Top 10 Must Read WordPress Sites

by on November 24th, 2010 3 comments

We are now on Day 3 of WordPress week. Hopefully you are enjoying the content as well as our awesome giveaways. It is going to be great giving out these awesome prizes to our wonderful readers.

Today I am going to list my Top 10 favorite WordPress sites. These sites are great for WordPress tutorials, tips, tricks, news and anything else to do with everyones favorite CMS/blogging software. It is safe to say that if you need to know something about WordPress one of these sites is going to have the info you are looking for.

1. WPCandy

2. wpbeginner

3. WPLift

4. WordPress.tv

5. Digging into WordPress

6. SeekWP

7. WPShout

8. WPEngineer

9. WordPress Tutorials

10. WPRecipes

There you go, these are my ten favorite sites. I know there are more great WordPress sites out there. What are your favorites?

Win a Premium WordPress Theme from Press75

by on November 23rd, 2010 32 comments

We are continuing our giveaways for WordPress week, today we have a premium WordPress themes from Press75. Press75 has been making great looking WordPress themes since 2008. If you are in the market for a new theme you should check them out. The winner of this contest will get to choose two themes, a $150.00 value.

For a chance to win simply leave a comment on this post telling us why you would like to win this prize. Be sure to fill the form out completely, including your email address, so that we can contact you if you win.

For additional chances to win you can do the following:

1. Subscribe to our RSS Feed.

2. ReTweet this post.

3. Follow @TechKingBlog and @press75 on Twitter.

The winner will be picked at random and notified on Friday, November 26th.

Good luck to all those that decide to enter. If you don’t win consider buying your next theme from Press75.

Beginners Guide to Extending WordPress with Plugins

by on November 23rd, 2010 0 comments

Today is the second day of WordPress week here at TechKing. If you haven’t already, check out the Day 1 giveaway and stay tuned for Day 2.

The plugin system WordPress uses is one of the things that makes it such a great platform. You can use plugins to customize functionality of your WordPress site to do practically anything you want. There are well over 12,000 plugins that can be found in the WordPress plugins directory. You can find plugins for everything from managing SEO to adding a contact form to your site to selling mail order brides (check local laws before doing this). There are two ways to install plugins. I will go over both methods.

Manual Installation

Step 1 Find and download the plugin you want to install


Go to the WordPress plugin directory and find the one you want to install. Verify that the plugin you want to install is compatible with your version of WordPress by checking “Compatible up to:” in the “FYI” sidebar. Once you have verified this click on the orange “Download” button and save the file.

Step 2 Extract the file and upload it to your server

Once you have downloaded extract the file to your desktop. Now launch your FTP software and connect to your server. Navigate to the plugin directory by go-ing to wp-content -> plugins. Once there upload the plugin folder to this directory.

Step 3 Activate the Plugin

To activate the plugin you will first need to login to your WordPress admin dash-board and click on “Plugins” on the left sidebar. You will then see a list of plugins available. To activate the plugin simply click on “Activate” under the plugin name you just installed. Your plugin is now installed. There may be some further configuration necessary depending on the plugin you installed.

Installation via the Admin Dashboard

Step 1 Find the plugin you want to install

Access your WordPress admin dashboard and click on “Plugins” on the left sidebar then click on “Add New” to go to the “Install Plugins” page. On this page enter the name or a keyword associated with the plugin you want to install and click “Search Plugins”. Click on “Install Now” under the plugin you want to install and click “Yes” to confirm you want to install it. You will see a notice if the plugin has not been officially certified to work with WordPress 3.0.

Step 2 Activate the Plugin

To activate the plugin click on “Activate Plugin” next to “Actions:”. Your plugin is now installed. There may be some further configuration necessary depending on the plugin you installed.

Recommended Plugins

Next I am going to go over some must have plugins for your WordPress installation.

Akismet – A great plugin for stopping spam without having to annoy your read-ers with hard to read CAPTCHAs. Akismet comes bundled with WordPress and requires an API key to work. You can get this key by signing up for a free Word-Press.com account.

