Twice recently I went onto client’s sites to find they opted in WordPress Admin to use a category dropdown menu instead of the regular widget menu. It amazes me every time I see this. Why? Because not only is it an ugly interface in an otherwise Kickass design, but it’s also a really really REALLY […]

The Illinois Center for Information Technology Accessibility has released the latest version of the FireFox Accessibility Extension Add-On. I just installed it and did a couple site evaluations. It just confirmed the fact that this site is way overdue for an overhaul, which is currently in process. My newer sites came up much better in […]

Right now I’m working on coding a site into WordPress that was designed by a graphics designer who is, from what I can see, a print designer. It was done for another gal who was originally going to do the coding slice and dice for Macromedia Contribute, using a table layout, but for various reasons […]

More and more people are going to wide screens these days. In general, though your particular stats may vary, less than 9% of web users overall are surfing at an 800 x 600 resolution. Approximately half are using 1024 x 768, with the rest using resolutions between 1280 wide and 1680 wide.
With css we CAN […]

Yesterday was the RefreshDelVal Meetup, which is always a great geeky social event, where I get to interface with some incredibly intelligent and talented folks.
The great thing about this group is I always learn something. Jim brought up some great resources, the best of them being OdioGo.com, which is a free way to “give your […]

I admit to always having a bias against IFrames since they allow others to steal my content. But now there’s a good argument against using them even for legitimate purposes. Apparently, since they’re majorly used for ad serving, many of the adblockers are blocking ALL IFrame contents. McAfee with “Privacy Service” enabled on IE6 and […]

While trying to come up with a good alternative for styling the forms for a client’s directory site, I was poking around for inspiration and found this excellent article about Label Placement in Forms, which uses eyetracking studies to determine which form element and label arrangement is the most advantageous and least strain on the […]

As I get deeper into my own learning curve and think about the various ways I can improve my skills, improve my own sites, and improve sites for my clients, I’ve been thinking a lot about not just getting in new visitors, but also maximizing the value of my site to every visitor who shows […]

My friend, Jim Wurster, sent me a link to a blog entry on ZDNet entitled “Usability on the web is a sham” which states an opinion about usability and accessibility that really doesn’t seem to be based in any sort of current web reality. The author, Ryan Stewart, surely must be a person with perfect […]