Newsletter issue #16 - 1st July 2005
This issue
Hello and welcome to the July edition of the Webcredible newsletter!
In this issue:
- Feature article: Improving usability for screen reader users
- Top tip: Increase inbound links
- Useful program: Plone
- Top link: OK/Cancel
- New articles in June
- Webcredible news in June
- We are recruiting!
Enjoy!
Feature article: Improving usability for screen reader users
Simply ensuring your website is accessible to screen reader users is unfortunately not enough to encourage these web users to use and come back to your site. Even if your site is accessible to them, usability could be so incredibly poor for screen reader users that they needn't have bothered coming to your site. Fortunately, there are plenty of simple-to-implement guidelines you can follow, which not only drastically improve usability for screen reader users, but for all web users.
Read this article in full at www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/screen-readers.shtml.
Top tip: Increase inbound links
You can increase the number of inbound links into your website by getting listed on directory websites, requesting other sites publish your articles (with an author bio and link to your website) or creating great site content which other sites will want to link to. Increasing the number of inbound links is a time-consuming activity with little short-term gain. In the long-term, however, you could reap a number of benefits:
- Improved credibility Every time another website links to your website, that site is essentially recommending your site to their users. There's very little that can top the credibility you reap from a third party recommendation, especially if that third party has high credibility.
- Increase in site visitors The more websites there are linking back to your site, the more web users will come across and use links pointing to your site. Websites linking to your site are usually related to your site in some way (otherwise why would they link to you?) so chances are that web users following these links have some kind of interest in what you offer.
- Higher search engine ranking Search engines have for a long time used the number of inbound links in helping to determine the ranking of a website. The more links pointing into your website, the higher in the search rankings your site will appear (especially if these links are from popular websites related to your industry).
Useful program: Plone
Plone is an open source content management system used by a number of major corporations across the world. What makes it unique is its full support for accessibility standards, allowing you to have a large database-driven site offering full accessibility.
You can use access this program at www.plone.org.
Top link: OK/Cancel
OK/Cancel is a website that takes a lighter look at usability. Each week a comic strip is published related to the world of usability, featured alongside a host of other usability resources.
Check this site out at www.ok-cancel.com.
New articles in June
Read these and many other articles at www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources.
Webcredible news in June
- Webcredible looking for office administrator
- July training dates confirmed
Read these news stories in full at www.webcredible.co.uk/about-us/latest-news.shtml.
We are recruiting!
Our workload continues to pile up so we now have a number of vacancies for permanent and freelance usability positions here at Webcredible. If you have exceptional communication skills and a strong desire to develop yourself we want to hear from you now!
Webcredible is also looking for a part-time office administrator. Based out of our offices in the City district of London, the role involves about 25 hours work per week, ideally from 10-3 each day although these hours are very flexible.
Please consult www.webcredible.co.uk/jobs for further information and details on how to apply for these vacancies.
Training courses
Courses continue to sell out very quickly! Our next courses with available places will take place in our training centre in Aldgate, London in July:
- Web accessibility training - Thursday 21st July. To receive a £60 discount on the course, for more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our web accessibility training page.
- Advanced CSS training - Friday 22nd July. To receive a £60 discount on the course, for more information and to reserve your place before it fills up please consult our Advanced CSS training page.
Web accessibility & CSS support packages
We now offer a range of accessibility and CSS support packages, offering you access to one of our accessibility consultants anytime you like. Please read more about this innovative service in our web accessibility and CSS help section.
About Webcredible
Based in London, UK, Webcredible is a user experience consultancy. Tailor-made usability, accessibility & design solutions include:
- User-centered design
- Accessible web design
- CMS services
- Usability
- Accessibility
- Training
- Website review lite
Please contact us on 0870 242 6095 or info at webcredible.co.uk, or consult www.webcredible.co.uk for further information.