Category: Nice-Tech

Very mildly geeky – technophobes can safely tread this way . . .

Fluency Tracker iPhone/iPad app reviewed for BSA

Liz PantonLeave a comment

Detailed review by stammerer Stephen Paterson for British Stammering Association.

Amplify’d from www.stammering.org

Fluency Tracker iPhone app

Stephen Paterson reviews the Fluency Tracker application for iPhone (or iPod touch / iPad).

 

Fluency Tracker screenshot -
Fluency Tracker screenshot -

Fluency Tracker is as described by the developers “an application designed for individuals who stutter and parents of children who stutter. Fluency Tracker will complement the services provided by speech therapists by offering clients a tool they can use to track their progress towards a more fluent speech, positive feelings about speech, and a decrease in avoidance behaviours that are associated with stuttering”.
From Speaking Out Summer 2010, pages 10-11Read more at www.stammering.org

 

 

Volunteer Pool To ‘Crowd-Source’ Web Accessibility – will it work? Poll on Accessify Forum http://bit.ly/a1Doc1

Liz PantonLeave a comment

Brilliant idea!
“An online service helping web users with disabilities report accessibility problems by linking them with thousands of tech- savvy volunteers is to be launched later this year by digital inclusion charity Citizens Online.

 

A trial version of ‘Fix the Web’, sub-titled ‘crowd-sourcing e- accessibility’, was unveiled at this week’s Web Accessibility London Unconference 2010 by Dr Gail Bradbrook, the charity’s lead consulant.

 

Web users will be able to report accessibility problems directly to the service using Twitter, email or online forms. Members of a pool of registered volunteers will then take responsibility for finding the correct official path or website owner contact to lodge the complaint on the user’s behalf, follow up any response and feed back to the user.

 

The project’s initial goal is to sign up 10,000 volunteers to cover 250,000 websites a year, Bradbrook said. Eventually she hopes to sign up 1.5 million volunteers worldwide. ”

Amplify’d from twitter.com
  1. AccessifyForum Team AccessifyForum Want to help @fixtheweb? There’s a lively debate going on here at AccessifyForum! http://accessifyforum.com/16616 #a11y #fixtheweb [GM]

Read more at twitter.com

 

When and when not to list options alphabetically

Liz PantonLeave a comment

A good email list for ideas to challenge the, “but we’ve always done it that way” frame of mind.

From www.useit.com
Jakob Nielsen‘s Alertbox, October 4, 2010:

Alphabetical Sorting Must (Mostly) Die

Summary:
Ordinal sequences, logical structuring, time lines, or prioritization by importance or frequency are usually better than A–Z listings for presenting options to users.
  • If users know the name of the thing they want, they can usually find it in the list pretty quickly.

People Rarely Think A–Z

For most questions, either

  • users don’t know the name of the thing they want, making A–Z listings useless; or
  • the items have an inherent logic that dictates a different sort order, which makes A–Z listings directly harmful because they hide that logic.

Read more at www.useit.com