First of all, having never used a screen reader, I have a certain faith that when someone says, "here's how to make your website more accessible for screen reader users", they know what they are talking about. So there is a certain amount of that here, where I don't know all the intricacies but I trust that Hope does. Do you see how there is a little box of text that appears when you hover your mouse over the second link? That is because I changed the HTML according to her directions, to give it a 'title' tag which is good for screen readers. That's a subtle detail that I hope to learn and incorporate more and more in my blog posts.
For my own pet peevishness-- the first link tells you: I am reading something made up of words that has a link somewhere on the internet. That thing could be a fanfic, a magazine, a newspaper, one of many millions of books, a blog, wikipedia article, or who even knows what else. It gives me no information at all and I need to click the link to find out. Often I'm irritated when I do click the link, because, why didn't the blogger just say she was reading that book that I've read 3 times already?! I didn't need to look at the website, or click over to Amazon. I didn't need the link at all, in many cases-- I know how to use Mr. google.
The second link tells me that the blogger (me) is reading something titled The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer, which is exactly what I would have written in text had the link not been there; I've just provided a link to Wikipedia as a courtesy if you are interested in reading more about it. I've also included a "title tag" for screen readers that labels the link.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2009-08-02 05:23 pm (UTC)For my own pet peevishness--
the first link tells you: I am reading something made up of words that has a link somewhere on the internet. That thing could be a fanfic, a magazine, a newspaper, one of many millions of books, a blog, wikipedia article, or who even knows what else. It gives me no information at all and I need to click the link to find out. Often I'm irritated when I do click the link, because, why didn't the blogger just say she was reading that book that I've read 3 times already?! I didn't need to look at the website, or click over to Amazon. I didn't need the link at all, in many cases-- I know how to use Mr. google.
The second link tells me that the blogger (me) is reading something titled The Ear, the Eye, and the Arm by Nancy Farmer, which is exactly what I would have written in text had the link not been there; I've just provided a link to Wikipedia as a courtesy if you are interested in reading more about it. I've also included a "title tag" for screen readers that labels the link.