WordPress.com Stats – While I like to use Google Analytics on my sites to track usage stats this plugin is great to take a quick look at post/page views, referrers, and clicks.

Google Analytics for WordPress – To go a little more in depth for your site stats you are going to want to use Google Analytics. Use this plugin to enable Google Analytics on your site. Google Analytics for WordPress can be used to track outbound links inside posts, comment author links, links within comments, blogroll links and downloads.

WP Super Cache – This plugin generates static html pages from your blog. The benefit of this is that you will not have to be concerned with site performance when you are receiving heavy traffic.

WordPress Related Posts – A great way to improve SEO is to link to related articles in your post. WordPress Related Posts inserts a set number of related articles at the bottom of each post. This plugin is also great for increasing read-ership since you are displaying links to other posts on a particular topic.

WP-DBManager – Don’t lose all your hardwork to a server crash or some other mishap. Use WordPress Database Backups to automatically backup and opti-mize your database. That way if something happens you can restore all your articles in no time.

Socialize This – This plugin places social networking icons at the bottom of each post to make it easier for readers to share your content on sites like Twitter, Digg, and Facebook.

Google XML Sitemaps – Google XML Sitemaps automatically creates a new sitemap and submits it to major search engines every time you add a new page or post to your site. This plugin is great for quickly getting your site indexed by the search engines.

Contact Form 7 – Allows you to easily configure and setup a contact form on your site. Contact Form 7 is great for managing multiple forms. It supports cap-tcha and Askimet to reduce SPAM.

I have barely scratched the surface in regards to WordPress plugins but these are the ones I like to install for each new WordPress installation that I do. Please feel free to ask any questions and offer your own recommendations in the comments.

Win an unlimited access pass to Elegant Themes for one year!

by on November 22nd, 2010 21 comments

We are very excited to announce that our first giveaway for WordPress week is a one year unlimited access pass to Elegant Themes. If you are not familiar with the work of Elegant Themes then please go check them out now. If you are familiar then you know how awesome the WordPress themes they offer are.

For a chance to win simply leave a comment on this post telling us why you would like to win this prize. Be sure to fill the form out completely, including your email address, so that we can contact you if you win.

For additional chances to win you can do the following:

1. Subscribe to our RSS Feed.

2. ReTweet this post.

3. Follow @TechKingBlog and @elegantthemes on Twitter.

The winner will be picked at random and notified on Friday, November 26th.

Good luck to all those that decide to enter. If you don’t win I would highly recommend signing up for Elegant Themes affordable unlimited access plan.

The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Installing WordPress

by on November 22nd, 2010 3 comments

It is WordPress week here at the TechKing blog. Check out the site everyday for some great articles on anything to do with WordPress. To celebrate we have a couple of giveaways that you do not want to miss. The first one will be announced today at 12:00 PM CST so check back then and try to win this awesome prize.

It goes without saying WordPress is extremely popular and thanks to applications like Fantastico the installation is practically effortless.  Back in my day when we weren’t walking to school up hill both ways in a snow storm without shoes we were manually installing WordPress. While these one-click apps you find in your hosing control panels are nice I think it is a good idea to learn how to install it manually first. Once you are comfortable with the manual installation you can choose to use one of these auto install programs if you wish. So lets get to it!

Step 1: Create the MySQL Database and User

If your hosting company uses cPanel setting up your MySQL database will be very easy. If you use a host that does not use cPanel you will need to consult your hosting companies help documentation on how to setup a database.

First you need to log in to cPanel (yourdomain.com/cpanel). Click on the link that says ‘MySQL Databases’. This is where you will setup your WordPress database and add the user you create to it.

Select a name for your database and enter it into the text field next to ‘New Database:’ then click ‘Create Database’. Once you click the button you should be taken to a page that confirms your database was created. Click ‘Go Back’ and you will be taken to the screen you were just on. You should see the database you just created under ‘Current Databases’. Notice that your cPanel username and an underscore have been prepended to the database name you chose. Make note of this database name, you will need it later.

