm 
TOOLS and TRAINING
Successful Web Communications Courses Still Available
Due to popular demand, we are going to open the popular Successful Web Communications Series to web development personnel represented by unions other than PEF and employees designated as Management/Confidential on a standby basis. That is, for classes in which there are empty seats one week prior to the class start date, we will allow individuals in other bargaining units -- and other branches of state (e.g., Legislature, Thruway Authority, Teachers Retirement System, etc.) and local government -- to participate on a first come, first served basis.
For PEF, M/C and CSEA Executive Branch employees, GOER will make payment arrangements at no charge to the employee. Employees in other branches of government, and those represented by other unions, will need to make payment arrangements with our training vendor, MicroKnowledge.
This series is also available in Rochester and New York City, so if your agency employs web developers in the Western or Downstate regions, please share this information with them.
You can find class, schedule, and registration information on this program on the GOER web site: http://www.goer.state.ny.us/train/WebCommunications/ .
FREE WebCast on NYS Standards and Validation Tools -- Tell Your Friends!
Because New York's standards for web accessibility are a hybrid of the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and U. S. Section 508 guidelines, many web developers have reported difficulty in finding a tool that supports customized validation. The Committee has reached out to a number of validation tool vendors to ask for their help in solving this problem.
The first to respond was HiSoftware, the developers of AccVerify, AccMonitor, and Cynthia Says. On January 18, 2006, from 2:00 p.m.- 3:00 p.m. EST, HiSoftware will be holding a FREE Web Cast on "Assuring Content Quality and Accessibility for your Web Site." Here is HiSoftware's invitation to this event:
Please join our product demonstration to learn how HiSoftware's solutions can assist you not only with 508 and W3C standards but also with the New York State web accessibility policies and standards. HiSoftware's verification, repair and monitoring software solutions provide a comprehensive interface for testing content against global standards for Accessibility, Privacy, Usability, Search and additional custom standards.
These solutions, available as desktop and automated server-based applications, empower quality assurance teams and content developers to create and manage Web Content quality factors. They provide "out-of-the-box" testing and reporting for Accessibility, Privacy, Metadata and Usability standards. They also allow users to define and conduct custom tests. The final result is a complete and concise report on the total accessibility, quality and policy compliance status of content that has been tested. The software allows users to work collaboratively on reporting and repair and provides unsurpassed team services, workflow capabilities and a flexible, scalable enterprise monitoring system.
Please register on-line today!
Registration process: Online: http://www.hisoftware.com/events/nys.html
You will receive an email confirmation that will include the information necessary to attend the event.
WOW Search Workshop, April 26-27
Albany, NY
It's estimated that more than 350 million English language Web searches are conducted every day! Web searching is now the second most widely used Internet operation after e-mail and is a critical task/skill required for using today's Web be it for e-commerce, education/research, on-the-job, or just plain Web-surfing for fun. Surprisingly, most Web searchers really don't know how to optimize their search requests and are therefore usually forced to "wade through" multiple pages of search responses.
Search engines are the market makers of the Internet.
They connect consumers with providers at the very moment of consumer interest and enable all of us to find exactly what we want, when we want it. Therefore providers of Web services need to make sure that "searchers" are able to efficiently and effectively identify their services amidst all others on the Web.
This two-day workshop will provide attendees with the knowledge and skill to effectively "search and be searched" on the Web. "Searchers" will learn the key elements of formulating and optimizing their search requests. Web service and content providers will learn what they must do in order to achieve high search rankings and increase the probability of being found by the "searchers."
For more information, or to register, see: http://www.joinwow.org/community/events/websummit8/
NOTE: WOW is recognized by PEF and GOER as a qualified professional organization for the purposes of tuition reimbursement.
