6. No model for commercial components. It is not clear to me how a component vendor could sell an AIR component while protecting it from unlicensed deployment. This may limit the availability of 3rd party components, with a corresponding impact on productivity.

7. Schizophrenic development model. AIR supports either Flex development, or HTML applications which run in WebKit. The ugly side of this flexibility is that there are two SDKs, even two JavaScript virtual machines with different capabilities and characteristics. While it is nice to have a way to render HTML, I am not convinced that the web application model is worth it, given the complications it causes. After all, web applications run perfectly well in the browser.

Lack of UI standards may lead to annoying inconsistencies between AIR applications. We are used to this on the Web; now it is coming to the desktop as well.

percentages or ems.

If possible, use a sans-serif font. The decorative “hooks” on the main strokes of serif letters may create additional problems for dyslexic users.

If you have to use a corporate serif font, consider reducing the letter-spacing slightly so that the letters within a word lie closer together but increasing the word-spacing to create a slightly larger distance between individual words.

uneven word spacing disrupts that pattern recognition.

Unjustified text, although less attractive at first glance. is far easier to read.

When italic fonts are used on a web page, the individual letters can have a slightly jagged line compared to a non-italic font. This “pixelation,” coupled with their “lean to the left” makes them hard for a dyslexic person to read. The effect is compounded if the text is also small.

Use italics sparingly and consider bold text for important words. They’ll be far easier to read.

Photographs, charts and icons can convey a great deal of information regarding the topic of a page. Graphics can break the page up into smaller chunks. They can also provide visual memory aids and support comprehension for dyslexics.

Dyslexics often have poor organisational skills. Lists can help them by organising information into small, logical chunks.

Dyslexics tend to have poor information processing skills. So it is relatively easy to overload them by literally providing too much information on one page.

Within a page, use headings to sub-divide the page logically and visually. Adding coloured heading backgrounds or borders will act as further support.

Consider breaking complex pages down into two or three smaller pages.

Keep site navigation simple and logical. Make sure that the Home page is easily reachable from any part of the site. Try not to “hide” this important link in a logo.

break long sentences down into two or more shorter sentences

Many designers do not realise that some screen reader users can see perfectly well. It is not uncommon for dyslexics to use screen readers to support their reading. This may create problems where text has been positioned off screen.

If you do make use of off screen positioning, try to do so sympathetically. Consider the viewpoint of those who can both hear the screen reader and see the page. Ask yourself if you’re potentially creating confusion.

anecdotal evidence suggests that, as soon as you reduce the colour contrast, the reading difficulties suffered by dyslexics are alleviated, to some degree, across the board.

Contrasts that comply with the thresholds can, and do, create very real problems for dyslexics.

t has been my experience that just about every issue within accessible web design is about balance. Skew any one factor too much in favour of a particular user group and you risk disadvantaging another group with opposing needs.

What I am suggesting is that, if a colour theme is chosen that conforms to, or exceeds, the W3C colour difference threshold, an alternative, low contrast style sheet should be provided as standard.

I then suggested that “disability” be defined as an “inability to pursue an activity because of a medically determinable physical or mental impairment.”

suggest that adhering to the Hewlett-Packard colour difference threshold would represent a more balanced approach to the issue of colour contrast. To that end,

I’ve developed an alternative color contrast analyser for people to try.

it is not a visual problem but a word decoding, or recognition deficit.

Our ability to recognise words is thought to be based upon two slightly different “memory skills” — phonetic memory and lexical memory. Dyslexics may have a good phonetic memory — as evidenced by their tendency to spell many words phonetically — but a very poor lexical memory.

No two dyslexics demonstrate their disorder in the same manner. It can affect boys and girls equally, across all socioeconomic classes worldwide.

“A combination of abilities and difficulties that affect the learning process in one or more of reading, spelling and writing.

Accompanying weaknesses may be identified in areas of speed of processing, short-term memory, sequencing and organisation, auditory and/or visual perception, spoken language and motor skills. It is particularly related to mastering and using written language, which may include alphabetic, numeric and musical notation.”

the more complex the written language is, the greater the likely percentage of people who will have difficulty reading it.

As many as 1 in 10 people in the UK are dyslexic.

Worldwide, it is likely that the number of dyslexics is likely to be equal to, if not significantly larger than, the number of visually impaired people.

poor short-term memory and organisational skills will mean that site navigation and page organisation become more important.

high contrast text difficult or impossible to read. The phrases I’ve heard most often are “the text keeps moving” or “the words seem to dance on the page.”

The law about accessible websites came into force on 1st October 1999 (http://www.drc-gb.org/open4all/law/code.asp) and the Code of Practice for this section of the Act was published on 27th May 2002 (http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2002/20020720.htm). This means that the majority of websites are already in breach of the law.Can you be sued?Well, probably. The RNIB claim that they've considered taking up a number of legal cases against organisations with regard to their websites. When they raised the accessibility issues of the website under the DDA, companies have typically made the necessary changes, rather than facing the prospect of legal action.The DRC has now published their findings from their formal investigation into 1000 websites. (http://www.drc-gb.org/publicationsandreports/2.pdf). If your website was included then you will have to start thinking about making it accessible to all web users in the very near future.

What do you need to do to comply?It's widely believed that if, or perhaps more appropriately when, a case makes it to court that the W3C accessibility guidelines will be used to assess a website's accessibility and ultimately decide the outcome of the case. The W3C is the Internet governing body and its web accessibility guidelines can be found at http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/full-checklist.html.