312 – Web Accessibility

Martin and Sallie welcome guest host Aaron Spike to this week’s WELSTech as we discuss accessibility to the web for all people in all context. Listen also for info on a new mobile version of the Small Catechism and a source for free graphics for your web site, plus much more.

The discussion:

Accessible for Everyone  – Aaron Spike from New Ulm, MN guest hosts on today’s show and joins Martin and Sallie to discuss the important, yet often overlooked, topic of web site accessibility. The topic encompasses many aspects of web design and can seem overwhelming at times, but simple webmaster habits such as always adding meaningful “alt” tags for images can have a huge impact on the usability of your site for all audiences.

• W3C Section 508 Web Content Accessibility Guidelings (WCAG)
• Web Design Honeycomb [IMAGE]
• WAVE
• Fangs screen reader extension for Firefox
• The Secret to Success is Access
• Guidelines for accessible and Usable Web Sites: Observing Users Who Work With Screen Readers

Ministry Resources:

• (21:25) Luther’s Small Catechism for mobile devices from Concordia Publishing House
• Share a helpful resource that makes a difference in your ministry, and you will ll be entered to win an Apple TV. Deadline for entry is May 31, 2014.

Tech tips:

• (26:09) Show and Hide Microsoft Word Ribbon
• Manage Chrome Extensions
• Firefox “No Style” View

Picks of the week:

• (35:40) Contrast Ratio
• Announcify Chrome Extension
• Flipboard

Community feedback:

• (46:18) Apptivities
• QCraft
• Shared Resources from the Google/Intel Summit held recently at UW Oshkosh
• Free Web Page Headers
• Customize the Google Apps Launcher
• Constitute
• Church Stereotypes According the Google
• UberConference

Coming up on WELSTech:

(54:24) Episode 313 – Next week Martin and Sallie are face-to-face for a WELSTech recording from the Center for Mission and Ministry in Waukesha, WI, and we’ll open our bags to share the techie items we pack for traveling. (Release date – 10/29/13)

Music download:

(55:38) This week only, download a free music single from WELS artist Michael Armstrong (pinemountainmusic.com) – Made In The Image

Get involved:

• Add a comment
• Send us an e-mail welstech@wels.net
• Leave us a voice mail 405-FOR-WELS (405-367-9357)
• Add to the WELSTech wiki welstechwiki.wels.net
• Contribute to the #WELSTech Twitter conversation
• Follow us on Twitter – welstech, mspriggs and salliedraper
• Share with the Diigo group welstech
• Join the WELSTech community:
  • WELSTech listserve
  • WELSTech on Facebook
  • WELSTech on Google+
  • WELSTech on Pinterest