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diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/accessibility.jpg b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/accessibility.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 4cf5d4e..0000000 --- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/accessibility.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/accessibility.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/accessibility.txt deleted file mode 100644 index ca31262..0000000 --- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/accessibility.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1 +0,0 @@ -Most of the web is off limits to disabled persons. According to a U.N study, conducted by the British technology firm [Nomensa][1], 97 percent of websites [fail to meet the minimum level of web accessibility][4].
The survey looked at 100 popular sites in twenty different countries and tested them against the [Web Content Accessibility Guidelines][2], the international guidelines for web accessibility.
While that's a pretty daunting statistic, and a dismal failure, the survey also outlined many of the problem areas and suggests most would be fairly easy to remedy.
The most common stumbling block was Javascript, which many so-called web 2.0 sites rely on for their graphical wiz-bang features.
followed closely by a lack of alternative text for images. Screen readers and other assistive devices rely on the <code>alt</code> descriptions in <code>img</code> tags to "show" visually impaired users the graphics on a page.
Another problem the survey touches on was the use of poorly contrasting color combinations, which make Web pages difficult to read for people with visual impairment like color blindness.
Looks like [Jakob Nielson][3] needs to write another book.
And the three success stories? The only websites that met all the minimum standards were the German chancellor's website, the Spanish government website, and the British prime minister's website. The only question is how those three sites ended up in a list of the internet's most popular.
[1]: http://www.nomensa.com/ "Nomensa.com"
[4]: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2006-12-05T224424Z_01_N05332044_RTRIDST_0_OUKIN-UK-INTERNET-DISABLED.XML&WTmodLoc=TechInternet-C1-Headline-9 "Reuters on UN Study"
[3]: http://www.useit.com/ "Jakob Nielson on web standards and accessibility"
[2]: http://www.w3.org/WAI/ "W3C guidelines for web accessibility"
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The Acrobat line of products now includes Reader, Elements, Standard, and Pro versions ranging in price from free for Reader to $449 US for the Pro version. Early 2007 will see the release of a fifth version, 3D, which features CAD and other 3D imaging integration.
Adobe, who controls the industry-standard Portable Document Format (PDF), is pushing the collaborative side of off the so-called office 2.0 arena. The new Acrobat reader opens with a dialog asking if you want to "go beyond Adobe Reader." The link then loads a full tutorial and overview of Adobe's sharing and online PDF creation tool, Adobe Acrobat Connect.
The new Reader features a vastly simplified toolbar. Gone are the multitude of toolbars and palettes that used to open by default when viewing a PDF file. Even better, Reader now offers user customizable toolbars, a feature I hope to see in other Adobe products.
Other new features include the ability to create PDF documents from any application that prints, including one-button creation from Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Adobe Reader also sports a new option to let you fill and submit forms, save data and digitally sign documents.
Those forms can be created using the full versions of the Acrobat family and then sent out and anyone with Reader who can then fill in and digitally sign the documents.
The a new comments feature allows for online (and off) comments within the document space (see the screenshots below).
Another prominent feature (one of the few default buttons on the toolbar) is the "Start Meeting" button which will launch Adobe Acrobat Connect. Connect, the Adobe-hosted software, provides real-time online collaboration through Adobe Flash Player.
My testing revealed a couple glaring negatives, first the Mac installer has no uninstall and what's worse, if you run the installer a second time it will simply reinstall the program. I don't know if the Windows installer is any smarter, but Adobe certainly could have done better.
Interestingly, instead of going the Universal Binary route Adobe has actually released two separate versions of its Acrobat Line for Macs, one for Intel Macs and one for older PowerPC models.
Overall the new suite is impressive and the redesign elements and user customization features bode well for Adobe's other programs which are expected to be updated some time next year.
[1]: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Reader/8.0/index.html
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Live Search Books will offer full text searches of scanned books, but for the time being the collection is limited to public domain works from the British Library, the University of California and the University of Toronto.
