Re: [WSG] User testing results to reinforce 'no popup' recommendation [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
Thanks Nate for the links. I really want to focus on the usability impacts of pop-ups. I'd love to see the AGIMO research that was done - do you have the name of someone within the organisation that I could contact with regards to sourcing this? ~ brad Ward, Nathan wrote: Hi Brad, I don't have any test data that shows this, however, below are a two articles from Digital Web Magazine that mention the topic. I'm also fairly sure that AGIMO has some research on the topic but I couldn't find it this afternoon. You could also check out the Vision Australia website (http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/). http://www.digital-web.com/articles/accessible_by_design/ Avoid using links that create a new browser window. If you do use them, warn users. Users may not be aware of the shift in their system's focus. It may disorient or confuse them. This is also a usability issue since users can't use the Back button to navigate back and revisit pages. It's easy to accidentally close the wrong window and lose what you want to access. Add a text warning message or place a small icon (with a warning in the ALT attribute) before links that will spawn a new window. Avoid pop-up windows, when possible. This has problems similar to creating a new window, but also has JavaScript complications. Access to the pop-up should be device independent. More importantly, make the content in the pop-up accessible if JavaScript is turned off. http://www.digital-web.com/articles/designer_user_partnership/ The other area designers overstep is in controlling the user environment. The Web behaves in ways that are predictable to users. For example, when a user clicks a link, the browser requests the page from the Web server, the Web server sends the page to the browser, and the Web browser renders the page. Sometimes designers get involved in this transaction by moving the cursor directly to the search input field or opening links in a new window. We, as designers, use these methods because we want to be helpful. We assume that most users will want to use the search feature on arrival; to make things easier, we put the cursor in the search input field. We assume that most users will want to keep in contact with our site while exploring other sites; to make things easier, we open external links in a new window. But sometimes these helpful interventions wind up causing usability problems because they violate expectations. People expect to begin listening to or tabbing through a Web page from its beginning and will be disoriented if the cursor focus is not at the top of the page. People expect to use the Back button to retrace their navigation path and will not be able to return to the originating site if it is not in the window history. While these actions may be helpful to some, they will create usability problems for others. Moving the cursor and opening a new window are functions of the user environment and should be performed by the user. Cheers, Nate *From:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *On Behalf Of *Brad Pollard *Sent:* Wednesday, 18 June 2008 16:44 *To:* wsg@webstandardsgroup.org *Subject:* [WSG] User testing results to reinforce 'no popup' recommendation A dear client is holding us over a barrel. Does anyone have some user test data/video (that they are willing to share) that shows that forcing a popup window for external links is a bad idea? ~ brad pollard 02 9699 7145 IMPORTANT The information transmitted is for the use of the intended recipient only and may contain confidential and/or legally privileged material. Any review, re-transmission, disclosure dissemination or other use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information by persons or entities other than the intended recipient is prohibited and may result in severe penalties. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the Privacy Hotline of the Australian Taxation Office, telephone 13 28 69 and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments. *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
[WSG] User testing results to reinforce 'no popup' recommendation
A dear client is holding us over a barrel. Does anyone have some user test data/video (that they are willing to share) that shows that forcing a popup window for external links is a bad idea? ~ brad pollard 02 9699 7145 Andrew Cunningham wrote: Use amp; nbsp; lt; and gt; All other characters should be actual characters. Use a character encoding that contains all the characters you require. Use of NCRs and other entities should be rare occurances for language challenged environments. Andrew kevin_erickson wrote: Hello, I am looking for advice on if the best way to code for special characters is to use the actual character or the attribute value or the alt code? i.e. for the ampersand should one use or amp;? Does it matter? I know that Dreamweaver automates some of this but what is the best practice? Thank you kevin *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] IE8 news
That is fantastic. Well done to all the people that engaged in this issue. And. thank you microsoft. Looking forward now to running the IE8 beta. Brad Thomas Thomassen wrote: True. IE is more than just a browser. It's a development platform. Intranet systems, HTA applications etc. Some of them might be used in mission critial systems where it's less than ideal to update the HTML and CSS every time IE updates it rendering engine so locking them self to a spesific version is very handy for them. There are still systems using DOS software for their operation because porting it to a new system would cause a great risk of bugs. - Original Message - From: "John Hancock" [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 5:34 AM Subject: Re: [WSG] IE8 news ***List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfmUnsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfmHelp: [EMAIL PROTECTED]***
Re: [WSG] Investigating the proposed alt attribute recommendations in HTML 5
If the developers of flickr.com or Photobucket were to implement the recommendations regarding the omission of the alt attribute within the current HTML 5 draft what are the potential effects upon the accessibility of the sites for users of assistive technology such as screen readers? Investigating the proposed alt attribute recommendations in HTML 5 - http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/articles/altinhtml5.html Omitting the alt attribute as a requirement may have a level of appropriateness for sites like flickr (as it currently stands) but flickr should be doing more to encourage their contributors to write a bit more of a story about their images - the extra information would be useful to not only the visually impaired. The inclusion of the alt attribute as a requirement has improved developer awareness of accessibility - we all work with images. The alt attribute as a requirement has played, and should continue to play, an important role in accessibility. *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Markup an Address?
