thought it was time for a proper post and Accessibility is still quite a ‘hot topic’ in web design. Some people love it, others loathe it. I am more on the ‘love’ side…most of the time!

Accessibility is often confused with usability. The main difference being that Usability considers how ‘usable’ a website is - how intuitive the navigation, how easily users can find what they are looking for. Accessibility involves making sure that all content is accessible by all users, whether they use a screen reader to have the website read out to them or have javascript turned off.

Generally one works in the others favour. Accessible websites are more usable and vice versa. And while it can be fiddley making sure you have what you need surely it pays off in the end? Especially if your website is to provide a service or information.

It does amaze me how many people (and by people I mean designers and developers) who don’t make their sites accessible, despite the fact that it is in fact law, because they feel it curbs their creativity. If you are a good developer even accessible sites can be creative, sexy and a little bit different!

Here is our section of the stand at the FPS Show last week - and I have to say it looked pretty good!

We managed to demonstrate our website and eM1 interaction a few times and have a few people to follow up. We will just have to wait and see.

Last week was a busy one trying to get everything ready for the FPS Show, which is why there wasn’t a post last week. We leave tomorrow, showcasing an online ordering website for Fuel distributors that integrates with BSS’ eM1 software. (eM1 is a business management and financial software package designed for fuel distributors.) Our website allows customers to place and track orders online and these orders are fed directly into eM1, reducing the risk of typing errors and duplicated orders.

It is Caboodle’s first trade show and I am actually very excited about it.

Isn’t it amazing how fast the Easter break goes, I even took an extra 2 days off either side. I did discover that I am a bit of a geek as I spent a lot of the weekend on blogs, MySpace or facebook. Not just finding friends but trying to work out why they are so successful. My findings? Well, people just like to stay in touch and a letter only works if you know their address. I managed to find so many people that I haven’t seen or heard from in so long. The Internet is making the world a very small place indeed. (A profound statement I know - especially for my first day back in work! But one I am going to leave you with)

Just a quick Happy Easter before I finish for an extra long weekend! Enjoy!!

Plans are underway to re-develop the Caboodle website to better reflect our design skills and development scope. Hurrah!!