Free Training at MicroKnowledge
Benefits of Using Cascading Style Sheets http://www.microknowledge.com/Courses/Free_Events/CA-BenCSS.html
May 4, 2006 - 8:00 to 10:30 AM
Learn about Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) as a primary design tool to create fast loading and easy-to-manage accessible web sites. Discover how CSS eliminates the use of tables for layout and workarounds considered necessary for cross-browser and cross-platform compatibility. Eleonora Morrell, MicroKnowledge's webmaster and web design expert will examine a table-based web page and methods for replicating the same design in CSS. Leave understanding through demonstration the differences in page rendering, updates to multiple pages, and design flexibility.
Hosted at Empire State College, 21 British American Boulevard, Latham NY 12110
- Refreshments Served 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM
- Free Training Event 8:30 AM to 10:30 AM
- RSVP Mary Miller at 518-786-1181, mmiller@microknowledge.com
- Or register online at www.microknowledge.com
New Version of Popular Web Developer Toolbar for Firefox
Chris Pederick has released an update to his popular Web Developer Toolbar extension for Firefox. To download the toolbar, visit: https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/showlist.php?application=firefox&category=Developer%20Tools&numpg=10&pageid=10.
The following items were originally distributed via the "Accessible IT Technical Bulletin" newsletters from The Northeast ADA & IT Center at Cornell University
To receive full version future installments of this bulletin, please call the The Northeast ADA & IT Center at Cornell University at 1-800-949-4232.
Per the "Accessible IT Technical Bulletin: December 2005" newsletter ....
Webcast Archive: Student Information Systems and Individuals with Disabilities
From NCDAE
Almost every college or university in the U.S. uses electronic information technology for class registration, financial aid services, and course grades and transcripts. As education-based web services become more complex, students and faculty with non-traditional computer interface abilities face greater barriers. The needs of students and faculty who use assistive technology such as screen readers or who don't use a mouse are seldom considered as web-based services are designed and implemented. The three panelists invited to participate in the November 30, 2005 NCDAE webcast addressed these issues from various perspectives including disability student services, web design and university information technology administration.
Listen to the archived webcast at http://www.ncdae.org/webcasts/ .
Per the "Accessible IT Technical Bulletin: January 2006" newsletter ....
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Leadership Academy: Ensuring Campus Web Site Accessibility
Two Locations
- January 13, 2006
- 9:00 3:30 p.m.
- Ocean County College
- Toms River, New Jersey
- March 14, 2006
- 9:00 3:30 p.m.
- Syracuse University
- Syracuse, New York
Teams consisting of staff in IT, publications, libraries and disability services from colleges in New Jersey and New York are invited to register for one of two programs covering many aspects of web accessibility including:
- Legal considerations
- Costs and benefits of accessible design
- Barriers created by inaccessible web pages for people with disabilities
- Specific accessible design techniques
- Creating accessible distance learning content
- Evaluating your web pages for accessibility
- Making a plan for ensuring that your campus web site is accessible
Plan to have a team from your college attend. Visit the Events page of the Northeast ADA & IT Center to register for either event. Call 800-949-4232 if you have questions.
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NYS Governor's AT Expo
Save the date, May 11, 2006, for this semi-annual event, the Governors Assistive Technology Expo. Find more information for attendees, presenters and vendors at http://www.atexpo2006.com/ .
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Tutorial: Using WAVE 3.5
From WebAIM December Newsletter
This tutorial steps users through the process of evaluating web content for accessibility using WAVE 3.5. The WAVE (Web Accessibility Versatile Evaluator) is a Web-based tool to help Web developers make their Web content more accessible. WAVE facilitates evaluation by exposing many kinds of accessibility errors in the content, as well as possible errors, accessibility features, semantic elements, and structural elements. Learn how to use WAVE 3.5. Read the full tutorial: Using WAVE 3.5.
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If you have questions or topics you'd like to see covered in our monthly newsletter, please contact Mike Short (mbs1@cs.state.ny.us), Debi Orton (dorton@goer.state.ny.us) or Lisa Ryan (lryan@MicroKnowledge.com) to let them know.