Receive A Free Web Accessibility Review And Hundreds of Links to Your Site

Tom this is really nice of you to do, but my problem would be if I won there is so much more I have to learn when it comes to the technical stuff that I might have trouble setting up what I need to do. However I always have more to learn, so this could be good.
I can always use the links. I do appreciate your post though, because I did not realize that there was a need for accessible to people with disabilities. But it sure does make sense.
My mother was very hard of hearing and we had a very hard time finding the right phone for her, so I am glad you brought this to my attention.
Thanks Debbie

Hi Debbie,
Certainly, if you win, I will also give you advice on how to change different things. You would be surprised that very often it doesn't take too much technical knowledge to make a site more accessible. This is for example why I started the newsletter. I'm only showing things that people can do without technical knowledge, just with average computer literacy.

I never gave one thought to this whole idea of website accessibility. It is pretty obvious that this is just one more way that people with disabilities can participate more fully in the world community and commerce. I am stumbling around with my own limitations (knowledge and experience) but if there are simple tools that I can incorporate or use, I want to learn more.

Ralph,
You can make it as simple or as difficult as you wish. As a blogger, or small site owner, you can make a difference without technical knowledge. As a developer of a large dynamic web application, it gets pretty complex. Feel free to browse around the site, there are ideas at all levels.

Debbie,

I'll also do my best to help with your site from a technical point of view. Just concentrate on winning!

Andrew

Tom,

I like your approach. What you are doing is so simple but so, so clever. I'd like to see more bloggers do such an offer.

You provide your time/expertise in return for gaining more readers / visitors / commentors. Excellent!

The whole accessibility thing is quite unknown to the majority of bloggers and what you are doing in getting the word out is very commendable.

I used to work for a very large corporate company and they spent huge sums of money ensuring all their websites AND internal systems meet with the relevant disability acts.

Andrew

Hey Andrew,
Thanks for your encouragement. And also, for the great comments around the site.

I've done web development for a company that was very keen to have an accessible website and even though I had a general idea of some of the accessibility issues and their solutions I found it quite time consuming to go through the accessibility guidelines and simplify them down to what had to be done, how to do it and then, besides implementing them I also had to write them up into a checklist that could be used by everyone else at the company.

So I would say to anyone considering this offer that's it's really worthwhile entering the contest for. It's true too that many of the guidelines can be fairly easily implemented in a Wordpress blog - and many of them are things that are also good practice, but will be good for your SEO as well. Like adding alt and title tags to images and links. Easy, quick to do and it's a good practice to get into.

What a great contest idea Tom!

Hi Donna,
Thank you for your encouragement.
I have to agree with you, standards and guidelines can get pretty complex. Section 508, for example because it doesn't say much, and WCAG because the entire documentation is over a thousand pages. But once you work with these, it is really not as complex as it seems, this is what I help companies with over-all.

Hi Tom,
Everyone wins in your game! I love it! I'm learning so much from reading your posts and from reading your responses to my comments. I see that Andrew has bumped me out of first place so you can expect to see my number increase whilst Andrew isn't looking :D

I didn't realize that we receive a back link from every blog page that the Top Commenter list appears on. I'm delighted to be featured on your list.

I'd like to thank Julius, who works with you on evengrounds.com for being the number commenter on thatgirlisfunny.com

Currently, Julius is #1 with 29 comments left on my blog to date. I've written over 100 blog posts. That's a lot of backlinks! I love having frequent visits from Julius and reading his reactions to my thoughts for the day.

I would love to receive an accessibility review as I am launching a new site. I'd like to implement what I need to make my new site as accessible as possible.

Thanks!
Cheryl

Cheryl,
Thank you for your kind remarks.
Julius really enjoys your blog, great content.
I'm especially pleased to know that you find this site informative.

Tom
Apart from anything else this is a great idea for encouraging comments and interaction. May copy myself!
David

David, I'm honored that you find it worth copying. Let me know if you implement it, so that I can also support your site.

Yeah I was working with Section 508 mostly. They don't always make it easy to understand, even if what the implementation they are referring to is quite simple. It's the type of thing that if you only do it occasionally it will be hard to remember everything from one time to the next. That's why it's so great that you do it all the time, and you're willing to help people to understand it. I think a lot of people would look at the documentation and give up because it looks too complicated. I think it's great that you are making the accessibility guidelines accessible! :-) That's the way forward, make it easy for people to understand and they will implement it.

So, on a different note, I've thought about using the Top Commenters plugin before but I didn't realize that the links were dofollow. That's great! Reward the people who contribute. Thanks for making me aware of this, I think I'm going to go install it on my blog right now!

Donna,
It really depends on your blogging platform. I use Drupal, and the Top Commentators module does not allow too many options. It is only a configured block, it doesn't even show up in the admin panel. I can't even change it to nofollow, though this is how I want it anyway.
Under WordPress, it has many more options, you can set better time intervals, nofollow/dofollow, and a bunch of other things.
So, it really depends on what's your platform and what you are trying to achieve.

Thanks Tom, I didn't realize you were using Drupal. I just installed the Top Commenters plugin on my Wordpress blog and it does give you a lot of options. It confused me for a moment because there is not a listing for it in the Settings area where you normally configure plugins. All the options are in the widget itself, which is great that actually makes it much easier to manage.

Wow, Tom, that's a great prize and a wonderful service at the same time. I have to admit to being a little anxious about it though - I'm sure my blog would need changes made to be completely accessible and that's a daunting thought.

Can you give me an information about the wordpress and drupal? reply Thanks

I have worked as a web developert for a company that was very keen to have an accessible website and even though I had a general idea of some of the accessibility issues and their solutions I found it quite time consuming to go through the accessibility guidelines and simplify them down to what had to be done, how to do it and then, besides implementing them I also had to write them up into a checklist that could be used by everyone else at the company.

It is certain that when you start with accessibility it takes some effort. However, as you make it a standard practice, it will just become second nature.