Category: Computers and the web

April 13, 2009

California Action Alert on Employment & Disability

Dear Advocates, AB 1269 is important for Californians with disabilities who want to or do work. If you’re unfamiliar with Medi-Cal’s California Working Disabled Program, please see the following text link that describes the current program. http://www.chiip.org/longdesc/medi-cal_brochure_english.html AB 1269 adds desperately needed improvements to California’s Medicaid Buy-In Program that were vetoed by the governor two legislative cycles ago because of...

Categories Accessibility/General/Travels Comments: 0

April 10, 2009

So you want a web site for your business

I have lots of requests from friends, businesses (from ShopInBerkeley.com connections), and work colleagues who ask me about creating web sites. I’ve created quite a few, from the “old days” of HTML code without CSS or Javascripts to current database driven, css rich sites. I have three main words for folks who want a web site these days: Open source...

Categories Accessibility/Computers and the web Comments: 0

April 9, 2009

10 Excellent web sites for teaching?

Scott McCleod posts: A seemingly simple question This seems like a seemingly simple question for teachers: Could you identify 10 excellent web sites for your grade level / subject area? Ideally, of course, teachers would know 10 or so excellent sites for each unit, not just for the overall course that they’re teaching. After all, the Internet has been around for...

Categories Computers and the web/Science Education Comments: 0

March 20, 2009

ShopInBerkeley is closing

I’ve been running the web directory ShopInBerkeley.com for about eight years. My goal has always been to provide high quality, free and low cost web pages to Berkeley businesses. For the past year or two I’ve been evaluating the need for ShopInBerkeley.com, and have come to the conclusion that the value of the web site is less than the work...

Categories Computers and the web/Dining and eating/General Comments: 0

February 2, 2009

Article on accessibility in WordPress

Here’s a great article on making accessible WordPress themes, including the authors own theme. The article is titled Surprise! Your “semantic, accessible, search engine friendly” WordPress theme is none of the above. www.bushidodesigns.net/blog/semantic-accessible-seo-friendly-wordpress-theme/ In addition to the theme, the article provides good insite into making a web site/WordPress blog accessible. I like the theme, but although it’s a bit bare....

Categories Accessibility Comment: 1

January 1, 2009

January 1st is Public Domain Day

January 1st is Public Domain Day, the day many works take their place in the ultimate destination for all works which were previously under the temporary copyright monopoly.  Wallace McLean has continued his Public Domain Day tradition by publishing an extensive list of authors whose works are now in the public domain.

Categories Computers and the web/General Comments: 0

December 16, 2008

ShopInBerkeley undergoing major remodel

I’ve been running ShopInBerkeley.com since 2001, and it’s time for a face lift. I’m converting it to a WordPress run site, although getting all my pages over to WP will take several months. The new format should be easier to navigate, and be easier for me to update. It will also have the ability for visitors to make comments on...

Categories Computers and the web/Dining and eating Comments: 0

November 27, 2008

How to fix pixelated images in IE

I don’t use Internet Explorer (IE) much (Firefox is better in so many ways), but since I write web pages I have to check how they look in IE every so often. I found that most of the images in IE were pixelated (jagged edges where lines should be clear), so I finally went off to hunt for a solution....

Categories Computers and the web Comments: 0

July 4, 2008

Great resources for checking web pages for disabled accessibility

I am no expert on checking accessibility of web sites, but I use a couple tools that can help quickly check web pages: 1. Install the Fangs extension in Firefox (available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/fangs). Then, from the Tools menu, select Fangs. You will get a page as “seen” by someone who uses a screen reader. Screen readers can be set to...

Categories Computers and the web Comments: 0

May 20, 2008

Stretching program for you computer users

I used Stretch Break when I was working at Lawrence Hall of Science, spending much time daily at the computer. It has a nice combination of stretches, both sitting and standing. You can set it to remind you at any time interval you chose (default is every 30 minutes). It’s a great program for those of us who get caught...

Categories Computers and the web Comments: 0