Jaws 11 public beta introduces support for drag and drop with WAI ARIA. Although Jaws has included desktop drag and drop capability for some while, the same functionality on a web page has always been more difficult. Jaws 11 now indicates which elements on the page can be dr...
Vinux: Linux for Blind & Partially Sighted People
Vinux is a Linux distribution optimised for blind and partially sighted people. Originally based on Ubuntu, Vinux 2.0 beta was released earlier this month based on the Debian distribution. Vinux boots with screen reader and Braille support fully loaded, and with screen magni...
Slow roast pork & wholegrain mustard mash
Sunday lunch is a time to indulge yourself. Gather up your friends and family, catch up on all the news, and enjoy a sumptuous roast. For years I wondered how to roast pork so that the crackling came out just right. The secret is slow cooking, proving that all good things in...
Chorizo, Taleggio & polenta bake
Like most good recipes, this one has evolved over the years. It's one of those dishes that you can play fast and loose with, without worrying about it at all. Two of my favourite foods are chorizo and cheese, so this recipe comes perilously close to heaven as far as I'm conc...
Screen Reader Support for ARIA Live Regions
Rich Internet Application (RIA) websites encourage people to generate content, collaborate online and make choices about the information they receive. Unsurprisingly, RIA websites can represent a considerable challenge for screen reader users. The WAI's Accessible Rich Inter...
Accessible Twitter Applications
There's simply no denying it. Twitter is one of the web's killer applications of the moment. It's not uncommon to hear of people buying a computer and getting online, just so they can start tweeting.
Twitter is also proving popular with blind and partially sighted people. Th...
Jaws Scripts for Accessibility Links
Bruce Lawson recently asked whether adding rel=accessibility to the HTMl 5 specification was a good idea. Among the initial comments, Jared Smith noted that getting assistive technologies to support the idea might be a problem. For the major screen readers at least, I though...
Guide to Emoticons
Emoticons are short strings of punctuation intended to express emotions in type written text. Text can be a very antiseptic way of communicating and without the ability to see the facial expressions of the person you are talking to, it can sometimes be difficult to correctly...
Guide to WCAG
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are developed by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The WAI is a branch of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the organisation that provides guidelines and specifications for many web technologies.
The mission statement for the...