You are here:
joeclark.org > Captioning and media access >
Building Accessible Websites > About the book

See also: Bookblog

Updated 2004.03.01

Translations

1. Hebrew (March 2004): נגישות באינטרנט
2. Czech (forthcoming, from what I am told)

What people are saying

• “Not merely the best and most complete book yet penned on the subject of Web accessibility, Joe Clark’s Building Accessible Websites is also among the most compellingly-written Web-design books ever: Witty, opinionated, and truthful.... We devoured Clark’s book from cover to cover as if it were the latest James Ellroy novel or a recently-unearthed Raymond Chandler. Then we read it again. Not only will you learn everything you need to know from this book, but you can actually read it for pleasure”
  – Jeffrey Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards
• “Although I hope by this point I’ve convinced you that Building Accessible Websites is comprehensive and full of practical advice, those are not the only reasons the book is worth buying and reading.... [I]t’s not just that he writes with great clarity and elegance. A large part of the book’s appeal is Clark’s refusal to pull any punches.... I did find myself reading Joe Clark’s book in bed and almost everywhere else in my house – as well as on the train and in a couple of my favorite restaurants. Building Accessible Websites is a considerable achievement: a thorough practical guide to Web accessibility that’s also a pleasure to read”
  – Jonathon Delacour
• “My friend Joe, the witty, intelligent and ‘glacially cool’ Canadian accessibility expert, has sent me an inscribed copy of his book Building Accessible Websites. It is as engaging, informative and amusing as the author himself and is likely to be one of the most entertaining texts on HTML ever produced. I highly recommend it”
  – Robert Dean
• “Ask an Expert About Web Site Accessibility” at Slashdot:
  • Questions
  • Answers
• «Le style employé, très vivant, fait qu’on dévore le livre comme un roman, qu’on peine à le poser tant on sent que l’on progresse pendant sa lecture, tout en étant diverti par le ton de l’auteur. Un livre indispensable pour qui écrit des pages web... Pour tout vous dire sur la jubilation éprouvée à la lecture, je crois bien que c’est le premier livre d’informatique que j’embrasse après en avoir tourné la dernière page»
  – Tristan Nitot
• “Building Accessible Websites is a stunning book”
  – Alan Herrell
• “A couple of days ago I received a copy of Joe Clark’s fantastic new book all about accessibility, Building Accessible Websites. I’ve been waiting for Joe’s book to come out, and I can assure you that it’s been well worth the wait”
  – Shirley Kaiser
• Joe Clark’s “punky, campy schema of the macramé circuitboard that is Web accessibility”
  – John Kusch
• “[H]aving read it thoroughly, twice, I can assure you that it is the most comprehensive and most well-written Web accessibility book in existence. Every Web designer should read it. If you can only afford one Web accessibility book, buy Joe’s book”
  – Mark Pilgrim (one of my technical editors, actually)

About the book

Accessibility for people with disabilities is a hot topic in Web development, and Building Accessible Websites, my new book from New Riders Publishing, is published, printed, and ready to go and will be available online and in stores in late October 2002 – just in time for Hallowe’en.

The book teaches developers of every sophistication and budget level how to improve the accessibility of their Websites so that people who are blind, deaf, or mobility-impaired can get the most out of them. Far from being a dry textbook of how-to information, Building Accessible Websites is written by a seasoned writer with a strong authorial voice over 20 years’ accessibility knowledge.

What’s more, Building Accessible Websites is flat-out the best-looking computer book ever published, with advanced, minutely-detailed typography and enormous attention to detail on the part of the author and the book designer, Marc Sullivan. The book is, as we like to say, “a beautiful object you will love to read.” It is and you will.

Table of contents

See also: Tour   ¶   Serialization

Note that you do get the entire text of the book on its enclosed (hot-pink) CD-ROM, and a talking-book version has been announced.

00. The access manifesto

A declaration of what accessibility is and should be: “The true reason to design for accessibility is greed. Quite simply, I want it all, and so should you. Give us everything you’ve got. Give us everything there is to give”

01. How to read this book

Facts about the approach, limitations, and typography of the book

02. Why bother?

Why make Websites accessible? Well, why not? Common myths exploded, and active reasons to engage in Web accessibility provided

03. How do disabled people use computers?

The right (as opposed to “correct”) terms to use in discussing disabled people. Screen readers and other adaptive technology

04. What is media access?

Web accessibility is merely the latest form of media access to come down the pike. Learn your history

05. The structure of accessible pages

Web accessibility relies on standards. Learn the importance of valid structured HTML

06. The image problem

Reason in itself to buy this book: The fullest explanation of how to make online images accessible yet written, with dozens of special cases explained

07. Text and links

Text is the most accessible format there is, but some reasonable care must nonetheless be taken

08. Navigation

For a mobility-impaired person (and, to a lesser extent, for a blind person), moving around within Websites is tedious. Learn how to ease the tedium

09. Type and colour

Colourblindness explicated. In this chapter, what little you need to do to ensure readable onscreen type is laid out in black and white, as it were

10. Tables and frames

Tables prompt eye-gouging hissyfits among accessibility advocates and Web designers of all stripes, whether oldschool or avant-garde. Both sides are saddled with myths and both argue in large part from ideology. Let’s do a reality check, shall we?

11. Stylesheets

We are told that stylesheets hold tremendous untapped power in accessible Web design. Could it be almost completely untrue?

12. Forms and interaction

Getting around inside Web forms

13. Multimedia

Near and dear to my heart, a full discussion of captioning and audio description of multimedia

14. Certification and testing

You may be required to assert that your Website is accessible – and prove it. Here’s how

15. Future dreams

The current state of the art barely qualifies as an “art.” What do we need for Websites to be truly and elegantly accessible?

Appendix A. Accessibility and the law

Is accessibility legally required? In some cases, yes. Read case history and precedent

Appendix B. Language codes

How to specify languages in Websites

Colophon

The making of Building Accessible Websites

Bibliography

For further reading

Copyright

Who owns the rights to this book

About the author

Super-intimate biographical details about your accessibility author

Bibliographic details

• Author: Clark, Joe
• Publisher: New Riders
• Publication date: October 2002
• Copyright: 2003 (inexplicably)
• ISBN: 0-7357-1150-X
• Pages: 415 including index, B&W
• CD-ROM: Yes, including full text of the book, fonts, research papers, and software
• Fonts: Joanna for body copy; Seria Sans for headings; Signa for “code”; Warwickshire for headlines