Tag Archives: users
How To Submit Rss Feed For Your Website
One of the best ways to keep users of your website is to have them coming back for more. You can accomplish this by providing RSS feeds. RSS Stands for Really Simple Syndication, and is a coded method of informing website users of new news, activities happening, contests you are running, anything you really want to know. The process of RSS Feeds is relatively easy, when you know how to do it. But for the beginner, it may be a little intimidating to learn how to submit an RSS feed for your website.
One way to submit an RSS feed for your website is to put up a blog or “weB LOG” Blogging software usually contains built in code that will submit your feed to RSS directories every time you make a new post. For some people, however, this can be tricky. Blogging software out of the box can be a little intimidating, and they usually provide very little to no documentation. Hosted blogs like WordPress and Blogger usually contain those built in codes, but customizing your blog to your liking can be difficult.
Another, less used but highly popular, method is to create the RSS Feed yourself. This is done through eXtended Markup Language, or XML. XML is almost like HTML in its design, except for the fact that RSS XML Files contain usually only three or four items. These items are the title, description and link. You can embed multiple items into one XML file, which creates your feed.
An RSS feed is a grouping of items chained together. This is called a “channel” and is referenced by the “channel” and “/channel” tags at the beginning and end, respectively, of your XML file. The last thing you need to do at the top of your file is indicate it is an XML file by using the XML and RSS tags. See your favorite web design book or website on how to do this.
So, you’ve spent all this time creating your XML file, it works, and all is well, now what do you do with it? Well, you need to submit it of course. The best way to submit an RSS Feed is to use one of the multitude of RSS Directories out there. I won’t list any, just google it. Once you’ve found one, submit your XML file like you would a web page, and within minutes, your newly acquired RSS Feed will be screaming across the internet at the speed of light, both to your current users, and also attracting new users at an alarming rate.
The benefits of RSS are great. You can keep your users informed of happenings on your site, you can attract new users, and you can ensure that your news will get out to the world with ease.
Designing Accessible Websites – The Growing Importance and Needs
An accessible website is one that can be reached and used by all users, irrespective of any physical disability they might have or the manner in which they use the internet. This is a sufficiently important condition which has become a legal requirement for certain websites in many countries, especially the U.S., and typically government sites.
An accessible website has business significance because current figures indicate that disabled users constitute between 10% and 20% of the population of most countries. These numbers do not include those who are marginally challenged to whom an accessible website would provide a more rewarding internet experience. Another consideration is the average age of users which is steadily increasing in most countries. With advancing years a number of issues arise such as changes in vision and hearing and a steady decline in dexterity and memory. All told the number of internet users who would benefit from more accessible websites would stand at around 30% of the population, a figure that no business can afford to ignore. Let us consider some of the more common issues involved.
Visually Disabled Users
Visually disabled could range from color blind to completely blind. Partially blind users have difficulty in grasping images which do not carry a text description of what they contain. A visually impaired user who is unable to see the image cannot comprehend what it is, or what it is trying to convey. Color blind users are sometimes unable to distinguish design elements, as well as text, from the surrounding elements which might include background or page color, since the two colors may not contrast sufficiently. Problems could also arise with sites not designed to enable viewing through a screen reader, which is a web browser that reads text aloud from websites. Frequently an attractive website can be quite indistinct when heard through a screen reader.
Hearing impairments
An accessible website has to accommodate users with impaired hearing. Hearing impaired users are unable to grasp information and data which is audio communicated. A simple solution is to provide an image or text description in addition, as a backup.
Physical disabilities
It is difficult to a person not physically disabled to understand how a website can be accessed without using a mouse. The needs of such disabled users should be addressed with website input and navigation methods which make the site accessible and user friendly.
Cognitive and Neurological Disabilities
An overly complex design makes a website confusing to most normal users, much more those with cognitive and neurological disorders. Such sites are completely beyond the comprehension of such users. Simplicity is the key to an effective website, more so if it is to be accessible to the broadest possible spectrum of users including those with cognitive and neurological disorders.
Several groups worldwide are focused on highlighting accessibility issues. They provide help and guidance to those who want to design accessible websites. One concerned group is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which has published guidelines and standards for accessible websites.
Designing Accessible Websites – The Growing Importance and Needs
An accessible website is one that can be reached and used by all users, irrespective of any physical disability they might have or the manner in which they use the internet. This is a sufficiently important condition which has become a legal requirement for certain websites in many countries, especially the U.S., and typically government sites.
An accessible website has business significance because current figures indicate that disabled users constitute between 10% and 20% of the population of most countries. These numbers do not include those who are marginally challenged to whom an accessible website would provide a more rewarding internet experience. Another consideration is the average age of users which is steadily increasing in most countries. With advancing years a number of issues arise such as changes in vision and hearing and a steady decline in dexterity and memory. All told the number of internet users who would benefit from more accessible websites would stand at around 30% of the population, a figure that no business can afford to ignore. Let us consider some of the more common issues involved.
Visually Disabled Users
Visually disabled could range from color blind to completely blind. Partially blind users have difficulty in grasping images which do not carry a text description of what they contain. A visually impaired user who is unable to see the image cannot comprehend what it is, or what it is trying to convey. Color blind users are sometimes unable to distinguish design elements, as well as text, from the surrounding elements which might include background or page color, since the two colors may not contrast sufficiently. Problems could also arise with sites not designed to enable viewing through a screen reader, which is a web browser that reads text aloud from websites. Frequently an attractive website can be quite indistinct when heard through a screen reader.
Hearing impairments
An accessible website has to accommodate users with impaired hearing. Hearing impaired users are unable to grasp information and data which is audio communicated. A simple solution is to provide an image or text description in addition, as a backup.
Physical disabilities
It is difficult to a person not physically disabled to understand how a website can be accessed without using a mouse. The needs of such disabled users should be addressed with website input and navigation methods which make the site accessible and user friendly.
Cognitive and Neurological Disabilities
An overly complex design makes a website confusing to most normal users, much more those with cognitive and neurological disorders. Such sites are completely beyond the comprehension of such users. Simplicity is the key to an effective website, more so if it is to be accessible to the broadest possible spectrum of users including those with cognitive and neurological disorders.
Several groups worldwide are focused on highlighting accessibility issues. They provide help and guidance to those who want to design accessible websites. One concerned group is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which has published guidelines and standards for accessible websites.