Ways of Christ

Logo: drawed Christian cross and earth symbol

Several topics

Technical notes 
concerning Web Content Accessibility

Accessibility in the Internet, means designing webpage content that is equally accessible not only for disabled users but essentially for all users, as far as that is possible.

Our pages already meet many of the pre-requirements and step-by-step, we are working voluntarily to improve the level of accessibility. As well as incorporating tried-and-tested options from the international Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0 / 2) we also incorporate our own viewpoints (shown in violet). In our view, defining what is appropriate for the Internet essentially results from the totality of the experiences of users and Webmaster using available technologies, rather than from the deliberations of committees.

- Perceivable: 

- The text adjusts itself easily to different window sizes.

- Font sizes can be modified with commonly-used browsers.

The font that you see, that is most frequently used and that is easy to read, is almost always Arial (often Helvetica with Macintosh). The normal size used predominantly on text pages is "3" / 12pt; eBook summaries 11pt. If this is not the case, you can adjust the original font if required: (with Internet Explorer: View / Encoding: Auto-Select. And View / Text Size: Medium. With Firefox: View / Zoom / Zoom Text Only). .)

- Images: Text alternatives are incorporated where there previously hadn't been any. Our text pages contain only a minimum of pictures anyway. This means that the pages load faster.

- Screen readers: For many years, we have added some CSS formatting to essential pages, which, for example, handles the insertion of pauses after paragraphs and the modulation of speed for programs that still need it.
If you don't have any "text-to-speech" program on your computer that reads web page content aloud, e.g. for visually-impaired users, you can try the programs from www.readplease.com .
Of course, we cannot accept any responsibility for such third-party products or how they may function on your computer or with our pages.

- We cannot recommend using translation software or the translation functions that are available with some screen reader programs with our web pages. As a rule, the quality of automatic translation programs is insufficient to be able to provide understandable translations of such differentiated texts. For this reason, we offer human translations into many languages on our Homepage. Even though it is not possible to exclude the possibility of some errors in languages other than German and English, they are good, competent translations.

- Tables: Our text pages contain very few. They will be improved.

- Using corresponding browser functions, our pages can be printed. That is allowed in our Copyright rules. Each page contains the formatting itself; so they can also be printed out in offline mode without problems. 
- There are also EBooks as summaries of most of the text pages, which can be printed without any cost or other formalities. The PDF- and Word.doc formates contain internal links; but they are optimized for printing, and so they contain less other facilities. Studying the printed text helps avoiding the problems of an overdose of Internet with "Multitasking". The freedom of not needing to be constantly online in order to read lengthy texts can also support efforts to avoid becoming addicted to the internet and idolising technology.

- If You don`t have a printer, You may ask by email, if we can send You a printed copy.

- We offer the complete ebook versions additionally as files for print with a Braille printer too: British version; and US version.

Operable

- Links are accessible by the keyboard - tabulator & enter.

- We don't use any elements such as text-tickers or fields whose content is continually changing or similar. People can spend as much time as they like reading a text.

- No popups or other irritating elements are used.

- Navigation:We don't use any graphical navigation elements, preferring to use text links instead. We offer versions of our main texts, with and without a Navigation bar (frame). Pages without frames are often easier to print.

- Our web pages contain no flickering elements which are known to lead to the possibility of fits or seizures.

Understandable:

- Our content is not shallow and superficial. It is differentiated. Nevertheless, we try as far as possible to avoid the use of highly theological or philosophical terminology. Special terminology is explained using non-specialist expressions. However, good knowledge of English is called for. Other languages, as mentioned, are accessed through our foreign language websites. We started an additional English page in "Plain Language".
It is possible to read individual topic pages in isolation. However, in order to get a better understanding of the information contained in this web project, it is necessary to work - interestedly - through the main text in its logical sequence and to be open also to points of view that are far removed from the black-and-white thought patterns that are prevalent today.

 - Our pages are in tune with Christian ethics. In line with categories laid out by ICRA, they contain no elements that could be deemed harmful to young people.
Human rights are also respected.

"Robustness" as it affects the different programs used by visitors to our site:

- In order to achieve as high a level of compatibility as possible, we have not considered it to be appropriate to use the latest technologies for creating the web pages or event to test their functions. It is rather our intention that, as well as being able to use new technologies, the pages should also work with very old technologies:

- Even with classical, analogue telephone connections (Internet by call with 56K modems). For that reason, we do not use any pictures that are superfluous to the content or complex formatting files that need a long time to load.

- It should also be possible to use notebooks that are still widespread or that are now available as second-hand models through eBay etc., with a working memory of 512 MB RAM, processor speeds of 500 MHz and graphic cards with 16 MB, for example. For that reason, we do not create pages based on scripts (embedded programs) that call for massive computer performance levels and which in addition, can appear differently on different computers. In this way, we take into account those who have deactivated ActiveX controls, Java and JavaScript in their browser settings. Only our search page needs JavaScript.

- Also, attention is paid to maintaining  older operating systems that are still in use, which may not necessarily be in line with manufacturer specifications but sits well with Internet users. For example, Windows XP - our pages are even compatible with Windows 98SE. Therefore, we also do not integrate any tiresome programs that want to install new Flash versions or similar, whose compatibility with older systems is anyway questionable.

- In line with this, we also allow the continued use of old browsers. We don't "optimise" for new browsers and certainly don't output error messages stating that a new browser has to be installed. Of course, new browsers can be used as well. However, we recently changed our sites into https-security. For browsers, which are not capable to open our https-sites, we offer a separate http-Domain with special text compositions - one language-one webpage: http://www.ways-of-christ.org
As  far as the computer and the operating system allow it, one may install newer browsers. They may improve security and privacy in the internet - if one can adapt the possible settings of these programs usefully.

- Our Web project has to take other parts of the world into account as well, not just Germany and the USA.

- As a rule, text pages that are compatible with older technologies can also be evaluated, for example, by new browsers. On the other hand, upwards compatibility, i.e. the evaluation by old browsers, of text pages created using new methods, is - in our experience - so difficult to achieve, that even the largest, professionally created web pages cause problems this way.

- Some page properties that we have not used up to now, may call for the above mentioned scripts. But they are not necessary for a text page. If somebody needs such additional properties, they can mostly be achieved by the use of server-based technologies such as PHP, which do not place an extra load on the computers of those visiting a site.

German version of this file

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