It was announced recently that Microsoft will continue to support Internet Explorer 6 until 2014. With an increasing demand for better looking websites, higher performance web applications and increased security, it was a major blow to web developers globally campaigning for support to be dropped. Currently, 25% of users browse the web using IE6. Whilst it’s important to know that upgrading to the latest version of Internet Explorer is free and recommended, there are still legacy systems designed specifically for this browser, which stops people from upgrading.

Legally, web applications need to be accessible by anyone using any supported agent. The continued support means that web developers will have to continue to work with IE6 whilst that meeting the high expectations that newer browsers perform with ease. No need to panic though, as our development team has been taming  the ‘IE6 beast’ for years.

Accessibility is an important thing at IE, and we maintain to make sure everyone is included.

One of my favourite blogs, ReadWriteWeb, has an interesting commentary on IBM’s latest ‘Next Five in Five’ list- five big things that are going to happen within technology in the next five years. They’re excited about the ‘Talking Web’, already an emerging use of voice technology from boundary pushers like Google. Their Google Mobile App for the iPhone can accurately translate your speech into search queries. While something of a novelty, the potential for exciting new applications is real, and the groundwork is complete.

Voice is a great medium for input when you take into account the speed of transmission; most people can speak faster than they can type, and in terms of accessibility, those with physical impairments can accurately and quickly dictate their intentions. On the flip-side, how does your website cope with multiple languages, accents or even speech impediments? Can you afford to add voice functionality to your application, as well as maintaining standard keyboard and mouse inputs?

To happen in the next five years I think that developers need to do a really solid job of applying the technology, or it’ll enter the already laughable realm of automated phone lines such as ticket booking lines or change of address systems - that’s right TV licensing, I said the number SIX three times and you still didn’t get it!

I think the most fundamental question, one everybody can answer, is this: If the web could talk to you, would you talk back?

Yesterday Oliver Westmancott and myself found ourselves in Liverpool to join the Government’s Convergence Think Tank, taking place at the Maritime Museum. The theme was “Convergence and the public: building a media literate society.” Well, that was the title, but we did seem to spend much of the day on the regulation debate. Continue reading

It’s great that we have a company such as Google who can throw time and money into projects such as this. The internet giant has started to beta a new Web browser that will hopefully meet the demands of today’s Web users. The premise for Google Chrome is sound; the designers of today’s widely used Web browsers did not envision that the Web would be used how it is today. We’re not simply browsing the Web anymore, we’re interacting with a number of Web applications that users demand the levels of performance, reliability and security usually expected from our traditional desktop applications. The brains at Google have aimed to build a Web browser from scratch to satisfy the stringent requirements we so demand. Continue reading

Web accessibility is a buzz word many developers bandy around without much in the way of explanation. It seems obvious that accessibility is important - after all, the more people who can access your website the better - but what other advantages does accessibility offer, and is it really as important as we techies seem to make out?

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