Accessibility Consultants?

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Accessibility Consultants?

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All Forums >> Web Development >> Cascading Style Sheets and Accessibility >> Accessibility Consultants?

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Nicole Posts: 2855 Joined: 9/15/2004 From: Nambucca / Kempsey, Australia Status: offline	Accessibility Consultants? - 11/29/2006 4:46:45 I was thinking last night about some possibilities regarding branching out from plain old web design and becoming a specialist in a particular area, perhaps similar to how some firms deal solely with SEO. I came to the conclusion that there could be a need for web designers specialising in Accessibility and Web Standards to become consultants to website owners and other designers who may not realise how inaccessible some of their sites really are. Before anyone accuses me of going down that same old path of contacting site owners and pulling their sites to pieces and recommending that I redesign the site for them, I’m not really talking about that, maybe a bit but not much. I understand that a lot of website owners don’t care and also that some designers don’t care either, but I’m wondering what the percentage that don’t realise and do care would be and whether there might be an opportunity there. There’s extenuating circumstances surrounding my train of thought on this issue which I probably shouldn’t divulge right now, and it may be that there are companies already offering these services, I just don’t know of any. I’m also not talking large scale here, I’m not necessarily talking about businesses with employees, I’m mainly talking sole traders, that might offer one-on-one training in Accessibility and Web Standards to other designers either like a company’s in-house design “team” or just other designers in general, and possibly analyse and produce reports on existing websites for website owners. Therefore I’m also probably not thinking of websites of very small businesses, perhaps I’m thinking medium to large businesses and/or corporations. I remember a long time ago on these forums that Tailslide mentioned that she had told somebody what she did for a living and emphasized the Accessibility and Web Standards angle, and that person instantly offered her a job at her company doing just that. (Tail, please correct me here if need be) Maybe this thread will go nowhere or maybe we could explore if anything like this is being offered, whether those that are offering it are successful or not and what approaches they use to their clients? Please, if you are not an advocate of Accessible or Standards Compliant websites, I’m still interested in your viewpoints, but please lets not let this topic degenerate into a slinging match for or against Accessibility. Nicole, p.s. I forgot to ask, if this is a reasonable opportunity, what training should a person wanting to get involved in this have? What groups would be good to join, i.e. memberships of any organisations? Besides a thorough knowledge of web standards and accessibility, what other resources would one need? Perhaps employ some people who suffer the disabilities that require attention when designing websites to help test them? _____________________________


Tailslide Posts: 6368 Joined: 5/10/2005 From: Out here on the raggedy edge Status: online	RE: Accessibility Consultants? - 11/29/2006 5:17:58 There are quite a few companies out there offering this sort of service - some fairly notorious such as Sitemorse, some more credible such as Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk/services/web-accessibility-evaluation.shtml The problem would be ensuring that you really knew your subject inside and out and it can be a horribly complex topic. You'd need to know the difference between all the different screenreaders and what implication different markup could have on that. You'd need to have a grasp of Flash accessibility (it is possible to make flash accessible - don't ask me though!). You'd need to be able to advise on obscure stuff like the difference between implicit and explicit labelling on forms for instance and why one might or might not be more accessible than another. Also, what standard would you follow to judge the accessibility? 508? The WCAG (which is about to get very complex)? What I'm basically getting at is that it's one thing to offer accessible websites - you can (like I do) aim down the middle and take calculated risks and hope you get things right. It's entirely different to be an expert on the subject. Hang around in a place like http://www.accessifyforum.com/ and you'll see the accessibility experts arguing the toss about definition lists for a couple of weeks! I've never been offered a job as an employee strictly to sort out accessibility issues - although I have been offered jobs as an employed designer by companies that only do accessible designs. Maybe you were referring to the time when, in a bit of a bad mood I wrote to a local lawyer to let them know that their flash-only site wasn't remotely accessible. I wasn't actually looking to re-do their site for them, just having a polite dig, but ended up doing rebuilding it for them. I understand your reasons for wanting to do this, but I'd be really wary about setting yourself up as an accessibility expert just because the subject is soooo huge, complex and fraught with difficulty. _____________________________ Little Blue Plane Web Design \| Land Rover project (in reply to Nicole)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Accessibility Consultants? - 11/29/2006 6:16:17 Nicole I'm sorry but I have to agree with Helena. What you've done so far hasn't even scratched the surface. The accessibility companies, like Nomensa for example have teams of people and many of the team are disabled themselves. Before you can even start to sell yourself as an advisor you need to know all the software inside out and that not only means buying copies (megabucks!) but spending time with disabled users to see how they actually work with it, which believe me is completely different to the way you or I would work with it. I spent a year working with blind people on Supernova but I still can't say I can operate Jaws or Window Eyes properly and even Supernova would probably have me reaching for the manual as I've forgotten a lot of the settings. How much work have you done with Aural stylesheets? Do you even have any software that'll work with Aural so that you can check what you've done? Please rethink this. You don't have the skills, I don't have the skills, Helena doesn't have the skills. Put all three of us together and we still wouldn't have the skills. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to Tailslide)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Accessibility Consultants? - 11/29/2006 6:19:06 quote: it is possible to make flash accessible No. It can be made accessible...ish with alternates etc but a guy in the AAP did a study and came to the conclusion that Flash accessible is not assistive technology accessible. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to jaybee)


caz Posts: 3626 Joined: 10/10/2001 From: Somewhere south of Chester, UK Status: offline	RE: Accessibility Consultants? - 11/29/2006 6:31:18 Nicole, I agree with the other two about the dimensions of the topic and would add that as I think the market is saturated with so-called "consultants", you could damage your reputation as a good, competent and reasonable designer for sole trader sites if you try to do this. _____________________________ Do not meddle in the affairs of cats, for they are subtle and will dance, or more on your keyboard. Cheshire cat. www.doracat.co.uk I remember when it took less than 4hrs to fly across the Atlantic. (in reply to jaybee)


jaybee Posts: 14207 Joined: 10/7/2003 From: Berkshire, UK Status: offline	RE: Accessibility Consultants? - 11/29/2006 7:15:34 So, having completely knocked that idea on the head it would be useful if we came up with an alternative. How about e-commerce? It links in to web design nicely, gives you another string to your bow and is reasonably finite. Download Zen Cart, Cube Cart and OSCommerce. Play around with them so you can see the differences. Set up demo stores. Look into the different payment gateways, merchant accounts, SSL certificates. Enrol on an e-marketing course. After that you can tie it all in to SEO to promote the stores. _____________________________ If it ain't broke..... fix it until it is. GAWDS Now where did I put that Doctype? (in reply to caz)


Mango Himself Posts: 1937 Joined: 11/28/2005 Status: offline	RE: Accessibility Consultants? - 12/2/2006 21:44:51 Dear CCC I know you may be feeling a little eager to start something new especially being so far away from large cities. I also feel that the opinions expressed by our friends are right on the money. Allow me my 2 cents: You are a dedicated designer. Your site is impecable, neat, compliant and attractive (my, sounds as though I'm describing myself) Anyhow, jokes aside, I told you once that you have it in you to be a top designer. Why disperse into other fields at this point? Don't throw away your reputation for a venture into an area that is extremely complex, not highly regarded and almost rejected? Also. if you feel that being in a far away area is preventing you from getting customers, imagine how hard it would be to get customers for that project. Bottomline, perfection your CSS. Pursue more clients and, please, put the famous CCC on your site once more. It was what stroke me as highly interesting when I first saw your site. Cheer up girl! _____________________________ Associate Smutter _____________________ You're Just Jealous Because The Voices Are Talking To Me (in reply to Nicole)