On juicystudio.com Joshue O` Connor published an highly interesting article on accessibility of various CMSs such like:
- Jadu
- Mambo
- Joomla
- Quick and Easy
- Expression Engine
- Plone
- Drupal
- Textpattern
- Xoops
- Typo3
Each of those CMSs was tested by an screen reader user performing some basic tasks, as well as the same tasks being performed by a user with no Assistive Technology/Special User Agent requirements and with an average computer skill level. These tests were facilitated and observed by an experienced CFIT accessibility consultant. To me absolutely unexpected Joomla! is doing a very good job. Some problems were encountered but the testers conclude: If these problems could be addressed, we would recommend Joomla. Expression Engine as well as Textpattern lack of some accessibill key features (f. e. Title and edit boxes are not marked up well and tester found it [backend] unintuitive.
Read the complete article
Choosing an Accessible CMS
anf if you like, follow the discussion on the textpattern forum.
This is a really neat service for all of you who run comprehensive websites and like to introduce your visitors to it.
Amberjack, created by Arash Yalpani, is an Open Source javascript library which enables webmasters to creat cool site tours. Watch the demo on Amberjacks site.
You can get this service in two ways: either you download the library and integrate it into your own site or you use the tour wizzard. Best of all is, you don´t rely on the available tour template skins but can create your own easily.
Drupal users are fortunate as Stefano wrote an amberjack Drupal 5.x module.
Germans can watch a screencast on Amberjack published by pixelgraphix.de.
If you regard this service a gimmick, you probably never trained people on computers. The amount of people with computer knowledge in real world is very low. Remember your parents, aunts or even colleagues. No question, navigating a website should be an intuitive process. Many people though have never developed such an intuition. If your targeted audience are not computer freaks but f. e. people who seek information on f. e. health issues, consider Amberjack as a great tool introducing your website and services.
Orli Yakuel und Eyal Shahar from Tel Aviv, Israel, developed the flash site go2web20.net which lists all relevant Web 2.0 companies including their logos, information and links.
The guys did do an amazing job! go2web20.net ist the most comprehensive repository of Web 2.0 companies. Who else is interested in Web 2.0 development should get the RSS feed from their site.
Today Adobe® announced the release of Captivate™ 2 for coming October.
Captivate 2 software enables anyone to rapidly create powerful and engaging simulations, software demonstrations, and scenario-based training without programming knowledge or multimedia skills.
Several new features were added to the software. One which excites me most is:
Engage the learner by focusing attention on specific areas. Simply gray out the rest of the screen or magnify a particular screen area with a zoom effect. Both effects can be combined for maximum awareness. The zoom effect retains all interactivity of the enlarged area so learners can focus on practicing a particular task.
Zooming into a scene was not possible with previous versions and by some, who know Camtasias great zooming feature, really missed.
The crew of the German Textpattern resourceblog started publishing videotutorials lately.
Captivate is of course expensive: $599. Qualified educational end users get a reduction of $199.
An OS(Opensource) screencapture tool is WINK. Price: 0$
If you’ve been paying attention, and if you’re not unlike the rest of us, you’ve noticed that the attempts at Phishing for your personal information through email have increased and gotten sneakier as of late.
My web host recently posted a humorous, but helpful article on the subject after his wife inadvertantly got “caught” by one of these Phishing schemes. Its an interesting read, particularly because he tracked down the Phisherman, and applied some creative methods of confusion in hopes of reducing the risk of he and his wife’s personal info out there in “the hands of the wrong person”.
At first glance, Quicksilver is a launcher for MAC OS. When opened, it will create a catalog of applications and some frequently used folders and documents. Activate it, and you can search for and open anything in its catalog instantly. The search is adaptive, so Quicksilver will recognize which items you are searching for based on previous experience. It also supports abbreviations, so you can type entire words, or just fragments of each. When not in use, Quicksilver vanishes, waiting for the next time you summon it.
Quicksilver’s greatest strength, however, is not search. Any item you are able to find, drag, or otherwise pull into its universe is endowed with many potential uses.
If you like to learn more about Quicksilver, watch a screencast done by Steve from Insert Title Blog.
If you seek some OS CMS software and consider using Wordpress because you have heard so much of WP(Wordpress) read through 2 articles just published by Ang Zhuu Ming on the blogHelper blog:
Both articles belong to Ang Zhuu Ming´s current WP series:
1 Fundamental Theory
2 Fundamental Technical Stuff
3 All-in-One Guides
Not to promote Textpattern i rather advice clients not o use WP as a CMS but TXP or some other real CMS like Drupal. With TXP you have sections which make it deadeasy to set up a CMS assigning f. e. static content.
All software have their pros and cons. Though WP is – no question – a great blogging app; it is by nature no CMS. Why go through all the hassle with searching for the right plugins, hacking the backend and reading through pages of tutorials? Rather save your time and dedicate to learning a solid CMS.
Links
Textpattern versus Wordpress
Crazy Egg, the highly anticipated click tracking service from ACS, launched last monday. With Crazy Egg, users install a code on their website to track every click a visitor makes on links, forms, advertisements, and flash documents. Results can be displayed in either an overlay or heatmap form giving the user a visual on click activity around the website. This kind of data is very useful for website owners as it can help them learn how their visitors navigate their website and how they can improve and optimize its usability….More on Crazy Egg on solutionwatch.com.
TXP Mag just tested Crazy Egg and we are really impressed. The visualization of clicks (blue, green and red dots in the image above) is really captivating. If you like to check this service out, which i highly recommend, sign up for the free plan. The standard plan is US$ 19/month. Not really cheap but to some worth it, no doubt.
These guys from particletree are awesome. 2 months ago they released a neat Web 2.0 app called Wufoo.
Wufoo is an online tool that helps anyone build and host amazing online forms. In a few short minutes, you can create a mailing list, a contact form, a marketing survey or even a complete customer management system.
I tested it and it´s really deadeasy to set up and to integrate in any blog you run. No need to go through all this tough CSS and hussle with floating divs. All you do is create your form and insert it into your website.
Wufoo offers different plans. As long as you do not receive more than 100 messages per month the service remains free. Check it out if forms kill you :)
Rasmus Lerdorf is a Danish-Canadian programmer and the creator of the first version of the PHP web programming language.
This week you can listen to a very interesting FLOSS (Free Libre Open Source Software) podcast with Rasmus. He talks about the origins of PHP, the challenges of open source development/community, and his favorite PHP programs like Drupal, Sahana and Serendipity.
It´s really worth listening to someone who started an OS(Open Source) project when OS was not really born.
By the way, we are just preparing a pretty longish article on the nice blogCMS Serendipity. Stay tuned and get it by the end of August.
