Studio 24

Join us at The Post Doc Centre in Eddington on Wednesday 20th May, 9.30am to 11.30am, for our Cambridge Network session: What is website accessibility and why does it matter? You will learn: • who accessibility is for • what the law says • why an accessible website is good for business • how to make accessibility improvements to your website We'll have tasks for you to practice adding content to your website in an accessible way. You can even make improvements to your own website while we're here to help you. Bring a laptop to join in. Cambridge Network members: £20+VAT. University of Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin University staff and students: £20+VAT. Non-members - £30+VAT Book online: https://lnkd.in/ertGxUmQ

Your website has a carbon footprint. If you can reduce the size of your website pages, you can reduce emissions. This will also make your website load faster, and faster websites rank higher in search engines and have higher conversion rates. Our blog post - getting started with digital sustainability - has lots of tips: • Choosing green hosting • Using images in a more sustainable way • Managing videos, animations and custom fonts • Deleting old content • Recycling surplus tech Read more on our website: https://lnkd.in/eWxM-GvC If you want some help getting started, we can provide a sustainability audit. We will measure the current impact of your website and give you clear actions for how to reduce emissions. Details on our website: https://lnkd.in/eKEDzdYx As a website manager or content editor, it might seem impossible to have any impact – but nothing could be further from the truth. When you optimise an image or change hosting providers, you are prioritising sustainability, reducing carbon footprint and helping people engage with your content.

For the past year, I’ve had the privilege of leading a project supporting the delivery of RNIB’s Sight Loss Data Tool - an accessible platform that makes eye health and sight loss data easier to access and understand for everyone. The tool brings together up‑to‑date data, new metrics, and a user‑friendly interface, enabling: - better service planning and strategic decision‑making - a clearer understanding of sight loss at both local and national level - individuals and communities to explore data relevant to their own area It’s been a great example of turning complex data into something people can easily use, with the aim of improving outcomes for blind and partially sighted people. Huge thanks to John Slade, Adam Pearson and others across RNIB and Studio 24 for their expertise, collaboration and commitment throughout the delivery. Access it here: https://data.rnib.org.uk/ #ProjectDelivery #Accessibility #DataForGood #SightLoss #EyeHealth #RNIB

Congratulations to RNIB as their Sight Loss Data Tool is now live 🎉 We had a great experience working on this project - it was a brilliant collaboration from start to finish. Thank you to Adam and the RNIB team. This tool was custom-built by Gareth and Simon Jones using the popular open source web framework Laravel. Case study coming soon!

It's Earth Day (22 April)! Because small, consistent actions can make big changes, we're sharing how you can make your website more sustainable by the way you choose and add images. Images need different resolutions for different purposes. To look good in print you’d need an image that’s several MBs in size. But for online use – websites & social media – the image only needs to be a few hundred kilobytes. To optimise an image for use online you can resize it and then reduce the file size by compressing it. A lot of modern phones will take pictures where the longest edge can measure 3000px or more, which is simply too large for web use. If you add a large, uncompressed image to your website, it will consume more data and slow down page loads. This has major implications for how much energy is used to view your website and the emissions that it then creates. This also impacts search engine rankings as performance is a ranking factor. Smaller, compressed images mean faster load times for users on older devices or limited data; and a smaller carbon footprint per page view because it uses less energy. Whoever authors your website content is responsible for making sure it is accessible and sustainable. Try resizing and compressing images using a tool like Squoosh: https://squoosh.app/ Or watch our video below for more tips. https://lnkd.in/eESKM-26

Our Everyday Digital webinar on sustainability is now available to watch on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/e8QQQNsr Or read about sustainability on our blog if you prefer: https://lnkd.in/eWxM-GvC We cover ways to reduce the energy consumption of your website, including green hosting and adding content in a sustainable way. A big thank you to Sustainable Tech 4 Good for explaining how you can recycle your old tech with them to support sustainability and digital inclusion. Get in touch if you have any questions about digital sustainability or visit our website to for details of our sustainability audit for your website: https://lnkd.in/eKEDzdYx

Simon Jones and Nicola enjoyed working with Josephine Fraser at The National Lottery Heritage Fund to update their accessibility guidance. The updated guidance: • reflects current best practices • helps heritage organisations understand their responsibilities • helps organisations take practical steps towards improving accessibility • includes advice that is understandable and usable by non-experts You can read more about the project in our case study: https://lnkd.in/eg8FVgQ5

We look forward to seeing you tomorrow (Thursday 16th April) for our Everyday Digital webinar on sustainability. We'll look at the steps you can take to reduce the carbon emissions of your website and why it's important to recycle your old tech. Register on Zoom: https://lnkd.in/eUiGaVmJ

All digital projects funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund need to meet accessibility standards. We were commissioned to update the Heritage Fund accessibility guidance, ensuring it reflects current best practice to help make digital projects accessible. The new guidance helps heritage organisations understand their responsibilities and take practical steps towards improving accessibility so everyone can engage with heritage. The guidance has a Creative Commons license, so please feel free to use it https://lnkd.in/eCTzC9vk Read more about the project in our case study https://lnkd.in/eg8FVgQ5