The following is an excerpt from an article on our sister blog Shooting from the Hip:

Canada has put in place new standards (otherwise known as Common Look and Feel standards or CLF) for web accessibility, usability and interoperability that includes updated Usability Standards (effective from Sept 28th, 2011). These new standards will replace Part 1 and Part 3 of the older CLF guidelines.

Because of these updated standards, Canadian Federal government institutions need to make sure they have a plan to meet CLF requirements and have a process to measure success. In addition to meeting international web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG 2.0 ...

At CSUN last week, I presented “Testing for Accessibility – What to Know.” I thought I’d share with you some of the accessibility testing wisdom that I have learned over my many years of testing that I shared with the audience. I believe my experience can help organizations be better equipped to advance quickly in their understanding of accessibility testing and to be more effective in their efforts from the start by avoiding some of the common pitfalls of testing for accessibility.

For the full post go to: http://blog.hisoftware.com/2012/accessibility/csun-debrief-part-1

My presentation at CSUN (“Proactively Designing for Web Accessibility”) was a completely sold-out session. During the session, I talked about my experiences with two enterprise customers (a financial services company and a major household brands company).

One of those clients maintains over 1,500 websites around the world and each of those sites is completely redone from the wireframe stage every two years. That’s over 750 original websites each year!

In working with both clients, I was asked to comment on the accessibility of wireframes, graphics, and copy and I found that significant improvements in accessibility could be made by simplifying ...

Here's a blog post from Ken Nakata featured on our sister blog Shooting from the Hip.

My Comments at the Section 508 Access Board’s Public Hearing 

Last week, while I was at CSUN, I testified at the U.S. Access Board’s Public Hearing on the 2011 proposed changes to the Section 508 standards. I initially didn’t want to testify, but after considering the potential impact on people with disabilities (and considerable peer pressure), I agreed.

So I can set the stage a bit, here are more details about my background. For 12 years from 1992 to 2004, I was a Senior Trial Attorney with ...

Authored by: Ken Nakata

The Section 508 regulations are about to change. That shouldn’t be a big surprise because, as technology leaps forwards, the challenges and opportunities for people with disabilities also change. Consequently, the rules for what kind of technology the government can use or buy should also change. These changes have been in the works for years. Change is coming and it’s inevitable. But while it may look innocent and inevitable, it isn’t. Read on for more details.

For web content, the most obvious change will be from the relatively basic 16 requirements in the older Section 508 regulations to the complex 38 “success criteria” that ...