In addition to usability, the issue of accessibility is also an essential part of the development of websites. Accessibility is defined as a property of a website which allows users who have certain disabilities to access the site. This could include providing data for voice-output software which reads information on the website to blind users and making sure the fonts on your site are legible and large enough for older people to read. According to Dan Comden and Sheryl Burgstahler, Website accessibility for disabled individuals is more important than you might think: "The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 requires that U.S. programs and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. A 1996 Department of Justice ruling (http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/foia/cltr204.txt) makes it clear that ADA accessibility requirements apply to Internet resources." (Comden & Burgstahler, University of Washington)
Project management software is used for major organizations to help them organize large-scale projects. Usually these programs will allow their users to create timelines and schedules for projects and communicate with the personnel involved. Several different software packages are available. One of the most popular of these is Microsoft Project. Here is a screenshot of MS Project showing a Gantt chart, which is a graphical representation of a timeline that has been created for a Wikipedia article: http://tinyurl.com/ybu983v
While Microsoft Project is a proprietary software package (one which cannot be modified in any way by the end user), there are several open source options available; these allow great flexibility in the way in which they can be used. One increasingly popular attribute of project management software is that it be web based. This is because web-based sofware allows the project data to be stored on a server where it can be accessed and modified by multiple users, thus providing for greater collaboration and communication among personnel. This type of software can be of great help to a large academic library or a consortium of libraries to help them achieve long-term goals.
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