User:Webcase/Access

Dynamic web pages and content management
Nearly all web-development I have done has followed a review of the currently-available web application frameworks. Rather than religiously assuming there is one "right way" or "right language" for deploying a solution, I tend to focus more on the practical constraints. Consistency, reliability, and extensive documentation are more important to me than adopting a course of action simply because it is the "way it's always been done." Consequently, I have been fairly consistent in finding and implementing solutions that can be easily maintained throughout the system life cycle.

Moreover, as a general requirement of staying current with the state of technology, I routinely review web content management systems and compare them for price, database compatibility and flexibility. In this area, I do have a preference for open source systems, especially MediaWiki. Nevertheless, any system that can be installed with minimal difficulty, modified without undue proprietary restrictions, and extended as needed, usually represents a good candidate for proposing to a prospective or current client.

Web accessibility
The principle methodology I have used is to make liberal reliance on Markup Validation Services to establish a "baseline" of markup and application consistency, and then design and deploy system elements that automatically generate compliant content with little or no deviation from the established baseline. Depending on the scope, duration and variability of the project, this can be difficult, but with adequate preparation and reliance on my existing toolkit and code-base, this generally has not been a problem.

Much of my experience in ensuring accessibility has been for multiple purposes. Although access by humans with alternate abilities is a prominent consideration, I have also developed many applications and application prototypes that require accessibility as either a technical constraint or a practical cost-cutting measure to guarantee interoperability between different systems. My work for Eturn-Xpherix was a compelling example, because many of our business partners and customers had already well-established data interchange formats and I.T. practices, and we would routinely have to 'customize our solutions' to best fit with their requirements.

It is not routinely acknowledged, but ensuring accessibility ensures many ancillary benefits that accrue to all users of web content, as well as to developers and maintainers of web systems that either rely on or incorporate data from disparate sources, or require deployment and distribution on a wide variety of devices.

This is another reason why I place significant emphasis on a well-defined data model, and thorough documentation.