Four people showed an interest in attending the workshop on “new technologies” and were interested in quite different things.
Two of the four people were unable to attend because of scheduling conflicts.
Instead of the workshop, individual meetings were held with each of the four people who expressed an interest.
In these meetings the following topics were discussed:
- Creating a website for a person who has never done so.
What software to use.
Finding a place to host the site.
Laying out the initial design for the site.
Making a website which can be viewed by people with older computers and slower connections.
- Making a website accessible to the visually impaired.
Writing web pages in programming code which will allow blind people to use software to listen to the content of the site.
Avoiding designs which depend upon colors and contrasts which people with limited vision cannot perceive.
Assuring that viewers can change the appearance of text.
The older approach of having a “mirror” copy of the site in a text only version.
The more recent approach of making a site accessible by using Cascading Style Sheets and Layers.
Sources of information about techniques and standards for accessible websites.
- How to improve the CPTI web site
- The use of Contribute software which allows different people to make changes in different parts of a web site
It was suggested that any future workshops on “new” technology have a clearly defined description so that the topic will be more specific and either appeal to the general user or to the technically experienced.
report: John Randall