Dennis Lembree, of Web Axe, has written a web application called Accessible Twitter – which is, as it says on the tin, an accessible version of Twitter.

Accessible Twitter is currently in Alpha state and is continually being updated and improved – its current list of accessibility features are:

• Keyboard accessible links
• Simple, consistent layout and navigation.
• Headings and page titles are implemented for optimal accessibility. This includes an H3 heading (for author screen name) added to tweets to assist screen reader users.
• Works with or without JavaScript.
• Large default text size and high color contrast.
• Consistent look in high or low resolution.
• Forms are marked up for optimal accessibility.
• Code is semantic, light, and adheres to best practices in Web Standards.
• If a tweet is in response to another (and marked as such in the data), a clearer link is provided to the that tweet.
• A clearer link is provided for the “permanent” link for a tweet; the page containing only a single tweet.

Bonus Features

• A re-tweet button (RT) on each tweet enables the user to quickly and easily re-post a tweet.
• On the “Tweet Roll” and “My Tweets” pages, tweets have a direct message link to the author (if following that user).
• Search terms in tweets (marked with hash) have a link to search that term (currently opens to Twitter’s site in a new window).
• At sign in, an option is provided to sign out the user (timeout) after 30 minutes. This timeout feature is listed as on or off in the bottom of the application pages after signing in.

Accessible Twitter lets you use your original login for Twitter (if you have one) and all updates you type will show up on Twitter (with a tagline saying from Accessible Twitter)

My initial opinions of it are that it’s very good, and will be worth keep an eye on to see what features they include in future updates. You can check out the Accessible Twitter website to see a list of planned future developments.

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Tags: accessibility, LauraG, social networking, Twitter, web 2.0

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 5:38 pm and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.