Most Accessible Footbag Web Sites
OK, maybe not the most accessible according to the results . . . but check it out:
http://www.google.com/u/accessible?cx=accessible%21&q=footbag&btnG=Search
If you discount both footbag.org and wikipedia because they are the authorities on footbag (and by nature will rank higher in any search) that makes FF.com the most accessible footbag web site on the web
For those of you don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, this means that if, for example, a visually impaired person were to visit this web site using a browser specifically designed for the blind (called a screen reader), they would be able to access the information and perform all functions contained within. Another example would be someone accessing the site from their PDA or mobile phone; such people would also be able to view the site in a re-formatted manner that would make sense. This is in contrast to most other web sites, whose information would be invisible or unintelligible.
From the ars technica article where I first read of Google’s new accessible web site search:
In its continuing quest to attract new users, Google has taken the wraps off a new beta project that will make it easier for those with disabilities to use the Web. Google’s new Accessibility Search retains the familiar Google interface but optimizes the results for the visually impaired.
I paid particular care and attention to the construction of this site, and I’m quite happy to see it becoming recognizable through this kind of search result. Of course, it could always be better, and I am still in the process of tweaking things to make it even more accessible.
The ironic thing is that, as someone I know pointed out, “blind people can’t really play footbag, can they?” (no offense intended towards any people who are visually impaired).
On a related side-note, some of you might be interested in taking a look at the general Google search results for footbag and see if you can determine who’s missing from the listing. You can’t see it? It would appear as though everyone’s favorite footbag dance web site has finally been banned from Google SERPs for their abusive spamming practices.
On one hand, it’s never a positive thing to laugh at the misfortune of others. On the other hand, they have been unethically manipulating their web site(s) so that search engines would artificially place them higher in the results. This is just plain wrong and it’s really nice to see that Google responds to complaints and is able to recognize and act upon deceptive practices when they see them (eventually).
There are other obvious benefits to the footbag community in general, but I’m not going to go into those details here and I am not opening this post to comments. I just couldn’t help myself from making note of the event