The next step in setting up your database is to create a username and password. Under ‘Current Users’ enter your desired username and password in their respective text boxes and click ‘Create User’. You should receive a message that the account was created successfully. Take note of your password (we will get the username from the previous page) and click ‘Go Back’. Like your database your username has also been prepended with your cPanel username and an underscore. You should now make note of your username.

To complete the creation of your database we need to add the user to the database access list. Under ‘Add Users To Your Database’ select the user and database you created in the ‘Username’ and ‘Database’ dropdown boxes, make sure ‘All’ is checked under ‘Privileges’ and click the ‘Add User To Database’ button. Once again you should receive a message telling you that the account was added successfully to the access list. Click ‘Go Back’ and you should have something similar to the image.

Step 2: Download and Extract WordPress

Now that you have your database created it is time to download WordPress. Make sure you save the .zip file in an easy to find location like your desktop.

To extract WordPress, double click on the .zip file you just downloaded and extract the files to your desktop. Windows XP/Vista/7 should have a utility to do this for you but if you need one I recommend downloading 7 Zip. You should now see a folder called ‘WordPress’.

Step 3: Edit wp-config.php

For this step we need to edit wp-config.php so that it has the database information that you setup in Step 1.

In the ‘Wordpress’ folder you extracted in the last step find the file named wp-config-sample.php. Right click on this file and click ‘Rename’ rename the file to ‘wp-config.php’.

You will now enter the database information in the section labeled:

// ** MySQL Settings – You can get this info from your web host ** //

The three entries we are concerned with are the following:

DB_NAME – This is the name of the database you created in Step 2 .

DB_USER – This is the username you setup in Step 2.

DB_PASSWORD – This is the password you chose for your username in Step 2.

You should be able to use ‘localhost’ for DB_HOST in most setups, however you will need to check with your web host’s technical support documentation to confirm.

Step 4: Upload WordPress to your server

For this step you can either use an FTP program like Filezilla or upload WordPress through your web hosting control panel. If you are serious about the blog building business I urge you to use an FTP application as I am sure you will find it much more user friendly as you gain experience. If you wish to use the upload feature in your hosting control panel please consult the support documents for your webhost for instructions. If you are using Filezilla or another FTP application setup a connection with the information provided for you in your webhosting welcome letter.

Once the account is setup connect to your FTP account. When you are connected you should see either a ‘/public_html’ or ‘www’ folder, go ahead and double click on it to access it.

When installing WordPress I recommend you install into a directory within your root (public_hml) folder, doing this keeps your root directory nice and tidy. This is where you will upload the ‘WordPress’ folder you extracted on your desktop. In order to transfer the files all you have to do is find the ‘WordPress’ folder on your desktop in the left hand pane of your FTP program and drag it over to the right side. Wait for the files to finish uploading then proceed to the next step.

Step 5: Complete the installation

We are going to finish the installation by going to http://www.yourdomain.com/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php.

Enter the following information:

Site Title:

Username: (This will be the admin account)

Password:

Your E-mail: [The e-mail you want to use for this blog]

Make sure ‘Allow my blog to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati’ is checked.

If you want to change this information later it is easily done from the WordPress admin dashboard.

After these details are entered click the ‘Install WordPress’ button. When the installation is complete you should be taken to a page with a message indicating the installation was successful, you should also see the username you chose. Click ‘Login’ to login to your site’s admin panel. Once you have confirmed you are able to login to the admin go to http://www.yoursite.com/wordpress/, you should see the default WordPress theme.

I highly recommend you keep your username and password in a safe place and bookmark your blog’s admin screen for easy access.

Congratulations, the WordPress installation is complete and you are now ready to select a theme and add some plugins.

There you have it, in four easy steps you can install WordPress. One of the reasons I like to do it manually is because I sometimes have issues with the auto-updater if I use a one-click solution. Plus, as the old saying goes “Give a man a fish he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and you can rob his house while he is out fishing.” I am not sure if I got that exactly right but I know our readers are highly intelligent and understand what I am saying.

