[Accessibleweb] Minutes - May 17, 2007: Publication Services Web Publishing

[Rick Ells]

Title:     Publication Services Web Publishing: Design, Budgets, and
            Accessibility - Making It Work
Speakers:  Nigel Heinsius, Brian Vogt, and Rich Burmeister

PowerPoint Slides: 
www.washington.edu/computing/accessible/accessibleweb/pubserv_may1707.ppt

Notes in addition to what is on the slides:

   1. Pub Services has built up a Creative Consultants Network offering
      a variety of services:
       http://www.washington.edu/admin/pubserv/ccn/
   2. Many clients and designers do not have accessibility on their radar
   3. Technical compromises do not sit well with designers, who may be
      trying to convey a particular look with specific font styles or
      other graphical features not easy to do in XHTML/CSS
   4. Doing standards-based designs often takes longer than the old slop
      code and tables methods. Clients may not want to pay or take the
      time.
       - Clients used to building their pages in DreamWeaver or other
         Wysiwyg programs where they can tweak until it is right do not
         know what is happening with XHTML/CSS.
   5. Before creating a standards-based site or converting an old site
      to standards, clarify with the client what is happening. Identifying
      phases of design, template building, and site production as
      distinct processes and quote them separately.
   6. Initially, do standards-based designs is more time-consuming.
      Some things can help speed things up:
       - A set of standardized templates for common layouts
       - Use CSS development programs to initiate stylesheet creation:
           = Coda "one window Web development"
             http://www.panic.com/coda/
             Runs on Macs
           = CSSEdit
             http://macrabbit.com/cssedit/
             Also runs only Macs
           = Web Developer toolbar
             https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60
             Addon to FireFox
           = FireBug
             https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
           = HTML-Kit with Tidy
             http://chami.com/
             Windows only
   7. Some recent Pub Services Web Design sites:
       - Life Sciences Discovery Fund
          http://www.lsdfa.org/
       - Office of Multicultural Affairs
          http://depts.washington.edu/omca/dev/
       - National Alzheimers Research Center
          http://www.alz.washington.edu
       - Diabetes Endocrinology Research Center
          http://depts.washington.edu/diabetes/


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