[NBP web-reskin] FW: Prototype of new NBP Homepage

[Ward, Richard]

I'll take another look at the table use this week.  I know I used them
for the body text as they were a quick and easy way to get the columns
working.  I'm not familiar with ARIA tags but I'll do some research and
see what I can find out. 

I had to stop the page where I did as that's where all the samples that
were sent out ended.  Does anyone have a pdf or jpg that shows the whole
home page?  

-----Original Message-----
From: web-reskin-bounces at nbp.org [mailto:web-reskin-bounces at nbp.org] On
Behalf Of Edie Coletti
Sent: Tuesday, September 08, 2009 8:15 AM
To: 'Discussions regarding the 2009 UI reskin of nbp.org'
Subject: [NBP web-reskin] FW: Prototype of new NBP Homepage

Here are Anna Dresner's comments on the home page. The first paragraph
is
more about design & content, not accessibility. The other paragraphs we
will
need to address.

-----Original Message-----
From: Woody Anna Dresner [mailto:adresner at nbp.org] 
Sent: Thursday, September 03, 2009 1:47 PM
To: Edie Coletti
Cc: Antonio Guimaraes; Tony Grima; Kimberley Ballard; bmacdonald at nbp.org
Subject: Re: Prototype of new NBP Homepage

Hi,

I have several concerns about the home page. One is that there's no  
text stating what  NBP is or welcoming the visitor. All I see is links  
to services, a search box, a sign-up for a mailing list, a login form,  
and some press releases. If I were new to the site, I would wonder  
when I got to the end what the purpose was, and I wouldn't want to  
have to go through the work entailed to find out. I think some sort of  
welcome message near the beginning of the page would help a lot. It  
doesn't have to be long; it could be something like what we had  
before. How about putting it just after the search box, before the  
list containing the link to the bookstore. 

Another concern is that tables are being used for formatting, not  
because tables are needed to convey meaning. This means that unless I  
use table navigation keystrokes in my screen reader, the first cell in  
the table appears on its own line, the one to its right appears on the  
next line, and so on across the row, then all the cells from the  
second row, etc., which can make the text less meaningful than it  
otherwise would be. This also means that the lines in the press  
releases are very short, making them choppy to read. I don't know that  
much about HTML coding, but things like headings, lists, and block  
quotes would work better.

Edie told me that the links like Bookstore are are mouseover links  
that reveal submenus when you move the mouse over them. I would not  
have known that if she hadn't told me, as my screen reader gave no  
indication of it. I wonder if ARIA tags would help here.

The page ends with the line, "a great success!  With over 1000" It  
seems odd to have it end in the middle of a sentence.

There is an image near the top called Rotating Image 1. An alt tag  
would help here.

Headings would be useful to denote different parts of the page, such  
as Services and What's New. I think every screen reader on the market  
can move you to the next heading, with a single keystroke, which is  
why headings are so useful.

That's about all I have for now. Sorry I don't have more positive to  
say.

Best,
Anna


On Sep 2, 2009, at 1:30 PM, Edie Coletti wrote:

> Hi Anna & Antonio:
>
> Here is a link to a prototype of the homepage for you to test
http://28.camp.nbp.temphost.net:9028/ic/nbp/homepage.html 
> .  The links are not working, but hopefully you'll be able to test  
> the navigation.  Let me know if there is anything I can do to help  
> with the testing.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Edie
>


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