If you decide to give the manual WordPress installation a go and have issues please feel free to ask you questions in the comments. I will be happy to help.

A Geek’s Guide to Black Friday Deals *UPDATED*

by on November 19th, 2010 0 comments

It is hard to believe Black Friday is only a week away and because of this it is time to start asking the tough questions. Questions like: What are the best deals? Where are the best deals? and Why don’t they call it Black and Blue Friday? Seriously though, why don’t they? I mean, people are out there beating the crap out of each other to save a few bucks on a DVD player. That little old lady who plays bingo with your grandma and sings in the church choir will brain you with her shoe if you stand between her and the last $200 laptop. I guess what I am trying to say is, Black Friday brings out the best in people. It also brings out some awesome deals on computer gadgets and electronics.

I have compiled a list of things that I believe you all will find of interest, check them out:

Camcorders

Flip Video UltraHD U260W Camcorder

$99.00 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

JVC  Everio Digital Camcorder w/ 2.7″ Color LCD Monitor

$159.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Sony Handycam Digital Camcorder

$229.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Sony High-Definition 2.1MP Camcorder

$399.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Networking

Belkin Surf N300 Wireless N Router

$29.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

D-Link DIR-601 Wireless N 150 Home Router

$19.99 at Office Max

Product PageReview

Computer Components

Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2TB External USB Hard Drive

$89.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB Internal Serial ATA Hard Drive

$59.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000

$39.99 at Office Max

Product PageReview

Digital Cameras

Nikon Coolpix S4000 12.0-Megapixel Digital Camera

$129.99 at Best Buy and Office Max

Product Page | Review

Digital Media

SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive

$7.99 at Best Buy and Kmart

Product Page | Review

Kingston 4GB Data Traveler 101

$5.99 at Office Max

Product Page | Review

Magnavox DVD+R 16x 100 Pack Spindle

$12.99 at Office Max

Magnavox 100-Pack 52x CD-R

$9.99 at Office Max


Electronics

Barnes & Noble – NOOK WiFi eReader

$99.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Logitech – Harmony 650 5 Device Universal Remote

$49.99 at Best Buy

Product PageReview

GPS Devices

Garmin nüvi 1300LMT GPS

$129.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Garmin Nuvi 1450 5″ GPS

$129.99 at Best Buy

Product PageReview

Printers

Canon PIXMA MP560 Wireless All-in-One Printer

$49.99 at Best Buy

Product Page | Review

Laptops

Acer Aspire AS5742-7653

$499.99 at Office Max

Product PageReview

Toshiba Sattelite C655D-S5088

$429.99 at Office Max

Product PageReview

There are tons of deals out there to be had. Make sure you check back here often as I will be adding items to it through out the next week. Also share your favorite deals in the comments. Have fun next week and be careful. Now is the time to start trying that suit of armor on.

What Operating System is Right for You?

by on November 18th, 2010 9 comments

Even today, the vast majority of users have one or other version of Windows installed on their computers and this is the only operating system that they know, but Mac OS X and Linux are two other great operating systems that come with their loyal supporters as well.

Which is the best operating system and more importantly, which operating system is the best for you?

Windows

The most widely used operating system, with an estimated 90% market share, is still the one that is best suitable for the average computer user. Windows comes with its pros and cons and although might not be the most secure system and networking might not be as easiest as all of us wish, it still has a great number of advantages. The most obvious one is the abundance of developers that create their software applications for the Windows platforms – no matter what task you are trying to accomplish and what software you need, it is likely that it has been developed for Windows first and only later adopted for the other operating systems, if adopted at all. The security risks are mainly due to the popularity of the operating system rather than its own flows, and Microsoft is constantly improving the protection of the personal computers against the various threats. The latest version of Windows, Windows 7 is a huge improvement over the not entirely successful Windows Vista and offers faster boot-up, easier networking, higher security, quick access to files and programs, and easier way to share printers and files. If you have to choose an operating system for your computer and have set up your mind on Windows, then consider Windows 7 for a newer computer with sufficient RAM and faster dual core processors, and Windows XP for older hardware and slower machines. Although Windows Vista came with a few improvements over Windows XP, its many flows easily overshadow them!

