Better Internet Accessibility for Members

This page has been set up to encourage members to explore and adopt improved accessibility technologies so they may gain even greater enjoyment from using computers and internet communication. While some accessibility features are already available on most computers, others may need to be installed.

Web-site designers can also provide improved access for a better viewing experience of their pages. For example, modern technologies that provide better accessibility for people who are vision impaired, are incorporated in this webpage. Though still in its early stage of development, this page has the following enhancements:

• Alternative, contrasting screen colours that are AAA compliant
• Full page zooming (Ctrl +) (Ctrl -)
• Quick Access-keys - E.g. Alt+1 to return HOME (depending on browser)
• Sound enabled (sample only)
• More coming

Listen to the above message:  

What is WAVE and how do I use it?

WAVE is a tool to help web developers make their web content more accessible. WAVE cannot tell you if your web content is accessible. Only a human can determine true accessibility. But, WAVE can help you evaluate the accessibility of your web content.

Our philosophy is to focus on issues that we know impact end users, facilitate human evaluation, and to educate and inform about web accessibility.

WAVE is easy to use. To use the form at https://wave.webaim.org/, simply enter a the web page address of your page and submit the form. There are also Firefox and Chrome extensions for evaluating local, dynamic, or password-protected pages and site-wide WAVE tools for easily evaluating numerous pages.

Colour blindness or Colour Vision Deficiency affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world, many of whom may never realize they have this weakness. There are different causes of colour blindness but for most people the condition is genetic and inherited from their mother. However, some people become colour blind as a result of illness such as diabetes and multiple sclerosis or may acquire the condition due to the aging process, medication etc. Take your free Colour Blindness Test here.

Pages bearing this logo indicate a claim of conformance by the page author or content provider to conformance Level AAA of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, including all Priority 1 and Priority 2 checkpoints defined in the Guidelines. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Conformance to these Guidelines will help make the Web more accessible to users with disabilities and will benefit all users.

We meet on the 1st Floor of the Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street, Sydney, close to Sydney Town Hall, city bus and rail transport.

Our Special Interest Groups (SIGs) meet in the comfortable, conference style Woolley Room. Here, the Club has WinXP plus Windows7, 8 & 10 operating systems running on a modern desktop computer with access to broad-band internet plus a digital projector, all housed in a mobile cabinet. Some members prefer to bring along their own laptops & tablets when discussing and demonstrating their favourite programs.

Our Main Meetings are held on the 4th Tuesday of each month from 5:30 pm to 8 pm in the spacious 1st Floor Auditorium. The Auditorium has excellent sound and visual systems plus computer with ADSL internet access for use by the computer industry presenters. Guest presenters may of course connect using their own laptops as well.

The modern building is wheel-chair friendly with two lifts servicing all levels. Quality kitchen and toilet facilities are available on every floor.
Please note that at certain times, 1st floor access may not be available until 15 minutes before the scheduled meeting times.

Penrith Group Meetings: Please email one of the group's members for details of the meeting location, dates and times.