read my article

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alex.barylski
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read my article

Post by alex.barylski »

Edit: I Should note that the primary purpose of this article is to very simply inform web site owners why web accessibility is important, not so much sell them on the idea (as their getting validated pages whether they like it or not). The point is to make them see benefits to it so they are ok with paying a little extra. :P

Not sure if this belongs here or in Enterprise or possibly even critique my code, but it's only going up for a few minutes and I'm bringing it back down as I make further changes.

I have had no techies read it (target audience) and they said it's "OK" and most understood what it was I was trying to communicate about Web Accessibility.

Now I'd like to flip the tables and ask the tech savvy community the same thing. :)

http://www.pcspectra.com/accessibility.pdf

What do you think?

3 replies (technical corrections, grammar, spelling, suggestions, questions) are welcome, thanks a bunch.

Ignore anything I preech and don't practice...assume you are a laymen when reading. :)

Ideally I'm looking for feedback on things like:
1) Does it read well
2) Does it flow well?
3) Does it make sense
4) Does it sell my services as a web developer

Cheers :)
Last edited by alex.barylski on Wed Apr 18, 2007 7:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Weirdan
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Post by Weirdan »

Adding some figures and, perhaps, case studies could help.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

Figures and case studies. have any you care to share from reputable sources?

I thought about that, but the impetus is KISS. I realize many people like charts and stats, but it would also clutter the article, which I absolutely must keep at one page.

Thanks for reading :)
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TheMoose
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Post by TheMoose »

1. It reads relatively well. I think the average reader would grasp it to an extent, but it seems to focus more towards the tech-savvy.
2. The flow is decent, though a few words seem to be repeated a bit too much.
3. It makes sense to me, but I'm a techie. Would it make sense to the average consumer? Too many acronyms and tech-specific words, so I'm not sure.
4. To me, it needs to be a bit "spruced up" in terms of the language and sound. I'll PM you an edit I think would make it feel more professional.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

TheMoose wrote:1. It reads relatively well. I think the average reader would grasp it to an extent, but it seems to focus more towards the tech-savvy.
2. The flow is decent, though a few words seem to be repeated a bit too much.
3. It makes sense to me, but I'm a techie. Would it make sense to the average consumer? Too many acronyms and tech-specific words, so I'm not sure.
4. To me, it needs to be a bit "spruced up" in terms of the language and sound. I'll PM you an edit I think would make it feel more professional.
I'm horrible at writing...it's one of my passions but admittedly greatest weakness... :)

I would appreciate your help :)

Thanks :)
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Ambush Commander
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Post by Ambush Commander »

It's a PDF! Maybe you should make an HTML version too! ;-)

But since it's in PDF form, I'm going to first pick on typography

* Remove the leading indent: it's both unnecessary (the user already knows that a new paragraph is starting) and inconsistent (all the other paragraphs are started by a double-space)
* Whitespace balance of the document could be better, namely, the text needs to be shifted a little down and to the right. The horizontal discrepancies can be fixed with justification, hyphenation, and a little shorter line length (ragged is not too bad, but if you justify, make sure you do it right with TeX or InDesign).
* Try spacing out the short list more: it gives attention to the bullets
* Overall, the document feels very much like a text-heavy piece, even though it's supposed to be a one-page tidbit. Users are turned off by long walls of text. As Weirdan notes, figures can help spruce the text up
* Do not use the ampersand (&) unless it's part of a proper noun
* Abbreviations should be in small capitals (in order to stop them from sticking out) but this is not strictly necessary

While I could go through the entire document with a red pen and mark up what I think could be better, but here's my primary idea: have examples! Jargon and conceptual thinking is great, but in the end, an example is usually what's necessary to make things click in people's minds.
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

Awesome. Thanks for that feedback.

I especially liked the spacing in the bullets idea, that really makes sense.

I also made acroynms a few points smaller and changed font to verdana...thats a very nice change, especially when printed...that was excellent advice...thanks dude.

Cheers :)
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Post by matthijs »

The others commented on the writing aspects, so I won't but I do have some remarks about the content.

You start talking about accessibility. Then about standards. And then you say XHTML is the standard, and equals the best web accessibility. That's not true.

One could use perfectly valid HTML or XHTML but have a completely inaccessible website. Or one could have an invalid HTML page which is (almost) perfectly accessible.

Even though it might seem I'm nitpicking and this is a discussion a non-tech person wouldn't understand or care about, I still think it's important.

Because in a few years from now, that same client hears from another developer that XHTML didn't become what is was supposed to be. And he hears that XHTML2 or HTML5 are the new, real and better standards. Then he becomes confused and thinks you've been telling crap.

I think we must prevent that. We must just tell clients that what we do is use web standards (doesn't matter if it's HTML or XHTML) as one of the tools to get a high quality, accessible website. Easy to maintain, search engine friendly, etc etc. I think it's more about the way you approach your work then whether or not you get a green light on the validation service.

I know this might seem a bit trivial, really no offense, your piece is OK and for most clients probably difficult enough already without going too deep into the semantics and definitions. Just wanted to clear this up.
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Maugrim_The_Reaper
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Post by Maugrim_The_Reaper »

Here's a few things:

1. Check grammer and spelling - there are a few mistakes from each in the text.
2. Name the accessibility standards. While XHTML may help, it's not an accessibility measure.
3. Your accessibility benefits are spot on ;). It's a short persuasive list.
4. How does accessibility work in the new age of Javascript/Flash powered Web 2.0 sites?
5. Accessibility is not only standards, it requires the adoption of best practices in delivering web content.
6. Don't slam IE - by itself it's not responsible for accessibility issues. Remember it actually must support accessibility otherwise large companies would complain very loudly (many companies are bound by law to publish accessible web sites).
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Oren
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Post by Oren »

Second paragraph, first line "and it's impact" should be "and its impact".

It's nice but it is useless. I don't want to hurt you, but it's really useless. I'll tell you why:

For the tech guys like us - we don't need it cause we already know all that and way much more.
For the clients that you expect to pay you an extra - it won't convince them to pay you an extra.

If you want them to understand why you deserve an extra, try something like this:

http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-frien ... es-1.shtml
http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-frien ... es-2.shtml

You need to tell them how they will benefit from all these accessibility stuff.
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Oren
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Post by Oren »

Edit: Haa... You've just deleted your post. Ok so you can ignore this post now :P

[ignore]
How is it correct? Here is the line I was talking about:

"As the Web continues to grow and it's impact on business and society is more profound,"

With "it's" = and it is impact on...

With "its" = and the impact of the web on...
[/ignore]
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aaronhall
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Post by aaronhall »

Sorry, sorry :oops: looking at the wrong "it's" on that line.
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Oren
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Post by Oren »

aaronhall wrote:Sorry, sorry :oops: looking at the wrong "it's" on that line.
Yeah, that's what I thought happened. That's why I posted the line I was talking about.
Don't worry, that's ok 8)
alex.barylski
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Post by alex.barylski »

Feedback is appreciated. :)

Many thanks peeps :)
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