Rubious

Archive for the ‘Accessibility’ Category

Internet Technology: Surf the wave or be left high and dry!

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

The internet is on the move! New devices like the fantastic Apple iPad and the multitude of smart-phones increasingly available on the market enable access to the web anywhere and at any time.

Whether in a cafe, on the train or during a late weekend lay-in, your customers need to access your website at a time most convenient to them. But did you know that most websites have not been created with such liberties in mind? In fact, some of the fundamental building blocks used by many web developers are simply not compatible with mobile devices at all. If your website falls into this category, the chances are that your business is suffering.

We’ve found many top-drawer companies with sites that have designs that fall apart, functionality that, well, does not function and at worst, sites that won’t even display.

Moving forward

Software developers have begun a massive shift away from reliance on traditional platforms such as Flash and compatibility solely with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, towards a more standards-compliant approach that works with all web browsers. They’re using platforms such as HTML5 to achieve enhanced results on all devices, in a slick and integrated way that makes a lasting positive impression.

Does all this sound like a foreign language? We’re not surprised, and unfortunately, unless your web developer is forward- thinking, these modern solutions to compatibility issues will be little more than tech jargon to them too.

At Rubious, we are experts in modern website building techniques. We couple these skills with inspiring design capabilities commissioned specially for your own bespoke requirements. We test every site we build not only on all mainstream web browsers that have appeared within the last decade, but on every device that we can get our hands on too. These include the iPad, smart-phones and mini netbooks, not to mention both Macs and PCs.

This ensures that your clients can always access your site, even if they are a little behind the times with their software updates, or simply enjoy browsing on the move. An uncluttered, unhindered and beautiful experience is the very minimum we strive to achieve for every one of your clients.

We invite you to revisit your own website and put it to the test.

Pop into our offices and use some of the devices we test our sites on, or pay a visit to your local electronics store and do the same. If you’re a little disappointed by what you discover, Rubious is here to help, and we make a great cup of coffee too!

[This article was originally published in Suffolk Business Magazine]

How does your website look on mobile devices?

Thursday, June 10th, 2010

We’ve had our iPad for a couple of weeks now, and we love it! With Apple selling one every 3 seconds, expect to see an increasingly large number of your customers visiting your website on a mobile device – be it an iPad, iPhone, Blackberry or Google Android phone.

With all these different gadgets around, some consideration is needed during the building of your website as to how people will access your information. For example:

  • If your site relies on Flash for content, this is not accessible on the majority of mobile devices. Non-Flash alternatives are available.
  • You will need to check your site works with touchscreen devices – features relying on a “mouseover” will not function.
  • Your site needs to be optimised for speed and layout – visitors using their iPhones want the information quickly and in an easy to read format.

We will be announcing our plans for mobile optimised websites and even native apps for iPhone and Android in the coming weeks.

So if you and your customers love these devices as much as we do, why not speak to Rubious about your website, and see what we can do for you?

Accessibility in web design

Friday, January 30th, 2009

Many people see accessibility as a need to give those with disabilities special treatment. They consider it an additional expense that will not give much tangible improvement on their sales, and so ignore it completely.

In actual fact, accessibility is about treating everyone– no matter what their ability–the same. It also needn’t cost any extra – by creating websites with accessibility in mind you can write your code to the standards and have it accessible with no extra effort. Bolting on accessibility features as an afterthought (such as builders adding a ramp to a building which previously only had stairs) can be inefficient and expensive. Websites created by Spring Bud always have accessibility in mind.

Some of the common mistakes which hinder accessibility:

  • Building websites with tables/frames – two old practices which create complicated and messy code – screen readers have trouble understanding the order to read things in and the invalid code causes problems
  • Using images with no text alternative, often websites will be created as a large image which is chopped up – text in images cannot be read by screen readers, and cannot be enlarged for people with poor vision.
  • Using Flash for websites – although Adobe are making great strides to improve the accessibility of Flash, it still cannot compare to plain text. Additionally, people using older versions of screen readers (they are expensive!) will not have the latest updates that allow Flash to be readable.

An added benefit is that Google and other search engines act just like disabled viewers – they are not currently able to see text in images, they struggle reading Flash content and prefer HTML valid web pages. This means in ensuring your website is accessible you are also improving your search engine ranking.