[thelist] Site Check: Is it accessible?

[Stephen Rider]

>    * [Y]ou should remove the square brackets from the alt text in  
> the main menu.

Done.  The main navigation menu is also a UL now.

>    * I also think you should reconsider the abbreviations that are  
> used
> in addresses - e.g. "W. Diversey Pkwy."  The screen reader does not
> recognise the last word as "parkway" and the meaning is lost.

If I were to put such words within <abbr> tags, would screen readers  
read out the title of the tag instead?

Thus:
<abbr title="parkway">Pkwy.</abbr>

>    * Add a "skip to content" link at the top of every page so that the
> header and menu can be avoided.  It takes a couple of minutes for  
> these
> to be read out on every page unless the user skips forward with the
> keyboard.

I recall somebody a while back on this list putting together a "skip  
link" on his site that only appeared if you were tabbing along with  
the keyboard.  IIRC, it was hidden with CSS but if you tabbed to it  
it suddenly appeared, then disappeared if you tabbed off it again.   
Does anyone else remember this?  Does it work well?

> A great tool I use a lot is Fangs
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/fangs  extension for firefox/mozilla

I'll check it out.  Thanks.

> My eyes seem to be somewhat sensitive to color contrasts and I find  
> the AMD
> stamp makes the address text and email address link somewhat  
> difficult to
> read where there is overlap

I'll see what I can do about that.

> the contact form could do with a label fix for the select box
>
> Looks like you have used fixed font-sizes for navigation/breadcrumb
> etc - will not enlarge in internet explorer.

Done and Done.  Not sure how I missed the font size ish-- I'm usually  
pretty good about those (as I am very nearsighted).  Must be taking  
Firefox for granted!


Thanks again,
Stephen