Mac OS X

Loved by many, this operating system is easy to use, elegant, and offers various features that are not found in Windows or Linux. The marriage between hardware and operating system seems to be stronger, especially in the case of the Snow Leopard (Mac OS X 10.6), which uses the Grand Central Dispatch technology and has the capabilities to get the best out of the multi-core processors. Another great advantage, although arguably one that is due to the lower popularity of Mac OS X compared to that of Windows, is the fewer security threads – a Mac OS X user is unlikely to have to deal with countless malware, spyware, and viruses and does not have to run multiple programs and updates in order to stay protected. This operating system is also considered to have an easier to use interface and use less hardware resources than Windows, but comes with some major disadvantages as well. Since it is far less popular, only a few vendors create programs, games, and other content for Mac OS X specifically and even though a user can install Windows on its Leopard Intel Mac, this somewhat defeats the purpose of running an operation system different than Windows. Mac OS X is also difficult to customize, not compatible with great number of peripherals, and far fewer games can be run on it.

Linux

The most often cited advantages of this operating system are its cost, performance, stability, network functionality, security, and easy installation. However, this is an operating system that is far more difficult to use for the vast majority of the non-tech users, comes in way too many versions and variations, does not have nearly as many applications developed for it, and is capable of running Windows programs only by using emulators. The verdict on Linux is that even though it still remains the choice of operating system for hosting servers, it is suitable for a desktop computer only to users that do not mind the higher learning curve, the limited amount of available applications, and the not always compatible hardware.

Even though this article does not list all pros and cons that the three reviewed operating systems have, it should serve as a starting point and help you out when choosing an operating system. After all, it also boils down to your personal needs and preferences and what is ideal for one user might not be suitable for another. What operating system do you prefer and why? Please let us know in the comments.

The Most Popular Web Programming Langues

by on November 15th, 2010 15 comments

The most popular programming language today is Java, followed closely by C, and then C++, PHP, JavaScript, Python, C#, Perl, SQL, and Ruby. This is a statistic based on large amount of data, which takes into account the job trends, total number of projects, books sold, Web searches, open source projects, discussion sites, and other criteria. However, not all of the above-mentioned are web-programming languages as some of them are mostly used to develop desktop software rather than web applications.

The programming languages that account for the vast majority of the interactive, server-side web applications today are PHP, Java, Ruby on Rails, Perl, ASP, CGI, and Python. According to dice.com, the demand for these languages, in terms or jobs offered, is 16,479 for Java, 5,710 for Perl, 2,641 for PHP, 1,480 for Python, and 769 for Ruby. Other sources cite PHP as the dominating web developing language, but the quarterly statistics for 2010 show that the number of PHP developers is far greater compared to the number of Java and .Net developers and the projects typically smaller, which drives the price per job for a PHP project down. In this article, we will take a brief look at the most popular web programming languages and their advantages and disadvantages:

PHP

PHP is an open source scripting language, which is widely used for developing dynamic web pages. Amongst its various advantages are:

  • Free: the language is distributed under the Open Source License, which allows the users to download and use the language for free
  • Easy to learn: PHP is extremely easy to learn as it has simple and clear syntax
  • Compatibility: it can run on various platforms and used on Linux, Windows, or Mac servers
  • Interfaces well with MySQL: many web applications are database driven and MySQL is one of the most popular relational database query languages
  • Popular: its tremendous popularity translates into wide availability of source code, great number of discussion groups, tutorials, and documentation

Amongst the disadvantages of the PHP are the facts that it is not a “true” object oriented programming language and since it is a scripting language, it cannot perform as quickly as C++ or C. Another disadvantage is the fact that there are some security issues, associated with PHP programming.

