Sonar: Microsoft’s Free New Tool Tells You How Good Your Website Really Is

(Shared from noupe.com)

In the past, Microsoft was not known as a business that cared about web standards. However, at least since the new browser Edge, Microsoft tries to stick to HTML and CSS standards. Now, there’s a new tool called Sonar, which checks if websites meet the standards, and tests them regarding optimization options and safety issues.

Sonar checks your website in five different categories: Accessibility, HTML validity, Optimization Suggestions For Faster Websites, Support for Progressive Web Applications (PWA), and assessing Security Gaps.

Original post at: https://www.noupe.com/design/sonar-microsofts-free-new-tool-tells-you-how-good-your-website-really-is.html

Web Accessibility: Why It Matters and What Governments Can Do About It

An informative article on the Government Technology web site: Web Accessibility: Why It Matters and What Governments Can Do About It.

Intro: More and more government services are going online, but if the website isn't accessible to people with disabilities, then millions of Americans are being excluded from vital civic services.

Nine common accessibility issues affecting websites

Access iQ has published a list of the nine most common errors they run into when performing website accessibility audits - one of the worst (Captcha) is at the very end of the list. What they don't say is that Captcha's are often difficult to use by people without disabilities - is that an 'O' or a '0'? An '8' or a 'B'?

I always have a very hard time using them. There's got to be a better way - they do list some alternatives in the article.

INDATA Project Offers Free Training on Assistive Technology Basics

The INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads is offering a free full-day training program for those individuals interested in learning about the basics of assistive technology.

“Assistive Technology 101” takes place Thursday, May 15 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the fifth floor conference room at Easter Seals Crossroads, located at 4740 Kingsway Drive in Indianapolis.

The agenda includes funding sources for assistive technology as well as assistive technology and iPad apps for those individuals with vision, physical and cognitive impairments.

Anyone interested in learning more about the basics of assistive technology should attend this free training. This includes vocational rehabilitation counselors, social workers, parents, educators, students, professionals and health care providers.

“This continues to be one of our most popular training topics,” said INDATA Director Wade Wingler. “Anyone who wants to learn or get a refresher on assistive technology basics will benefit from this training content. We will focus on how assistive technology can benefit people with hearing loss, vision impairments, mobility and communication needs as well as learning difficulties.”

Attendees can register for onsite or online participation in the training at EventBrite.

A new tool in my Accessibility Toolbox - The WAVE Toolbar for Firefox

In Part 2 of INDATA's Web Accessibility series, Wade Wingler, Director of Assistive Technology at the INDATA Project, introduces The WAVE Toolbar for Firefox.  The WAVE (web accessibility evaluation tool) Firefox toolbar provides an automated way to run WAVE reports directly within Firefox.

It provides you with information about your web page in four different ways:

• Errors, Features, and Alerts
• Structure/Order View
• Text-only View
• Outline View

Text-only View is especially useful if you want to see what a screen reader would read out loud about your page.

Make the Internet Accessible for All

Many years ago, when I was working for state government, I wrote an article for civic.com (now Federal Computer Week), titled "Make the Internet Accessible for All." I discovered today that the article is still online after all those years (14 to be exact). After reading through it, I realized that most of what I wrote back then still applies today (except for my contact information), so I thought I would share the article with my readers and get your feedback.

I also found a couple of other articles on the Federal Computer Week web site that reference the work we were doing back then to make our state government web sites accessible: Enabling the disabled and Connecticut Legislature Launches 'CSPAN' on the Web.