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A popular destination for end-users as well as computer support facilities for answering computer related questions. Offers free technical support, computer product information, computer product buying tips, third party computer company information, computer dictionary, weekly computer newsletter, daily computer news, and much more. This site is one of Forbes Magazine's Best of the Web Selection.
Like many other about.com sites, this one is well maintained, containing much interesting, useful, practical information. Because it is monitored, it adds a human touch to the discussions about computer related topics.
Much of the downloadable documents from the internet are PDF files (portable
document files). Viewing PDF files require Adobe Acrobat Reader to be
install on the computer. The
Acrobat Reader is free and downloadable from Adobe.
There are many versions of the free Acrobat reader (including
versions for Simplified and Traditional Chinese).
For our parents, volunteers, and project participants the English for Windows versions are probably the most useful (check which version of Windows you have).
The latest Adobe Acrobat Reader version is Ver 7.0 for Windows XP.?
To create PDF files requires the complete Adobe Acrobat program.
Many resources and useful information. Click on the “Solutions” Tap. Check out the Tips.
Note to Volunteers: Viruses/spam/pop-ups can be major headaches for our students and families with disabilities. Computers can become non-functional. There is much frustration for our families. Volunteers spend much time trying to cleaning and fix affected computers. Prevention is best.
Read Rick Altman’s “The Scourge that is Kazaa and the AOL Instant Messenger” the September 2004 Letter of the Month.
Be careful of who you register your domain name with. Be aware of deceptive / courtesy letters or emails.
Please see the following:
http://www.domainavenue.com/scam_domain_registry_of_america.htm
http://support.easydns.com/domain.slammers/index.php
http://www.darwinmag.com/connect/opinion/comment.html?ID=1432
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2003/12/domainreg.htm
IBM, Dell, and Hewitt-Packard will recycle your old computer (any brand), monitor, and other items for a fee of $15-$35.
Through the IBM PC Recycling Service, consumers and small businesses can recycle any manufacturer's PCs, including system units, monitors, printers and optional attachments for $29.99 which includes shipping. IBM PC Recycling Service will either recycle the equipment or refurbish the system and arrange it for donation.
For $15 (plus applicable sales tax) per computer, monitor, or other equipment,
Dell will pickup your recyclable equipment at your home or specified location
and send it to one of their recycling facilities.
If you are purchasing a new computer from Dell, Dell will recycle the
older computer for free.
Consumers may return any piece of computer hardware from any manufacturer: unwanted hardware is reused or recycled. The recycling cost ranges from $13 to $34 per item, depending upon the type and quantity of hardware to be returned.
Customers can drop off printer and fax machine cartridges and toners (only HP and Lexmark brands) at any Office Depot store for recycling. (On average, each toner cartridge recycled keeps 2 1/2 pounds of waste out of the trash and saves one-half gallon of petroleum.)
See resource Section on Organizations That Provide Donated and Low-Cost Computers.
Jim Mullen was a Chicago police officer who was paralyzed during the course
of his duties. He has become an advocate for people with disabilities
and has partnered with various corporations to provide individuals with
disabilities a free computer.
Web pages need to be user friendly for persons with disabilities.
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has guidelines containing 14 major principles for developing Web sites that are accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Note: It would be helpful to have guidelines for creation of web pages that persons with disabilities can easily navigate. But trying to comprehend the W3C guidelines can be difficult.
One of the best guidelines is to be as clear, simple, and consistent as possible in design, in set-up, and in code.
Here is our brief and simplified overview of the document intended to familiarize the user with it's principal ideas. If you are interested in building website accessible to people with disabilities. For complete information, refer to the Accessibility guidelines.
Many users are operating in contexts different from your own: they may not be able to see, hear, or move. Their browser could be very different: for example, their browser may only be able to process text.
Web pages should "transform gracefully" and remain accessible to any user, and the content and navigation should remain understandable.
There should be text equivalents for images, sound information (mpg3s, etc) and other media such as Flash or Quicktime Movies.
You should use an "alt" tag for a short descriptor (50 characters or less) of such content. For elements needing longer desciptions, you can include "title" tags, "longdesc" tags, or a link to a longer text description, called a description link. An example of code for "alt"and "title" tags is as follows:
<img src="../images/runner.gif" alt="man running" Title="A man runs up a steep hill in San Francisco, California.">
Multimedia should have a synchronized description.
Make sure there's sufficient contrast and that all information is clearly conveyed with or without color.
For example, if tables are used, they should make sense to the end user when "linearized" - essentially, columns are stacked in a single row.
Web sites should be able to be readable and useable without things like stylesheets, scripts or Flash turned off. If this isn't possible, provide the same information on an equivalent page.
Users should be able to turn off moving, auto-updating, flickering, scrolling and blinking pages & objects. Some of these elements may prevent people with cognitive disabilities from using the site. Screen readers cannot process moving text. Some people simply read slower and should be allowed to move at their own pace.
If the web page uses user-interface elements applets or scripts, make sure the page works without them or provide an equivalent.
The web page should work on any device or in any browser, and with any input device, such as voice input.
The guidelines recommend using certain technologies such as HTML, CSS, etc. Many other technologies such as PDFs, Shockwave may not work with assistive technologies; if you use them, provide equivalents as well. For example, if you have PDFs on your site, also provide the same information in an HTML page.
Providing context and orientation information is extremely important to help make complex pages, such as pages using frames, accessible.
Clear, consistent navigation benefits everyone. Your link text should be short, but also to the point, and meaningful. For example, "get information about accessibility" is clearer than "click here." If images are used in navigation, make sure you provide text equivalents.
Using simple, consistent, and clear navigation, layout, language and graphics benefits everyone.