29:
The UK Government are sponsoring a website to encourage Startup Britain.
As with 90% of UK Government websites, there are basic accessibility issues that would take somebody 5 minutes to put right. Here’s the email I sent explaining a couple of quick and easy fixes.
Hi there,
Your website looks like it could be a useful tool, but I spotted a couple of problems that could make it difficult for those with disabilities to use.
Firstly, there is no way to know where you are on the page if you’re using a keyboard and not a mouse. You have the following line in your CSS.
/resource/css/site/base/site.css line 91
a {
text-decoration: none;
outline: none;
}
If you remove it, then links that people have focused on by using the tab key will have an outline and they will know where they are on the page.
The next big issue is to do with the email signup form.
<fieldset>
<input class="clear-input textbox" id="register-email" name="entry.0.single" value="Your email address">
<a class="submit button" href="/"><span>GO</span></a>
</fieldset>
There are a number of problems here that make the form difficult for people using a screenreader to use.
1) No <form/> element. This makes it hard for people to know where on the page the form is.
2) No <label/> associated with the <input/> element.
3) An <a/> element with ambiguous text instead of a <input type="submit"/> element.
4) Form won’t work without JavaScript.
Much better would be to use something like this:
<form action="/register" method="post">
<fieldset>
<label for="register-email">Your email address</label>
<input class="clear-input textbox" id="register-email" name="entry.0.single" value="Your email address">
<span class=" button"><input type="submit" value="Go" class="submit" /></span>
</fieldset>
</form>
With this code the JavaScript enhanced form would still work, but it would fall back to a regular form if JavaScript is not available for any reason.
Hopefully your web design team can implement these changes quickly and make the site easier to use for people with disabilities. It may be worth asking them to check the rest of the site as there may well be other problems that I didn’t immediately notice.
If you have any questions then drop me a line.
Best regards
David
13:
So its a week since I wrote to the About My Vote website about the accessibility of their forms and I haven’t heard any reply. I sent them another email today.
Hello,
I sent you an email last week regarding the accessibility of this website, but have recieved no reply. I see today that the problem still hasn’t been fixed.
The issue is to do with the forms on the website. The labels for each field are currently not associated correctly with the corresponding fields. This can make the website difficult to use for people with disabilities such as poor eyesight.
Under UK law, all websites which provide a service should be made accessible. You can read more about this on the COI website (http://coi.gov.uk).
Fixing this problem would be a fairly trivial code change and would make the website more usable for a particularly disenfranchised section of society.
You can associate the form elements and labels using the “for” attribute. This should be added to the “label” element and should be have the same value as the “id” attribute on the corresponding “input” or “select” element.
Once again, if you would like to discuss this problem and it’s solution please get in touch.
Best regards
David Owens
07:
I got an email a few weeks ago from Desirable Dot Coms offering me the .com of a .org domain I already owned. This is why you should not buy a domain from them. Teaser: They don’t even own it.
This is the email I recieved.
From: domains@desirabledotcoms.com
Subject: hoxygen.com
Date: 31 March 2010 22:15:03 GMT+02:00
We are selling the domain name hoxygen.com. Since you own hoxygen.org if you would like the more desirable .com version we are making it available to you. The one time cost is $99.97. That includes a full year of registration and transfer of ownership to you. To purchase or to learn more go to:
http://www.desirabledotcoms.com/checkout.php?domain=hoxygen.com
If you pass on this opportunity someone else could purchase this domain and it may not be available again. If you are not interested we will not contact regarding this domain.
I was vaguely tempted, but didn’t fancy handing over $99 and deleted the email.
Today I received this one.
From: domains@desirabledotcoms.com
Subject: hoxygen.com
Date: 7 April 2010 18:26:47 GMT+02:00
Recently we contacted you regarding hoxygen.com. We noticed that you viewed the offer but did not make a purchase. We would like to offer you one final opportunity to secure this domain for just $39.97 a full 60% off our regular rate. To purchase please use this link for the discount:
http://www.desirabledotcoms.com/discount.php?domain=hoxygen.com
If you are not interested there is no need to reply. We will not contact you again regarding this domain.
Thank you.
Desirable Dot Coms
Desirabledotcoms.com
This made me take a second look and do a bit of research about the company. I quickly found this post about desirabledotcoms.com. Sure enough, when I checked the domain wasn’t registered to anybody. So rather than $99.97, or even the discounted rate of $39.97, I bought it at the regular price from 1 & 1 where I already have an account.
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