Dear AccessWorld readers,
This month, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) announced the redesign of our website, www.afb.org. The new design offers a more interactive, engaging experience, making it easier for our visitors to locate information on everything from accessible technology to raising a child with visual impairments to webinars on the latest research in the blindness field.
Like the former AFB website, the new afb.org is fully accessible to people with vision loss. You can change colors, font, and font size to improve content readability, or adjust for repetitive links when using a screen reader. The new site is also designed for ease of use on today's mobile devices.
On the new site, you will find:
- Improved navigability via a cleaner design, more dynamic content, and a new information architecture
- Slideshows that highlight news, events, and resources on living with vision loss
- New and enhanced ways to engage with AFB through public policy campaigns and various social networking channels, including blogs and message boards
- Robust and dynamic landing pages for key programs, including the AFB Center on Vision Loss and AFB Press
- The ability to easily share content via e-mail, Facebook, or Twitter
- A vibrant and supportive community on the award-winning AFB family of websites, including AccessWorld, FamilyConnect®, CareerConnect®, Senior Site®, and VisionAware™
- In-depth descriptions of more than 1,600 agencies and organizations that offer services to people with vision loss, available for free for the first time through the online AFB Directory of Services
The site was designed by CDG Interactive, a long-time design partner of AFB, and built by the Daily-e Corporation, whose mission is the creation of accessible websites. As you spend time on our new site, if you have comments you would like to share with us, send me an e-mail, and I will be sure to share them with AFB's Web team.
In another vein, if you happen to be a student with vision loss or a parent, teacher, or advisor of a student with vision loss, you know that spring not only means warmer weather, it means scholarship deadline time. In recent issues, the AccessWorld team has been working to provide you with information on various scholarships available to students with vision loss, including scholarships sponsored by AFB. AccessWorld is a great supporter of education, and has devoted the past two July issues to education related topics with the "Back to School" focus. We've published the listing for this year's American Foundation for the Blind Scholarship Program, along with information on the Joseph Roeder Assistive Technology Scholarship from NIB in this issue's AccessWorld News. If you know a student who may be eligible for one of these scholarships, please forward the information to him or her.
The AccessWorld team wishes the best of luck to all applicants!
Lee Huffman
AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
