universal web design

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A survey of Web accessibility and usability

Progress Notes

Phase 5: Wrap-up

April 16-27
Put final touches on the research section. Prepared the writeup for the Google redesign. Wrote final conclusions and recommendations.

Phase 4: Accessi-Google

April 6-10, 2003:
Developed a navigational scheme for my version of Google that uses strategically placed, hidden "jump links" (nothing more than some 1x1 transparent GIFs with some associated CSS) and the ability to show/hide various levels if detail on the search results screen. I then designed the new page with a slightly updated style and got the info-hiding functionality working using PHP. The results: Accessi-Google.

April 14-15, 2003:
Prepared and delivered my final Final Project Presentation to the Enabling Technologies class.

Phase 3: Prototypes

March 1, 2003:
Developed Secondary Style Sheet to demonstrate the power of separating content from style (revert). Put together Midterm Presentation to be shown in class on March 4.

March 4, 2003:
Delivered Midterm Presentation to the Enabling Technologies Class.

March 6-16, 2003:
Spring break in Seattle.

March 18-24, 2003:
Reverse engineered the Space Exploration Technologies website and produced the following compliant, accessible, and, hopefully, "universal" prototype: SpaceX.

March 25-30, 2003:
Designed (from scratch) the prototype for the UNC Student Government website and began working with the new student body president, cabinet, and members of Carolina Consulting to conceptualize the backend structure and sell the project idea.

April 2-4, 2003:
Reverse engineered Weather.com and, after testing on multiple platforms using multiple browsers, came up with a final design that seems to work in all CSS-compliant browsers (but it was tough).

Phase 2: Background research

February 15-16, 2003:
Began researching legal issues (Section 508) and compiling standards information. Started the Standards & Research page. Fixed CSS issues.

February 17 & 19, 2003:
Finished research on Section 508 and began looking into the Americans with Disabilities Act (along with the various legal spinoffs of the Act).

February 21 - 28, 2003:
Completed main research for the ADA. Developed testing criteria for Diagnostics section. Tested the list of forty sites for XHTML 1.0 and HTML 4.0 standards compliance; measured size of code vs. size of content; tested for WCAG compliance.

Phase 1: Beginnings

January, 2003:
Introduction to accessibility issues in Comp 190. Began pursuing compliant and accessible design in Lewis & Clark Simulation project. Prepared project idea for submission to Professor Bishop.

February 6-11, 2003:
Made several attempts at designing this project site to work for newer versions of IE, NS, and Mozilla. Ran into trouble with horizontally-aligning unordered lists to create a navigation bar. Changed my layout idea so I could at least get rolling. Downloaded IBM Home Page Reader and began experiencing how blind users view websites.

February 13-14, 2003:
Developed project schedule listing the major objectives I want to pursue. Continued working on site layout until the site validated for CSS, XHTML-strict, and Section 504 guidelines.

Validate this page for CSS compliance  Validate this page for XHTML compliance  Validate this page for Section 504 compliance

In this Section

Project Objectives
A quick overview of the various objectives, research areas, and milestones of this initiative.

Progress Notes
Chronological listing of activities, research, and site additions.

Midterm Presentation
PowerPoint presentation of the highlights of the project thus far.

Final Presentation
Final project presentation and website demos.

ZIP archive of all files
Download this file to obtain access to all the source code, PowerPoint presentations, and graphics used in this project.

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Project Vitals

Author: Greg Lanier
This site was originally created as a course project for Comp190 Enabling Technologies, given by Professor Gary Bishop at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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