Perl

Perl is a general purpose, dynamic programming language, developed in 1987. Considered one of the original scripting languages, it has numerous advantages, some of which are listed below:

  • Portability: Perl runs on all platforms and distributions are available for all popular operating systems
  • Easier to learn compared to Java or C
  • Comes with excellent string manipulation operators and works with regular expressions
  • It is Object Oriented and has a great set of libraries, which allows developers to build larger applications

Some of the disadvantages of Perl are the fact that the code is often hard to read, debug, and maintain, and the language is very forgiving, which means that there are far fewer rules for laying out the programs.

Java

Java is an Object Oriented programming language, which was developed by Sun Microsystems (currently a subsidiary of Oracle). The Java Servlet API is the technology that allows the programmers to develop scalable and robust server-side applications and this language comes with a great number of advantages:

  • Portability: the Java programs are “write once, run anywhere”
  • Powerful: the Java Servlets talk directly to the Web server and are far more powerful that the CGI applications
  • Safety: the Java Servlets are extremely secure
  • Java is a true Object Oriented programming language and suitable for building robust and large scale web applications
  • Java is ideal for developing multithreaded and distributed computing applications

Java is not an easy language to learn and not ideal for small and simple web applications.

Python

Python is an interpreter, Object Oriented, and extensible scripting language, which was conceptualized in the late 80s of the last century as an improvement and continuation of the ABC programming language. Python 2.0 was released in October 2000 and Python 3.0 in December 2008, and both of them introduced various improvements, mainly in the developing process itself. Some of the strong points of Python are:

  • It is easy to learn as it has simple syntax (using tabbing and spacing)
  • Free since it is released under the OSI-approved open source license
  • It is extendable since it supports classes
  • Has a great standard library and flexible module system
  • Solid community, which translates into fast support and great number of source code available

The main disadvantage of Python stems from the fact that it is an interpreted language, which results in sometime slower execution, especially when memory-intense and computational operations are involved.

Ruby

Ruby is a general-purpose Object Oriented programming language, which was developed in Japan in the 1990s and influenced by numerous other languages such as Perl, Pike, Lisp, and others. Its popularity increased after the release of the Ruby on Rails web application framework, which facilitates rapid application development. Some of the advantages of Ruby are:

  • It allows for rapid application development
  • Has a clear and forgiving syntax
  • Unparalleled productivity
  • Extensive standard library
  • Portability

Some of the disadvantages of Ruby are the lack of complete online documentation and slower execution speeds compared to some of the other programming languages such as C++, PHP, and Perl.

With the expansion of the Internet, the increasing number of mobile operating systems and the applications developed for them, and the further interlinking between computers and multimedia, the programming languages are expected to evolve and improve. If you are contemplating a career as a web programmer, then choosing which language to learn should be based on its popularity, advantages, difficulty, and your personal preferences. The languages, listed in this article come with their strong and weak points, but if you master one or more of them, apply yourself, and persevere, you are likely to be well compensated for your efforts. According to indeed.com, the median salary for a web programmer in the US is $59,000, but apart from the mastered programming languages, formal education and experience are always taken into account by the employers, and senior web programmers can earn up to $100,000 per year.

We know our readers are going to have opinions on web programming. What is your favorite and what resources would you recommend someone use to learn that language? As always, please share in the comments.

Web Browser Shuffle: How User’s Preferences have Changed Over the Years [Infographic]

by on November 12th, 2010 17 comments

It doesn’t seem like that long ago when Netscape Navigator was my browser of choice and I thought you couldn’t get any better than a resolution of 1024×768. Google Chrome is now my preferred Web Browser and 1680×1050 is my current resolution. It will be interesting to see what we are using 10 or 20 years from now.

Like it? Add this infographic to your blog or share it with friends!

