A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that Rhonda snapped. Now Tom snaps. I’m talking about Snap, which does seem to be a very cool plug-in to WordPress and other blogging tools. When your cursor hovers over a hyperlink, a square cartoon-bubble-like pop-up appears with a miniature version of the site or Web page referred to by the link. I like it. It has a high cool factor, and Tom provides a few thoughts about it on his blog. But is it accessible? How does it work in a screen reader? How does it work with slow connections? (56k modems still exist!) That I haven’t quite figured out yet. Do you know? Update: Rhonda is snapping on her blog, not her work site. That was the type of confusion a technical communication should avoid. I did that just to see if you were awake out there. 😉 And thanks to…
3 CommentsMonth: January 2007
Yes, you can now listen to technical communication. More specifically, you can listen to podcasts about technical communication at Tech Writer Voices. Tom Johnson is the creative force behind these podcasts. (Thank you, Tom!) I love the idea of listening to technical communication topics. I have piles of books and articles and magazines that cover many of of these topics. They can keep me busy for days and weeks and months. But the time! That’s where these podcasts prove their value to me. I can listen to them during my daily trip to and from work. From the time I go out my front door until I sit down at my desk at work, I can listen to about 25 minutes worth of podcast. If I used the same time period for reading, I could read about 4 minutes on the Metro and 8-10 minutes on the train. I have…
4 CommentsGoogle maps can. T.V. Raman has written about the alternate textual interface in this article. Text interfaces work well screen readers or Braille displays. People who are blind or who have low-vision are not the only ones who benefit from this alternate interface. Users might have a non-graphic interface – or be in a hurry. Try viewing graphic rich sites using a modem. Your patience might wear thin! Text-based pages are a lifesaver in those situations. Remember, providing alternate versions in some way or another increases the accessibility of your site, as this article explains.
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