Continuing to share my delicious links, here’s mine tagged with Aggregator:

• Addictomatic: Inhale the Web – Social search engine mashup
• Aggregation | drupal.org – Drupal aggregation plugin
• Virb – Social networking site where your profile is built from feeds
• Dipity – activity aggregator visualised in a timeline
• FriendFeed – obviously
• Fuser – email and social network message aggregator
• HelloTxt – multiple status updater
• Pageflakes – it’s like NetVibes
• ShowYourself – It’s a widget, it’s not about flashing your bits
• Socialthing! – Got bought by AIM and is now AIM Lifestream. Like FriendFeed.
  

Similar articles:

• 25+ Ways to Manage Your Online Identity – Mashable
• How To Manage Your Online Reputation – ReadWriteWeb
• The Web Profile Aggregators – Somewhat Frank
  

Continuing to share my delicious links, here’s mine tagged with Advertising:

Good advertising blogs

• Advertising Lab: future of advertising and advertising technology
• Eaon Pritchard’s blog
• Osocio – Social Advertising and Non-profit Campaigns
• CST Advertising – Home of Dave Trott’s blog
• adwomen – Feminist commentary on adverts

Specifically good items

• Influential Marketing Blog: An Insider’s Guide To Marketing On Flickr
• tesco value shampoo – spoof ad
• Sprint: Plug into Now. – Massively awesome and interesting data visualisation on today’s production
• Orange online ad dimensions / specifications – For reference
• HSBC: No “goodservice” in Sight – and Orange Ad Campaign: I Am Lost? -  about using ’search for …’ as an online advertising tactic

I’ve been wondering how I can feature my delicious links on blog posts, so I just decided to start at the beginning of the alphabet of tags containing at least 10 links. I don’t like those automated services that just post a blog of your daily or weekly links – I wanted to group it better. I don’t tend to save the obvious stuff to delicious, but tend to save things I’m not so likely to remember how to find via Google. So, in the order that I discovered them, here’s a few random tools & articles about accessibility. Some are pretty old but still relevant:

2007 links:

• ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing A journal
• CSS: Map Pop Accessible CSS image map tutorial
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) W3C guidelines (the obvious one)
• Mike Davidson: March to Your Own Standard Controversial opinion piece
• ATRC Web Accessibility Checker Tool
  

2009 links

• Web accessibility training courses by the RNIB
• SiteRay – test, compare and improve your websites Creates great reports on website accessibility and lots more, useful for before-and-after tests for clients if you’ve rebuilt their site

I would say the most important thing I’ve learnt about accessibility over the years is that it’s not just about deaf people, blind people, or those who can’t use a standard keyboard or mouse, but about anybody who needs to or prefers to access websites in a different way. So it’s about designing interfaces that allow users to choose how to get around to best suit them, and allowing them to personalise the way online media is displayed.

Why is it that whenever anybody needs to set up a new internet connection, it’s always a nightmare? Why can’t somebody just get it right without a customer service massive FAIL?  Having just moved in to a new flat, we decided to go with Talk Talk as they were reviewed as being the best, and were advertising a relatively cheap high-speed broadband deal.

Step 1: Telephone call 1 to order new TalkTalk Pro 24Meg unlimited package. Told we had to sign up for the Essentials package, & wait for connection before upgrading to Pro. Tried again to demand we get Pro to start with. Told no, but assured we could upgrade later. Informed of £60 phone line connection fee. OK, signed up.

Step 2: Wait 10 days for telephone line to be connected.

Step 3: Telephone call 2 to upgrade to TalkTalk Pro. Told that package is not available to new customers and is only available for Tiscali customers. I told them I was told on sign-up that I could have it. They said this was incorrect and no new customers could get the Pro unlimited package.

Step 4: Researched alternatives, decided on Virgin Media via cable. Customer service popup chat on their website did a check on our address and confirmed we could just order by post, modem delivered 19th December, no installation engineer required.

Step 5: Telephone call 3 to cancel TalkTalk. Told that TalkTalk Pro package WAS in fact available to new customers. They then did a check on our line and told us that our line wouldn’t handle that speed though, so we couldn’t get the Pro package after all. Asked to cancel. Man at cancellations department asked why, I explained, he was extremely rude to me, finally agreed to cancel my account and confirmed I would not be charged the £60 connection fee (because I was sold it on false information).

Step 6: Ordered Virgin account and home delivery for 19th December.

Step 7: Received email from Virgin saying actually we DID need an installation engineer and one wouldn’t be available until 4th January.

Step 8: Telephoned Virgin to check and they confirmed we did need an engineer, despite previously being told otherwise.

Step 9: TalkTalk decide to send me a welcome pack and modem.

Step 10: Telephone call 4 to try to cancel TalkTalk again. Told account had not been canceled previously. Nice lady this time on cancellations department agreed to cancel my account, but told me I would be charged the £60 connection fee unless I disputed it. Told I’d be sent a return envelope for the modem. Put through to disputes. Told my account hadn’t been charged YET, but would inevitably be charged, at which point I would have to call again to dispute and they would credit me the £60 back.

Step 11: Grabbed passing Virgin man and asked him to check our Virgin wall box thing, he agreed we didn’t actually need an installation engineer. But by this time it was Christmas and too late to get a delivery by post.

Step 12: Virgin engineer arrived on time to PLUG IN modem for us. Thanks for that. That cost me £20 more than doing it myself. Anyway, we’ve now got internet (woo!) and it seems decently fast at a real speed of approx. 17Mb/s.

Really. It really shouldn’t be that complicated to get a new internet connection! And these companies should start hiring customer service people who get their facts right! Gggrrrrah!