600 pixels wide version

760 pixels wide version

15 Outstanding Sites to Find Awesome Fonts

by on November 10th, 2010 15 comments

If you are a web designer chances are you are in love with fonts, one could even call the love you have for them an addiction. While it is true that many of you may need a font intervention we can guarantee you won’t get that here. See, we are what therapists might call an “enabler”. With that said, we present to you the best sites on the Web to check out and download fonts…enjoy!

1. Addictive Fonts

2. Font Squirrel

3. Font Park

4. Free Premium Fonts

5. The League of Moveable Type

6. dafont.com

7. urbanfonts

8. Font Cubes

9. Fawnt

10. creamundo

11. Search Free Fonts

12. 1001 Free Fonts

13. FFonts

14. Fontstock.net

15. Abstract Fonts

There you go, hopefully you have an hour or 20 to check out all the great fonts on these sites. If you have a favorite font site or resource please feel free to share it with us.

Introduction to Making Your Web Site Accessible by Everyone

by on November 9th, 2010 2 comments

When designing a Web site there are many things to take into consideration. These things include decisions on design, back end coding, and many other things. Unfortunately more often then not web accessibility is not taken into consideration.

What is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility is making the web usable for people who have disabilities. It ensures those with disabilities can not only access content on the web, but understand it, navigate it, and even interact with it. Web accessibility is also about making sure disabled people can contribute to the Web. Not only do the efforts of web accessibility benefit people with disabilities, but they also benefit the aging, who suffer from changing or loss of abilities. The wide reaching benefits are gained because of the emphasis placed on web accessibility to include visual, audio, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.

There are varying degrees of disabilities that can affect the way the Internet is used. One thing developers need to keep in mind is that many of these web surfers use assistive technologies to make their Web browsing more beneficial to them. These technologies include screen readers, speech recognition, and keyboard overlays, to name a few. Most web sites and web software have obstacles, termed “accessibility barriers”, which make it difficult or even impossible for those with disabilities to use the Internet. However, as awareness of Web accessibility and the need for it has increased, so have the opportunities for people with disabilities to access and contribute to the web.

Making Your Site More Accessible

The main way this is currently being accomplished is through pure website flexibility. Making a website flexible means designing it so that it can be adjusted by a user to suit their needs, preferences, and situations. This allows people not only with permanent disabling conditions, but also those with just slow Internet connections, or even temporary disabilities, such as a fractured wrist to make the most of their web experience.

While a lot of the focus and blame has been directed toward Web developers, part of the problem is the software they use to create sites. The applications used in Web development should be equipped accordingly in order to aid the web developers in the creation of web sites that are accessible, but often are not. The WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) has created guidelines, which are considered the standard for web accessibility around the world.

The complexity of making a web site accessible according to the WAI’s standards depends on many factors. The main factor in making a site accessible is the content. Some of the others are the size and complexity of the web site and the above mentioned development tools and environment.

The easiest way to make a web site accessible is to plan the features during the development or redesign phase. It becomes increasingly difficult to fix inaccessible web sites when they are not coded to w3 web standards. It is also difficult in multimedia heavy Web with a lot of video and audio content because it is harder to customize to users’ preferences. The WAI has released a list of basic steps for making web sites more accessible, as well as detailed information for the more advanced developers.

Evaluating Your Site

The best way to evaluate the accessibility of a web site is to start doing your checks early in the development process and continue throughout the building of the Web site. Some quick check include turning off images to see if alternate text is available and vary the font size to see if the page is still readable at larger sizes. There are also evaluation tools such as http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete.html that can aid a developer, but there is no replacement for a knowledgeable human. If you are unsure of how to properly check your site the WAI has reading materials http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/ to aid the developer in becoming more knowledgeable about making web sites more accessible.

Examples

Some examples of great web accessible sites include:
The White House – http://www.whitehouse.gov/
Apple – http://www.apple.com
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com

Web site accessibility is important. If you disagree, think about it this way. Would you build a brick and mortar store and not take into consideration the disabilities of your potential customers? Most likely not, and you should do this when building a Web site.

If you have any questions, comments, or tips on making sites more accessible please share them in the comments.