Unintentionally Blank

It seems like a long time since I wrote about the importance of making websites work without JavaScript, a post that uncovered the Nationwide building society locking customers without JavaScript enabled out of their site with nothing but a blank page to look at. The post elicited a response from Ian Lloyd from the Nationwide web team, saying that they would look into the issue.

While it has been a long time before I noticed any difference, an online banking site can’t be changed up that quickly, in the last month or so I did notice a difference to the site. Jumping immediately to my “disable JavaScript” button I proceeded to try to sign on to the online banking section. I was met with a message:

Nationwide’s Internet Banking requires JavaScript and cookies to be enabled. It appears that your browser does not support JavaScript, or you have disabled it. Please re-enable JavaScript or try accessing this site using a different browser.

The Nationwide have taken the first step towards accessibility for those without JavaScript enabled, a <noscript> element prints out the above text. While I don’t claim any knowledge of the stringent security measures that banks must take, I am still quite sure that JavaScript should not be necessary to log on. To make sure of this, I checked with my other online bank, the HSBC. I was able to log on without JavaScript enabled.

Small Steps

While a <noscript> element really is the least anyone can do by notifying users that they can’t use the site without JavaScript, it is a start. As I said above, changing an online banking system is not a trivial matter, so I appreciate what the Nationwide have done so far. Let’s hope that this change can inspire further work at the Nationwide, and anywhere else where JavaScript is required.

Just a couple of weeks ago I marvelled at the BBC’s new, accessible, dynamic homepage. Yesterday, Jonathan Hassell took us a bit deeper into the processes that BBC went through in order to produce such a well turned out page.

It is well worth a read just to find out about the extent of the testing that the team went through. Most developers would test their sites on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari and perhaps Opera, the BBC comissioned AbilityNet to test on screenreaders Jaws, Hal, Window-Eyes, Thunder and WebbIE, all the while paying attention to other disabilities for example:

[W]e ensured that font sizes and the use of colour met our Accessibility Standards & Guidelines, and that links were not too spaced out (for screen-magnifier users), too close together or too small (for those with motor impairments).

Again, I’d like to say that I was impressed with the redesign, inside and out, and will be more than interested to see the design and the functionality spread through the rest of the site. I’m sure there is a whole load of hard work going on behind the scenes with further testing and investigation over how this may affect the rest of the site, but in the end it will all be worth it, the BBC will not only be the hub that it already is, but it will be more usable and accessible for all and a pillar on the web for web standards and accessibility.

Just over a week and a half ago the BBC launched a new home page and I just wanted to say how impressed I was with all of it! Not only is it a huge departure, in my opinion, from the previous homepage, incorporating web 2.0 style drag and drop and customisation, it is also a magnificent piece of coding.

Why?

Well, please don’t call me an asshole, but the page validates as XHTML (even the Flash clock in the top right hand side, more on that in a later post). Not only that, it also, unlike some big websites, works without JavaScript enabled (though it makes excellent use of my current favourite library, jQuery and the effects plugin Interface). With accessibility in mind, the two features above are a good start, also all images had relevant alt attributes, form inputs have relevant labels, there are links for accessibility help for the whole site and display options to change the colour scheme and size of the text. I even visited the site on my mobile, using Opera Mini, and everything worked very nicely.

I Am Impressed

Back in 2003, Molly Holzschlag rubished the BBC for their site’s conformance to standards after reporter Andrew Sinclair claimed “Some get it right: the BBC website is considered to be one of the best for people with disabilities”. It has been a long time and I don’t know what version of the site she looked at then, but the new home page should change her mind now.

The BBC has changed up its home page, the main page and flagship of their whole site, and they have done it very nicely. The rest of the site is still the same, but I would like to think that, after launching the front page, there is a lot of work going on in the background to bring the rest of the site in line. For web standards this is pretty huge, I am sure a lot of sites look up to the BBC for guidance and inspiration. To see such an important, highly trafficked and well respected site come out with a valid, accessible home page shows everyone that it can be done.

What do you think of the new BBC home page?

A warning, accessibility, while wonderful, is not the be all and end all of all things web. Brian Kelly of UK Web Focus made that point in a post today using Second Life as an example.

Second Life is a virtual world in which residents can walk around and interact with others. Being primarily a graphical program, visually impaired users may find it difficult or impossible to use. Brian alludes to the idea that institutions may be developing policies that would prevent use of digital resources, like Second Life, because they don’t comply fully with accessibility guidelines.

Continue reading “Don’t Overdo Accessibility!” »

I was shocked and horrified yesterday, when I read some of the comments under Ajaxian’s interview with Christian Heilmann on unobtrusive JavaScript. There is an air of selfishness (unobtrusive JavaScript “takes too long to develop”), misunderstanding (it “adds complexity”) or general pigheadedness (”target audience is lame”) about the comments from those who are against the idea of unobtrusive JavaScript. There are people out there without JavaScript enabled and, if your site does not work without JavaScript, it causes problems.

So, just as accessibility was getting a kicking by certain individuals over at Ajaxian, Jonathon Snook stood up and asked, consequently answering from his point of view, what does accessibility mean? I liked the analogy that accessibility is a spectrum, covering lots of cases, lots of people. It is not just about blind people, it is not just about making sites work without JavaScript enabled, it covers topics as wide ranging as colour blindness to quadriplegia. There are a lot of things that everyone can do to make sites accessible to more people, the simplest often having the biggest results (like ensuring all images have meaningful alt attributes defined) and reading Jonathon’s view as someone who doesn’t preach accessibility, but uses the tools available in the best way he knows, is refreshing.