Use a microformat: http://microformats.org/wiki/hcard - Original Message - From: Diego La Monica To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Saturday, August 11, 2007 5:52 PM Subject: Re: [WSG] Markup an Address? Ryan Moore: Looking for best practice markup for addresses. is it correct to use dl dtMain Office/dt dd123 Fake Street/dd ddSomewhere, SomeCountry, SomeZip/dd /dl or is there a better practice for this? Diego La Monica: Ryan, I don't think is the correct use for dl+dt/dd because dt is a term while dd is a definition for the term, and in a dictionary it would be the best method (IMHO) because a term could have more than one definition, but in an address, each definition (in your example) is right, but any of them must be omitted. I suppose that the correct way to represent an address is by microformats. Bye. -- Diego La Monica Web: programmazione, standards, accessibilità e 2.0 Brainbench certified (transcript ID # 6653550) for: RDBMS Concepts; HTML 4.0 W3C HTML WG IWA/HWG Member Responsabile liste IWA Italy ( [EMAIL PROTECTED] ) Web Skill Profiles WG Member ( http://skillprofiles.eu ) phone +390571464992 - mobile +393337235382 MSN Messenger: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype: diego.la.monica - ICQ #: 249-460-264 Web: http://diegolamonica.info *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] vCard File
vCard's (.vcf files) will also open in a Mac OS X Address book. Not everyone will have a VCF compatible address book and hence an attempt should be made to educate/explain their use. You should mark up the displayed address information as an hCard: http://microformats.org/wiki/hcard ... and then use the technorati vcard generator http://technorati.com/contact to scrape the page and produce your vcard for you Can someone please suggest a cool icon for vCard downloads? It must be 2.0 of course :-) - Original Message - From: Joyce Evans To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2007 12:51 PM Subject: [WSG] vCard File I think there may have been a discussion regarding the vCard File recently, and if there was, I didn't study those emails because I didn't have to deal with it at the time. Today, however, I got a new project of re-creating a website with the current design. On this client's contact page, there is a link to the .vcf file, which when I click on it, the client's contact information appears in the Contacts section of my Outlook program. I've never seen a link to a vCard File on a website until today. Is it okay to have this link? What happens if the visitor to the website does not use Outlook? Thank you. Joyce *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] ABC News Online have a new website
Pete Ottery wrote: http://abc.net.au/news/ someone out there on the list must have been involved :) surely give us the goss about how it went/is going. congrats Indeed, it would be nice to hear a bit more from the folks involved at the ABC. But before we sing too many praises... when I view the site using my very popular windows mobile 5 enabled smartphone (running Internet Explorer Mobile) it looks terrible and I cannot see any of the stories. The last ABC news website looked far better on my phone than the new site. No mobile style sheet! BTW looks OK on Mozilla's Minimo and great on Opera MINI. Brad - Original Message - From: Peter Ottery [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11:52 AM Subject: Re: [WSG] ABC News Online have a new website Brad wrote: Really enjoying the new ABC News website here in Australia. http://abc.net.au/news/ ditto - love it. an amazing achievement to get that up and out. i particularly like the nice little attention to detail like the css hovers/icons on the links and the inline video. the video section itself is hot too - the my playlist thing is very slick. although the play playlist link could scream out a bit more. someone out there on the list must have been involved :) surely give us the goss about how it went/is going. congrats. pete ottery *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
[WSG] ABC News Online have a new website
Really enjoying the new ABC News website here in Australia. http://abc.net.au/news/ Tags (MyTags), Unobtrusive, Semantic, Quick launch video and audio content, News by State, News by Postcode! And a great user preferences section where you can set your connection speed, preferred video format, page layout (fixed width/flexible) etc And yes, it validates! (transitional) Surely there is something they have forgotten. *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] Use of PDFs - Accessibility issues
