The Idea Place Posts

Blog readers may recall my earlier writing about struggles with the online media experiences for streaming Badger athletic events. It is disappointing to this Badger alum and fan to once again have to point out that Wisconsin Athletics seems to show little care for web accessibility.   A posting from the Wisconsin Athletics (UWBadgersdotcom) twitter account earlier today said, “A @BadgerFootball game is better with family & friends. Check out great group tix packages that…

I’ve heard nothing but positive things around the people behind SXSW and accessibility over the years. This posting is not meant to detract from those efforts. In fact, all things being equal, I think most people who put content online would prefer it to be accessible. I do not think people go out of their way to make content inaccessible but rather often do not extend the effort to make content accessible so are left…

I’ve written previously about frustrations with the Pandora music service to take accessibility seriously and address the shortcomings with the sign in process and the Flash in general used on the web site. While Pandora hasn’t changed the basic response of get someone to help you sign in or lack of addressing accessibility, I am delighted to announce there is Hope for Pandora.   Hope in this case is an accessible Windows Pandora client created…

People who know me in person know that I’m from Wisconsin and a fan of the Green Bay Packers. Fortunes for both the Pack and accessibility have improved since I was a kid watching Packer defeat after defeat and limited to only radio coverage of the post game aftermath.   Today there’s a better than 50% chance the Pack will win a game and I can read all the press coverage I want from hundreds…

News stories about web site redesign tend to catch my attention in part because I’m curious to see how accessibility is on the new site. More often than not, I find a disappointing experience.   Today an article about Nordstrom’s web site being redesigned appeared in the Seattle Times. I have nothing against this retailer but will say this is not a shopping destination for me personally. That said, I was curious about the web…

I’ve written here on a few occasions about my frustrations with MLB accessibility. In particular the lack of response to phone and e-mail to the dedicated accessibility resources listed on MLB’s web pages.   About 10 days ago I received an e-mail indicating MLB was trying to get in communication with me. I connected by phone with someone about a week ago.   While the phone conversation was pleasant, I really don’t feel there is…

More than a month has passed since MLB.com’s announcements about improved accessibility started making the accessibility circuit. I for one find the organization’s supposed claims to be improving accessibility largely empty and little progress being made.   I’ll state up front that I’ve not done any comprehensive review of the full site. Perhaps efforts are happening in areas I don’t use, but in the part of the service I use most frequently and spent money…

The penultimate tune on Bonnie Raitt’s Road Tested is a track titled My Opening Farewell. Ending a relationship with a financial institution is hardly fraught with the emotional angst of the end of a love relationship but severing the entanglements can often be as tough.   Well good old Citibank, you and I are through. Farewell after more than 24 years of a credit card relationship, five years of a mortgage relationship (love the resale…

MLB has been getting loads of positive commentary in the accessibility community of late. While I’m glad to see the organization step up to the plate as it were and start to take accessibility seriously, it is still far too easy to find basic accessibility issues wrong with the main MLB web site.   Take a browse to an offering to play fantasy baseball for example and count the number of instances of text such…