April is Accessiblity Month

The entire month of April has been designated "Accessibility Month" at the HTML Writers Guild. The purpose of this annual month-long event is to highlight the value and importance of designing all web sites with complete accessibility in mind -- meaning, the pages you write should be equally useable in the latest versions of major browsers as in a voice-reader for the blind, or by anyone else with a non-"standard" means of accessing the web.

During the month of April, we'll be using the Guild's resources to educate both our membership, numbering over 90,000 web designers, and the web industry as a whole about this important issue, through a number of special projects and events.

Projects and events scheduled for Accessibility April include:

• Announcement of the special month-long focus on accessibility on the Guild's monthly newsletter, and the HWG homepage, to bring attention to this important issue

• Interactive member chats on accessibility-related topics, with recognized authorities in the field as guest speakers and panelists at HWG Interactive

• The fourth session of the HWG's popular online course, Designing for Universal Accessibility with HTML 4.0

• A presentation at FedWeb 99 on accessible web design by the Guild's President, Kynn Bartlett

• Launch of a new accessible design resource section on the Guild's website

• Other events to be determined -- subscribe to HWG Announce to catch all the latest news!

The overall goal of Accessibility Month is to create a greater awareness, both within and outside of the Guild, of the need for and importance of accessibility considerations in web design. The Guild's first Accessibility Month focus was held in April 1998.

Questions regarding Accessibility Month can be directed to Kynn Bartlett, kynn@hwg.org.