Here is the thread that discussed making PDFs accessible: http://www.mail-archive.com/wsg@webstandardsgroup.org/msg28067.html The effort involved in creating the PDFs in an accessible format will be significant. Handheld users frequently avoid opening PDFs since they are often a large file size - bandwidth and cost being the limiting factors here. Brad Pollard http://www.fatpublisher.com.au - Original Message - From: John Faulds [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Friday, June 08, 2007 8:00 AM Subject: Re: [WSG] Use of PDFs - Accessibility issues There was some discussion recently about how hard it is to create accessible PDFs (ie very hard) but I would've thought the obvious reason not to do it is that not everyone has a PDF reader installed so why potentially cut off some of your content from certain users? If it's in HTML at least everyone's going to be able to see it. Also, are handheld users able to view PDFs? I would've thought not. On Fri, 08 Jun 2007 01:04:01 +1000, Nick Roper [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: First of all, please let me know if this post is inappropriate for this list. If so then please point me elsewhere. We have a client for whom we created a website some 7 years ago. The site has developed over the years, and now comprises approximately 140 pages across a dozen or so categories. The customer is a hotel/leisure/golf resort in the UK and has two main types of site visitor: 1) Club members (approx 5000) 2) Non members that are looking for weekend breaks, golf venues, wedding venues, dining, conference facilities etc. The current site uses 99.9% html for content, with a server-based CMS that we developed and put in place at the outset, and which is used to update the site several times a day with news of results, events, etc, etc. Anyway, to get to the point, the customer has now been advised by a marketing agency that the site should be reduced in size to approx 45 key pages, and that the majority of content for things such as conference room specification and rates, bedroom specs and rates, menus, events, golf rates, membership rates etc, should be made available in PDF form instead of the html pages that are on the current site. I am aware that recent versions of Adobe allow more accessible PDF content to be created, but I would be grateful for thoughts on the use of PDF content instead of html content. Just to confirm, the recommendation from the agency is to replace existing html content with PDF version, not to provide PDFs as an additional alternative. I have researched articles on various sites, and the general advice seems to be that PDFs have their place when specific layout or functionality requires, but that these are generally considered to be fairly exceptional cases, such as legal forms that must be delivered in an original format, or multi-columnar information that cannot be degraded to an acceptable single column layout. I know that the customer will quite possibly consider any representation from us to avoid going down this path as an attempt to protect our interests in redevelopment proposals, so I would be very grateful for feedback and recommendations from others. Many thanks, -- Tyssen Design www.tyssendesign.com.au Ph: (07) 3300 3303 Mb: 0405 678 590 *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] best standard / format for imbeded mp3 player in browser
For those after a flash component, this one is good: http://www.1pixelout.net/code/audio-player-wordpress-plugin/ brad fatpublisher - Original Message - From: Jixor - Stephen I To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2007 3:53 PM Subject: Re: [WSG] best standard / format for imbeded mp3 player in browser Yes, IMHO the best thing to do is to provide both a direct link to the file and a flash player that is customized to your site's design. James Ellis wrote: Hi Ben a href=/path/to/file.mp3file.mp3 [50 Kb]/a works well and allows people to play the file in the player of their choice (maybe they even have their browser set up to do this if they want). They can also download it for later playing. If you want to play it inside a browser then I'm sure there is a flash component that will play mp3's with play and pause buttons? HTH James On 4/12/07, Benedict Wyss [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi all, just wondering which (free) mp3 player works best cross browsers with minimal code etc etc All opinions and suggestions welcome. Thanks, Ben *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] [OT] Australian Payment Providers
