Here is a short description of the technical approach to create a barrier free website for ProArbeit: The previous web pages in our portfolio were created with the Open Source Content Management System typo3. Because of the many vantages of typo3 it should be retained if possible. For this reason it first had to be checked whether a barrier free design is possible with the CMS typo3. To find the best solution however, different content management systems were tested.For monetary reasons only CMS´s on the basis of Open Source Software have been tested. Besides of the costs there is another good reason to use an open source CMS. If it is necessary the source code can be customized to reach the goal. There are a lot more Open Source advantages: All advantages of Open Source are a result of its openness. Having the code makes it easy to resolve problems which mean that you don't have to rely on only one vendor for fixing potential problems. This is very important to understand everything that follows. Competition is what drives innovation and Open Source keeps competition alive. As none has any unfair advantages, everybody has the possibility to add value and provide services. Information wants to be free. Open Source software means Open Standards, thus it is easy to adapt software to work closely with other Open Source software and even closed protocols and proprietary applications. This solves vendor lock-in situations which ties your hands and knees to one and only one vendor if you choose one's products. It is widely known that security by obscurity is not a secure practice in the long run. By opening the code and by wide adoption of Open Source software, it grows more secure. Generally, new Open Source projects tend to be insecure, but once a project matures and becomes production-ready, it is more reliable and more secure than most available commercial software.
Quality - Not only does software evolve onto a stable product, a large user base also supplies new possibilities, making it a feature-rich solution. More new features, less bugsand a broader (testing) audience (peer-review) are significant to the quality of a product.
CMSs Among addiction:
Typo3 (http://www.typo3.com)
Joomla (http://www.joomla.com)
Drupal (http://www.drupal.com)
Word Press (http://www.wordpress.com)
Some other smaller systems due to the small scale function are not usable.
The CMS has to fulfil the following conditions:
- First of all it must generate barrier free web pages (W3C compliant).
- The design of barrier free sites must be based on self designed templates.
- menu options, the construction of an optimized page that allows Usability
- Definable features in the WYSIWYG editor for the authors to ensure sustained accessibility.
- User-specific logins that permit or disallow the editing of individual areas of the site.
- Integration of the CSS Frameworks YAML to ensure cross-browser compatibility.
- Extensive functionality to generate RSS content
The result was quite positive. All tested systems are able to generate accessible websites. The feature to create especially configured editor functions is only offered by the CMS typo3. With the Script Language TYPOSCRIPT special functions in the editor can be switched off. Without this option the result would be that the site is no longer W3C compliant. Design functions which should be in the CSS-file and not in the HTML-source code can also be switched off. Due to these facts we came to the conclusion that typo3 is perfectly suited and extensions to the issue of accessible sites are available. Some more typo3 advantages- open source software & minimum license costs and management
- can be used for different types of websites, from e-commerce sites to information sites
- TYPO3 is highly customizable, expandable and modularized: there are at present 1033 extensions available added to the several basic ones
- It is stable and secure - there are more than 122.000 servers with TYPO3 and the community of developers steadily on work.
- it is the ideal solution to the advanced management of website as it allows a refined log in or users and administrators of the website
- graphics and content separated management for a more effective updating of enterprise communication through the website
- Updating of web contents can be made also by IT beginners.
For more information on CMS Typo3 please visit: Website: http://www.typo3.com (Commercial Site) And http://www.typo3.org (Developer Website) Originally website accessibility needed to be considered from two different perspectives. On one hand the content management system must be able to generate accessible websites, on the other hand the CMS itself must be accessible and manageable for handicapped editors for example. The latter is not given by any CMS at current stage of development. This is an area of significant need for development.
During our research the YAML Framework from Dirk Jesse was found. It contains a CSS and XHTML template which is well-suited as a basis for our development. Various browser bugs are already fixed and the different solutions are already implemented. In addition, the Framework is completely W3C compliant which is an important aspect of website accessibility. Here you can find further information about the YAML Framework:
Original YAML framework website:
http://www.yaml.de (only available in German language)
YAML for typo3 Website:
http://www.yaml.t3net.de (only available in German language)
We came across that the CSS framework provides an ideal basement for the development of accessible websites.
But the framework still provides more. In addition to good browser compatibility it is also very flexible in the construction of the pages. It offers not only a static XHTML template but also scalable template. This allows building websites with flexible layout options depending on the special needs of a single page. This also is an entitlement of usability.
Designing the layout flexible, gives the ability to act flexible with the content. If the content demands it, the structure can be switched for example between a 1-, 2- or 3-column-layout. Additional to that it can be defined whether the width of the layout shall be static or flexible.
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