Microsoft says they will be adding copyrighted books in the future, but only those submitted by publishers or authors. This differs from Google who has scanned everything in the participating libraries' collections, but only offers full text searches of public domain books.
Thus far several publishers and authors have sued Google, as has the US Authors Guild, Microsoft apparently wishes to avoid the lawsuits.
So far the searching is very limited with no advanced options or search operators available but hopefully that will change as the beta progress. If you find something you'd like to save or print Live Search Books offer PDF files for download including a link to download the entire book.
So far the site does not appear to support the Safari Browser but Firefox and IE work just fine.
Microsoft also announced the addition of medical content to the Windows Live Academic Search. Academic Search is a full texts search of journals for institutions that subscribe to them. Today's additions reported quadruple the amount of medical information in Academic Search.
[1]: http://search.live.com/results.aspx?q=&scope=books
\ No newline at end of file diff --git a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/office-docx.txt b/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/office-docx.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 6bbf945..0000000 --- a/old/published/Webmonkey/Monkey_Bites/2006/12.04.06/Wed/office-docx.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1 +0,0 @@ -As a follow-up to yesterday's [office document format post][3], here's a link to the [Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint 2007 File Formats][1]. Users who are running older versions of Office can install these converters and will be able to read the new file format (which has the extension .docx)
The converters are free and Windows only.
Mac users and others those that don't have any version of MS office may want to try using
[Docx-Converter][2]. Docx-Converter is a free online document conversion service that will pull the readable text out of a .docx file and save it as plain text.
Obviously since the tile Docx-Converter generates is plain text, its far from ideal, but until the Mac converters arrive in Spring, it may be the only option available.
[1]: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=941B3470-3AE9-4AEE-8F43-C6BB74CD1466 "download Microsoft Office Compatibility pack"
[2]: http://docx-converter.com/ "Docx-Converter"
[3]: http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2006/12/office_document.html "Monkey Bites on Office Document Formats"
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* Adobe has [released version 8 of their popular Acrobat Reader software][7]. Among the [list of new features][8] are web-based collaboration (via Connect), shared reviews, enhanced search options and more.
[7]: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html "Adobe releases Acrobat Reader 8"
[8]: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Reader/8.0/WS00E809B7-1119-4416-8731-033B20B684B3.html "Reader 8 new features"
* According to a new study, [cell phones *do not* cause cancer][1]. The studied 400,000 Danish cellular users, some of whom were tracked for two decades, and concluded that mobile phone usage did not increase the risk of cancer.
[1]: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=technologyNews&storyid=2006-12-06T152620Z_01_N05280092_RTRUKOC_0_US-CANCER-CELLPHONES.xml&src=rss "Cell Phones don't cause cancer"
* [MySpace is reportedly in talks with Cingular][2] to put the popular social network on Cingular phones. The deal would give the millions of MySpace users mobile access to the site, but so far there are no details on pricing or features. And there's no risk of cancer.
[2]: http://news.yahoo.com/s/fool/20061205/bs_fool_fool/116534248119 "MySpace to go wireless"
* A serious [new flaw has been found in Microsoft Word][3] that allows an attack to excute malicious code when an infected Word file is opened. So far there's no patch and Microsoft recommends that you excercise caution when opening files from unknown or untrusted parties. See the above link for a list of effected versions.
[3]: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/929433.mspx "Zero day attack"
* Microsoft is [releasing Live Search Books today][4], a competitor to Google Book Search. The service is in beta at the moment and only available via a browser, but in the future MS plans to integrate Live Search Books in the the rest of Live Search.
[4]: http://news.com.com/2100-1038_3-6141162.html "Live Search"
* Yahoo has undergone a serious executive shuffle/shakedown. Check out the Epicenter Blog for [some analysis][5] [on the changes][6].
[5]: http://blog.wired.com/business/2006/12/more_on_yahoo.html
[6]: http://blog.wired.com/business/2006/12/even_more_on_ya.html
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