Standards Compliance and Legal Resources
Section 508 Government Site: promoting awareness of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information resources accessible to people with disabilities.
World Wide Web Consortium: "develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding."
Web Accessibility Initiative: "WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development."
Web Standards Project: helped end the browser wars by encouraging Microsoft and Netscape to support the same XHTML, CSS, and W3C DOM technologies.
Web Design Resources
NY Public Library Style Guide: the style guide for all NY public library sites, offering a collection of valuable tutorials and tools.
W3Schools Online Web Tutorials: highly acclaimed source for free Web-building tutorials, from basic HTML and XHTML tutorials to advanced XML, XSL and WAP tutorials.
A List Apart: popular hub for discussing web design techniques, standardization, troubleshooting, and technologies -- all of which center around sort-of-weekly articles by leading web developers.
Universal Design Resources
The Center for Universal Design: based out of North Carolina State University, the CUD is a national research, information, and technical assistance center that evaluates, develops, and promotes universal design in housing, public and commercial facilities, and related products.
UI Access: resource for universal interface design and usable accessibility information.
Trace Center: The Trace Research and Development Center is part of the College of Engineering at the University of Wisconsin.
Industry Gurus
Jakob Nielson - Usability and Web Design: home page of the industry leader of usable web design -- and considered by some to be one of the Web's 10 most influential individuals.
Joe Clark: Toronto-based accessibility consultant and author of Building Accessible Websites. He maintains weblogs for accessible web design and other forms of technology accessibility (he's dubbed the "king of closed captions").
Jeffrey Zeldman: among the best known and most respected web designers in the world. He is widely considered a driving force behind the web standards movement, and his designs have influenced an unestimable number of Web professionals -- and those are only a portion of the the fifteen million visitors his personal site has entertained.
Assistive Technology
Partnerships in Assistive Technology: private nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase knowledge about and access to assistive technology to North Carolinians with disabilities.
Arts Access, Inc.: organization existing to encourage and enable persons with disabilities to have full access to arts programs and facilities and participate fully in the cultural and artistic life of Raleigh and the Triangle area.
