Accessbility Month at HTML Writers Guild

The entire month of April, 1998, has been designated
"Accessibility Month" at the HTML Writers Guild.  The purpose
of this special month-long event is to highlight the value
and importance of designing all web sites with complete
accessibility in mind -- meaning, the pages you write should
be equally useable in the latest versions of major browsers
as in a voice-reader for the blind, or anyone else with a
non-"standard" means of accessing the web.

During the month of April, we'll be using the Guild's resources
to educate both our membership, numbering over 58,000 web
designers, and the web industry as a whole about this important
issue, through a number of special projects and events.

One of the primary focuses of Accessibility Month will be on
the World Wide Web Consortium's guidelines for page authors,
developed by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).  This
set of recommendations provides web designers with valuable rules
to keep in mind when designing a page with accessibility in 
mind.  The WAI guidelines can be found at:

     http://www.w3.org/TR/1998/WD-WAI-PAGEAUTH-0203

Projects and events scheduled for Accessibility April include:

* Announcement of the special month-long focus on accessibility
  on the Guild's monthly newsletter, and the HWG homepage

* Interactive member chats on accessibility-related topics, with
  recognized authorities in the field as guest speakers and
  panelists

* A complete retrofitting of the Guild's web site to ensure that
  the HWG complies with recognized accessibility standards

* The creation of a special Accessibility Guidelines Implementation
  project, as members of the Guild tackle the issue head-on while
  crafting accessible web sites -- more details below

The overall goal of Accessibility Month is to create a greater
awareness, both within and outside of the Guild, of the need
for and importance of accessibility considerations in web
design.  Questions regarding Accessibility Month can be directed
to Kynn Bartlett, kynn@hwg.org.

ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES IMPLEMENTATION PROJECT

The Accessibility Guidelines Implementation (AGI) project is 
designed as a way of "beta testing", in actual use on the "front
lines" of web design, the WAI page author recommendations from
the W3C.

Any member of the HTML Writers Guild is welcome to participate in
the AGI project, by signing up via email to agi-contact@hwg.org
and stating a desire to implement the page author guidelines on
a new or existing web site.  Participants in the project will
need to take notes on the process and provide feedback on the
WAI guidelines.

Web sites that take place in the AGI project will be linked to
from the HWG's web site, as examples of effective web design
that account for accessibility concerns.

Complete details on the AGI project will be announced via the
Guild's website on April 1, 1998; questions can be directed to
the AGI coordinators at agi-contact@hwg.org.

--
Kynn Bartlett <kynn@hwg.org>
Governing Board Member, HTML Writers Guild
http://www.hwg.org/

Received on Tuesday, 17 March 1998 20:06:58 UTC