Jeffrey Zeldman interview

Really good interview with Jeffrey Zeldman who is one of the gurus of web standards in my eyes. Having been an 'A List Apart' reader for a long time I've always taken an interest in his opinions and ideas.

New Kuoni website

Kuoni has launched it's new website in the last few days. The rumours were that it was supposed to go live before Xmas but got delayed due to how busy the first few weeks of January are. Although I do work for a competitor (of sorts) I thought I'd give it a brief review...

My first impressions were how much more usable it is than their old site, it's a vast improvement and should really impact their numbers booked online. The new homepage is clean and uncluttered, contains easy to understand navigation and a booking form (the first time they've had a booking form on the homepage!) I really like what they've done with this page. They have easy ways to navigate through their products; by type of holiday, by destination and (for the traditionalists) by brochure making it really easy to find what you are looking for. A new special offers section is clearly marked and easy to find although the way the offers are listed isn't particularly easy to scan. Promotional area on the homepage is minimal at the moment however it's obvious that they could expand downwards as the page is not very long at the moment and as we all know the old 'below the fold' argument doesn't hold as much weight as it used to (with screen sizes growing by the day). The markup is looking good and I really like the fact they've used more space and allowed the width of the site to be fluid according to browser width.

Usability is much improved and from a quick glance at the code accessibility looks much better than the old site too!

All in all it's a massive improvement! Top marks to the Kuoni web team, I'd expect the 15% booked online that they currently quote will jump quite quickly.

Accessibility still lagging on major websites

Nomensa, in my opinion the best usability/accessibility consultancy in the UK (and thoroughly nice guys), have completed a study of major websites worldwide to look at how many of them meet the most basic of the WCAG guidelines.

This article on the BBC states that only three websites of 100 tested made the minimum grade.

The report, commissioned by the United Nations, can be requested here.

Some of the findings include:

• 93% of sites tested did not provide adequate text descriptions for graphical content, causing problems for visually impaired people;
• 78% used foreground and background colour combinations with poor contrast, making it difficult for people with mild visual conditions such as colour blindness to read information;
• 98% did not follow industry web standards for the programming code, providing poor foundations for web accessibility;
• 89% failed to use the correct technique for conveying document structure through the use of headings, making page navigation awkward for many visually impaired people;
• 87% caused pop-up windows to appear without warning the user, causing disorientation problems for people using screen magnification software;
• 97% used link text that did not clearly indicate the destination of the link, causing confusion for people with learning difficulties;
• 92% did not provide a keyboard shortcut allowing people to bypass large blocks of content, causing difficulty and frustration for people with physical impairments.
  

Disappointing that so few have made the grade, you'd hope that more major websites would make the grade now, I mean the web has been around for a long time now! Come on website owners, let's make the web a more inclusive place to browse!

Accessibility for all

As an advocate of accessibility here's a link to an article from the BBC which you might find of interest. Quite well written and really gets the point of accessible design across!

Another Flash (and no alternative) fashion website

Dr Martens (makes of those famous steel capped bovver boots) have launched a new website which is Flash only with no alternative format for those incumbered by lack of plugins or issues with accessibility of Flash based sites. You would think after all the press surrounding River Islands inaccessible site (and then I discovered Diesel had done the same) that both business owners and design agencies would be wise to the possible bad PR this can bring.

But no, designed by Saatchi Interactive (and very nicely designed too) this site throws caution to the wind and gives no thought to those with disabilities or issues accessing Flash based sites.

The question is; is it the agency pushing to use the best looking tech they can, or is the business owner pushing for the most groundbreaking site thats to blame? Or alternatively is it a lack of understanding at both parties...

Note: not only is the DM site not good both usability and accessibility wise, it also appears to be flawed as I cannot sign up, the overlays don't always close and some of the areas with actions don't do anything!