Jun 22 2006
WebAbacus 5.1 is accessable
We got some good PR coverage today for the upcoming release of WebAbacus 5.1. One of several major improvments in 5.1 over 5.0 is that we have added an accessability interface, conforming to the WAI’s AA standard. This brings the product up to standard in terms of inclusive design, meaning that more people can use the software, regardless of the technology they are using, or any disabilities they might have.
Accessability is really a vital part of any web application. Its about a lot more than allowing disabled users to use the content. Features such as keyboard shortcuts, will make any application faster, but for me its the WAI guidelines on meaningful semantic information in tags that make the most difference. This is (perhaps) not so relevent in a product like WebAbacus, intended for use within a strictly limited usergroup. Meaningful information in tags (for example the title element in the HTML A tag) allows lots of meta-data to be gathered about content. This can then be used by search engines, mash-ups, and any computing tool that in some way acts as a consumer for the webstie.
Meta-data then provides an almost limitless array of options. My PhD relied almost entirely on being able to make meanginful decisions on how to run software, based entirely on meaningful meta-data about the software. While not the main focus of accessability standards, this is a really fundamental and often overlooked side effect.
Technorati Tags: web analytics, accessability, meta-data, foviance
