This post is a little late, but prior to Christmas ‘06, I ‘finished’ work on a new website that is designed to help people with ethical giving. Instead of celebrating with gifts that people might not really need, you can choose to buy, say, a goat - or even a toilet - as part of a development project in a country like Afghanistan, Cambodia, or Tanzania. Your friend gets a card (printed or electronic) and the gift goes to someone who really needs it.

One of my goals for this project was to build accessibility into the design from the start. There is a one significant step to go - the font sizes are currently in pixels and I need to change that to em’s. Other than that, I think we did pretty well - even the videos on the website are accessible (to a degree). The vids were made accessible using Quicktime Pro, and a great piece of free software called MAGpie.

On my to-do list (apart from the font size thing) , is allowing the access keys to be customised (‘customized’ for my American friends) on a per-user basis, as access keys - even when based on a ‘standard’ - are now becoming more of a hindrance than a help, as they conflict with shortcut keys used by web browsers and operating systems, and vary widely between websites.

Several interuptions from various service providers created some fun hic-cups over the busy Christmas season, but the site itself performed well. The website received some great press, including an online plug in Marie Clare, and a spot on Channel Nine’s ‘Today’ show (read text, watch video).

Check out: www.usefulgifts.org the next time you need to buy something for the person that has everything!