Touch Compass Dance Trust
[March 2004] Touch Compass Dance Trust is a charitable organisation providing performances and training for people of all abilities. The trust aims to break down physical and psychological barriers so all people who have a passion for dance can. It aims to empower participants and inspire audiences through mixed ability dance that combines dancers with and without a disability.
Good-looking and fast.
The Touch Compass Dance Trust website opens onto an attractive screen with clear navigation on the left. Venturing in to the site brings fast-loading pages which are easy to read - one of the benefits of using stylesheets.
Good information.
The site reads well and is made lively with a number of photos taken from performances. Biographies of cast and crew abound, and there is an interesting section of reviews republished from various papers and magazines. Contact information is easy to find and includes real email addresses - a good touch as hiding addresses behind a form simply creates a barrier to communication.
A shop explains how to order T-shirts and training manuals. Given that online ordering and payment can be expensive and needs to be carefully set up this is a good approach for many organisations.
News and History provide a comprehensive view of the Trust's activities. On the News page one of the images is missing, as you can see marked by an arrow on the screenshot. Visitors are able to download previous newsletters in Microsoft Word format, marked with the Word icon. It would be useful to indicate the size of the file and to assure visitors that files have been virus checked. It would also be useful to have a note saying the files are in Word format as visitors may or may not realise they'll be downloading a file. Very often people click on links asuuming they will reach another web page.
There is a problem that if you do not see images for some reason (for example the visitor is blind or using a cellphone, or if the image is just missing in action) then there is no indication of any kind at all that the link is to a Word document. That's because there's no alternate text. That also explains why we don't know what the missing image on the News page was meant to be.
No alternate text.
HTML is the coding used to make web pages. Way back when it was invented (about 10 years ago) text which could replace those images was optional but recommended. That's because many web browsers of the time couldn't display images and people were advised not to include pictures within a page anyway.
By 1997 images were a normal part of web pages and alternate text was described as "vital". By 1999 it became compulsory. Lack of alternate text makes a site harder to use for blind visitors, those surfing via cellphone and other devices and it means software, such as search engines, is less able to make sense of the site. It's hard to understand then why 5 to 7 years on so many websites don't include alternate text for their images. Unfortunately the Touch Compass Dance Trust fall into this category. That's particularly ironic for a group who are targeting their services to people with disabilities.
No headings.
Another problem on this otherwise very good site is that the headings aren't coded as true headings. This also affects how people with disabilities and how search engines make sense of the site.
Summary
Overall this is a good site. The text is clear and very readable; the layout is pleasing. It's good to see the Trust using a sensible approach with their Shop. Plenty of information gives us a good feel for the organisation. The missing alternate text and poorly coded headings let down an otherwise very good site.
www.touchcompass.org.nz