Michael J Byers

I have recently taken over the maintenance of the Ayr Fairtrade Partnership website. My first task was to improve the code to valid web standards. My next task was to make it accessible.

Now that I have completed those two tasks I have relaunched it. Go check out what the Ayr Fairtrade Partnership is all about and maybe change your buying habits to help others.

General websites, accessibility standards

When making websites accessible I find myself having to use various accessibility tools and resources. I have produced a list of some I have found. As usual if I have missed any please leave a comment and share the ones you use.

1. Accessible Data Tables
2. Accessible Form Builder
3. Accessibility Valet Demonstrator
4. Access Matters
5. aDesigner
6. AnyBrowser
7. ATRC Web Accessibility Checker
8. Chris Pederick's Firefox Web Developer toolbar
9. Colour Blindness Simulator
10. Fujitsu Web Accessibility Inspector
11. GrayBit: Grayscale conversion contrast
12. Luminosity Colour Contrast Ratio Analyser
13. Page Size Limits
14. Taw: Web Accessibility Test
15. Total Validator
16. Truwex Web Accessibility Testing
17. UITest
18. WAVE: Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
19. WebbIE
20. What is Web Accessibility

Accessibility accessibility, accessibility standards, websites

Building Findable Websites: Web Standards, SEO, and Beyond by Aarron Walter

This is a great book on building your website the right way. If you build it to meet web and accessibility standards then search engines will love it. All you need to work on is your content.

Write your content for humans first. Have relevant and attractive content to make your site worth finding. But always remember that if the site works for the visually impaired then it works for search engines.

The book also covers how to hold on to your audience with RSS, mailing lists and user generated content.

This well written book should be part an essential reference when building your websites.

Book Recommendations reviews, web standards, accessibility standards, seo