Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner

Twitter has emerged as one of the world’s most widely used social networking services.  Much of  Twitter’s appeal lies in its simplicity, and in the way it fosters a sense of immediacy.    Since “tweets” are limited to 140 characters, a huge bonus is that communication on Twitter must be brief and to the point; so it doesn’t have to take up a great deal of time.  And yet, the power of sharing  on Twitter is enormous.

As is the case with so many web-based applications,  accessibility is a major problem with Twitter.  That’s why Dennis Lembree has created Accessible Twitter.  Lembree’s Twitter interface perhaps benefits blind users more than any other identifiable group, but I appreciate a comment made by Lembree in an interview posted on Accessify, “Web accessibility is for everyone, not only for the 10% or so of folks with some type of disability…” So Accessible Twitter can enhance accessibility for a wide range of Twitter users.

The site indicates that Accessible Twitter is still in “Alpha”, but it has functioned just fine for me without any glitches.  As listed on the site, the accessibility features are:

• All links are keyboard accessible.
• DM, Favorite, Reply, Re-tweet, and Delete links are all visible by default.
• Simple, consistent layout and navigation (and signed-in username always displayed).
• Headings and page titles are implemented for optimal accessibility. This includes an H3 heading (for author screen name) added to tweets to assist with screen reader users.
• Works great with or without JavaScript.
• Ajax actions are concluded with an alert that notifies the user of the result of the action.
• Large default text size and high color contrast. Layout/text resizes without breaking.
• When entering tweets, audio cues indicate when the character limit is almost reached (in additon to character counter).
• Forms and data tables are marked up for optimal accessibility.
• Code is semantic, light, and adheres to best practices in Web Standards.
• If a tweet is in response to another (and marked as such in the data), a clearer link is provided to the that tweet (not hidden). There’s also a more obvious link to the “permanent page” for the tweet.
• A clearer link is provided for the “permanent” link for a tweet; the page containing only a single tweet.
• Definitions of abbreviations are provided to certain acronyms in tweets such as IMHO (in my humble opinion).
• Tested on all major browsers: IE6, IE7, IE8, Firefox, Safari, Opera, and Chrome.