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A new AODA deadline is looming. Are you ready?
The AODA (Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilites Act) has been around since 2005. The Act set out several deadlines requiring organziations to make their websites accessible. This year, a major deadline is looming. What’s the deadline? January 1, 2021 Who does it impact? All organziations in the province of Ontario with 50 or more employees What’s the requirement? All websites and web content must be accessible and meet WCAG 2.0 AA. Where do I start? If you haven’t refreshed your website in a few years, you may want to consider starting with a new infrastructure instead of trying to patch …
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The unexpected costs of your new website
There is a difference between a web designer buying and customizing a theme and a web developer who is able to code a custom website. We build custom themes from scratch for our clients – always have and always will. Even before we started building WordPress websites, we built custom templates for our client sites. Why? Yes, it’s our craft. More importantly, the site does exactly what you, the client, require. Plus, it results in leaner code that loads faster, making search engines and cell phone users viewing your site happier. Who doesn’t want happier prospective visitors? So what’s the …
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Making Websites Accessible
What is an accessible website? An accessible website is a site that can be used by all of your visitors, including those with disabilities, no matter what tools they use to navigate the web. Some of your visitors may have reduced vision and use a screen reader to listen to websites. Other visitors may have limited motor skills and use a keyboard instead of a mouse. Accessible websites allow all users to access the information they need with the least difficulty possible. How do I make a website accessible? Making websites accessible is not difficult if you start some basics: …
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Accessibility-ready WordPress themes are just part the puzzle
WordPress has become one of the most common platforms for websites and accessibility-ready WordPress themes are a positive new trend in that growing market. Almost 25% of websites are now powered by the popular CMS (Content Management System). With it’s increasing popularity has come a focus on the accessibility of those sites and that’s great news. Thankfully, for the past few years, a team of dedicated volunteers has been driving the improvement of both the administrative back-end of the platform along with the themes that are available for site owners. In fact, there are now almost 100 accessibility-ready WordPress themes …
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Web accessibility: Why it’s time has come
Having an accessible website means that your site is built in a way that enables anyone with a disability to interact with it. The Ontario AODA legislation kicked in January 1, 2014. It is now mandatory for any company with 50 or more employees to make their new website or new web content accessible to meet WCAG 2.0 standards. The 370,000 businesses in Ontario with less than 50 employees need to pay attention as well. What level of WCAG 2.0 should you meet? Think of WCAG 2.0 as the ISO standard for web accessibility. It is the technical standard web designers use …
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Why It’s Important to Build your own Template
When building a website, one of the first steps in the process is creating a look and feel for your site, often called a theme or template. If you are using a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, there are many pre-made templates available from various sources around the Internet either for purchase or for free. Although you may be tempted by the idea of a “free” website, it’s in your best interest to have your website’s theme created by a reputable developer. Unique For all the popular Content Management Systems, it’s possible for your developer to …
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Looking to capture new markets? Consider an accessible website
Every business owner who comes to us for a new website is looking to build her business by tapping into new markets on the web. They want to engage in tools that reach out to new users – Twitter, Facebook, blogs and the like. Yes, those are all great (and many would argue, necessary) tools for growing your online presence and turning visitors into profits. But there is another tool out there many people haven’t heard about that has the potential to quickly and easily capture over 15% of the market with spending power of $25 billion annually in Canada …
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QR Codes: A great new way to get more traffic to your website
You’ve probably started to see them, but don’t know what they are. They’re called QR codes. A QR code is a 2 dimensional barcode that can be read by smart phones and mobile phones with a camera. The codes are often used to provide users with information such as vCards but they’re becoming more popular as a tool to drive customers to a page on your website. Although newspapers and magazines are using them more, they can be used anywhere your customers are looking for information – product packaging, shelf signs, owner’s manuals. Let your imagination loose and put them …
Posts by Sandi Gauder
Senior front-end developer, technical project lead, accessibility specialist, trainer, gadget nut and lover of red shoes.