[OT] Australian Payment ProvidersWe have a number of ecommerce sites running through Direct Payment Solutions. I recommend them. Nothing bad to report actually. They have a close understanding of all the major bank requirements here in Australia. They are actually a NZ based organisation. URL: http://www.dps.co.nz/about/connectivity/australia.html Brad fatpublisher - Original Message - From: Web Man Walking To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 9:05 PM Subject: [WSG] [OT] Australian Payment Providers Hello This is off topic so I apologise, however I know a lot of you guys are in Australia. One of my clients has expanded into Australia and is looking to add ecommerce facilities to the AU website. We use Protx here in the UK but they don't stretch to Australia. We are using the National Australia Bank who have provided us with a list of providers but as the work is being done from the UK we have no clue who/were/what etc. I.e. who is good/bad. Here is the list: a.. Advam b.. Camtech c.. Card Access Services d.. CommSecure e.. Ctel Technologies f.. Dialect g.. Direct Payment Solutions h.. eMatters i.. E-Nett j.. eWay k.. IP Payments l.. Morton Blacketer m.. NetRegistry n.. NetSell o.. PayCorp p.. PayMate q.. PocketMail r.. Premier Interactive s.. SecurePay t.. Telstra Billpay u.. Unidex v.. Verisign If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it. Thank you and sorry again. - Chris Ed attempt to run the Edinburgh Marathon for The Meningitis Research Foundation Our Progress: http://wmwmarathon.com/ Sponsor Us: http://justgiving.com/wmwmarathon - Regards Ed Henderson Web Man Walking - web design usability experts t: 0131 669 8800 m: 0781 253 6964 f: 0797 062 1532 e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] w: web-man-walking.com a: 48 Eastfield, Edinburgh, EH15 2PN skype: webmanwalking msn: [EMAIL PROTECTED] New technology, old fashioned service *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
[WSG] sIFR : Rich Accessible Typography
sIFR is meant to replace short passages of plain browser text with text rendered in the typeface of choice, regardless of whether or not your users have that font installed on their systems. Read more about how it works here: http://www.mikeindustries.com/sifr/ I ran the sIRF webpage http://www.mikeindustries.com/sifr/ through the following Screen Reader / Browser combinations and got the following results. Window Eyes Version 6.0: 1. In Internet Explorer 6 the sIFR heading was read successfully = PASS 2. In Firefox 1.5 the sIFR heading was NOT read successfully = FAIL Window Eyes Version 6.1 Beta 2: 1. In Internet Explorer 6 the sIFR heading was read successfully = PASS 2. In Firefox 1.5 the sIFR heading was NOT read successfully = FAIL 3. In Firefox 2 the sIFR heading was read successfully = PASS That's quite a good result. I would assume sIFR content would be read when using IE7 (given that sIFR is read when using IE6). Could someone please test sIFR in JAWS as I do not have it? Brad fatpublisher *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
Re: [WSG] PopUp windows
I describe an alternative approach to using pop-ups here : http://www.netlife.com.au/?p=8 It is hard to describe the benefits of not using pop-ups to some clients but in my mind it allows for a far more usable web - there has to be value in that. Brad - Original Message - From: Donna Jones [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: wsg@webstandardsgroup.org Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 12:54 PM Subject: Re: [WSG] PopUp windows Steve Green wrote: Last time I looked at various implementations of lightbox none were accessible to the JAWS screen reader. I would be interested to know if things have improved since then. Steve I think they're hard for people with mobility issues (aka keyboard users) too. In checking out the first two that David sent, above, it wasn't easy to figure out how to close them. Finally did happen upon it and both were different and not what I would have expected. One closed with esc and the other you could get out of with backspace key or alt, arrow back. someone on another list said that hers would close with hitting the X on the keyboard. that gives three ways so far! also don't like that the image doesn't gradually load, there is no way to tell how big it is (how long its going to take to load and should I just opt out) and its boring just looking at the loading graphic going around. have been really irritated that browsercam is using this method but did figure out to turn off java script, just have to remember to turn it back on afterwards. i don't have mobility issues but one reason i think that i don't, and i'm pretty old and use the computer a lot, is that i do *so much* stuff with the keyboard. i can go a long time without touching the mouse and i do think its better - you're varying your actions much more with the keyboard. my two cents, cheers donna -- Donna Jones Portland, Maine 207 772 0266 www.westendwebs.com *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** *** List Guidelines: http://webstandardsgroup.org/mail/guidelines.cfm Unsubscribe: http://webstandardsgroup.org/join/unsubscribe.cfm Help: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***
