Your Website is not that Great – Here is Why…

If you’re reading this then no doubt the title must have been catchy enough for you to want to read and learn more. Perhaps you are bursting with pride after a recent redesign or rebrand on your website and am feeling confident that you do now have a super cool website. Perhaps you invested time and money to get the current look and feel that your website has today. After all, websites to some certain degree these days are an artistic expression on who you are and what you do. Furthermore, you may even have metrics supporting that things have improved since revamping up your website.

Are you still feeling confident? Or are you having second thoughts and now thankful that you followed all the recommended steps to build a great website? Ensured that you met all the web standards including accessibility standards, listened to the branding and marketing experts on what works well for your target audience, tested and checked it out across different browsers and devices?

The Question that Keeps on Playing on my Mind 

Long ago I asked this very question: “What makes a great website?” or more specifically what makes good web usability? In fact – this is the very question that keeps on playing on my mind.

It became quickly evident that it would be impossible for anyone to empirically claim to have the magic formula for what makes a great website without a deep understanding on the problems that websites impose. The Internet and its users are inherently complicated, in a constant state of change and always evolving.

In recent times there has been an increasing trend towards awareness on making websites accessible and a push to force compliancy or even enforce it with hard law. Creating awareness is great, however, enforcing something by law that doesn’t solve the underlying problem is a little short sighted and potentially creates problems.  This is because unless the criterion caters for every single individual it is immediately refuted and doesn’t provide the best ideal outcome for everyone.

Web standards, best practices, suggestions offered by branding and marketing experts do help improve to make better websites however they are not the means to the end.

Eventually it dawned upon me that what makes a great website is greatly influenced and subjective to each individual. After thinking about this more I set out to prove this by creating what I call the “three-door hypothesis” check.

The Three-Door Hypothesis Check

The three-door hypothesis check isn’t a difficult concept to understand.  It about putting three different spins surrounding a single point but arguably connected.

Consider the picture below that we created just to illustrate this point – three doors illustrating different times of the beach. Which door would you open and walk through to enjoy the moment at the beach?

Most chose the middle door of clear beautiful day at the beach and a few romantics chose the sunset. Personally, I would choose either the sunset scene as sunsets are always beautiful to watch or the gloomy beach scene, as it can be truly exhilarating to see the angry waves and feel the energy of the sea.

Using the three-door hypothesis as a check on good web usability, I would then think of logical questions and form three good hypothesis based on what the standard would suggest, what an expert or web developer would suggest and what formed my own personal opinion and run these past different people. I would always find that all three different offerings where favoured with good supporting reasons for accepting one and rejecting the others. Clearly the generalisation wasn’t so prevalent and in certain situations I even had swinging decisions where people changed after following up some days later.

It became more apparent that unless we tackle the differences amongst different people we can never truly claim that any website is great as there will be always someone who doesn’t like something or believes it could be improved or made better or simply wishes it was presented or caters for interaction in a different way.

I also felt that we could do better than just focusing on target market and increasing the reach and conversions within the group.  What happens when the target market changes and evolves over time? Or what worked yesterday suddenly doesn’t work tomorrow?

My understanding on what makes great website changed and was forced to think differently towards web usability and online experiences. I focused on imagining how the future of the Internet and web browsing could be. And suppressed thoughts on thinking about how difficult the problem is to solve or the impossibility of making websites appear “perfect” for each individual.

Future of Internet and Web browsing

It is apparent that there are preferences and choices in everything we do: from the way we do things, what we like and don’t like. There is no reason why this concept cannot be applied to the Internet where information via websites was presented in the way you want it to be, allowing you to seamlessly access and interact with any website in the way you want.

It is not a question of whether websites can be tailored and automatically personalised to each individual but when.

At Hueyify we are working towards our vision on a platform that would help contribute and make every website great.  The Hueyify platform has a learning engine designed to evolve and adapt with you with one purpose - to continuously ensure that your experience online is at the optimal.

You can register your expression of interest to be notified when the platform is ready to use at: http://www.hueyify.com/register

If you are interested in the Investment Opportunities with Hueyify then please contact us at: Investment Opportunities

About the Author

This article was written by:

Kenneth Springer

Founder at Hueyify | Thought leader for the next era of Web browsing

Vision and Entrepreneurship - Seeing Opportunities Beyond Horizons

For those of you who have been following our journey at Hueyify would have seen us refining how we have communicated our vision for the future of the Internet. However, our vision has always remained unchanged despite the fact that way we have been communicating our vision may have been altered over time in an attempt to express more clearly the the fundamentals of what we stand for, our vision for the future of the Internet and desire to help make a difference to people's lives.

 Seeing opportunities beyond horizons. Hueyify® : we're thinking differently...

To put things simply - all we want to do is solve a problem and improve the Internet the way we know it. Hueyify was formed due to personal circumstances of the founder Kenneth Springer who wanted to improve "Web Usability" and saw opportunities in a big way.

Admittedly there was always appreciation and excitement of what it would mean if we could achieve the vision followed by the comments exclaiming "that's impossible" or "how would it work?" or "this sounds like magic"... However, this has became easier as we worked through the challenges and reaching the milestones of completing the proof-of-concept and completing the first early version of the platform in late September this year. Currently we are pushing ahead and implementing all the necessary tasks to make Hueyify work.

As Kenneth eloquently describes the vision of Hueyify and the innovation:

We need to be more visionary when considering the future of the Internet. There are preferences & choices in everything we do: from the way we do things, what we like and don't like. Imagine the World where information via websites was presented the way you want it to be. Allowing you to seamlessly access & interact with any website in the way you want.

Innovation that puts the Power of Preferences & Choices into the Internet.

Seeing the Hueyify platform in action is best covered by the informative video shown at our website:

If you are interested in the Investment Opportunities with Hueyify then please contact us at: Investment Opportunities.

Hueyify® : Going online is all about the Customer Experience

Let’s face it – taking your business online is no easy feat especially in this day-and-age where there is ample amount of metrics that businesses can use to measure their online presence performance and gauge deeper insights as to how it is performing.

There are many reasons for taking your business online but the bottom line is that it is always about the customer experience.

For Businesses Already Online

For business already online: the question always boils down to how can businesses improve their online presence and what would make the experience better for their customers? Businesses have already invested a considerable amount of time and money ensuring that their website is current, meets expected web design standards including the accessibility guides, listened to the marketing and branding experts who have no doubt guided the business to identify their target market that they are trying to reach and then back to gathering metrics to measure performance. This is further complicated by the fact that the Internet is dynamic and always changing along with the current trends. It is difficult to stay afloat and ahead with the changes on truly understanding the customer.

Simply put – the hard truth is that the customers are individuals who may or may not fit perfectly into the defined definition of a “target market” or at worst, have grown or changed over time. Currently, businesses can only at best maximise the amount of people they are trying to include within their targeted audience. A generalised “one-fit-for-all” is difficult because it is human to have preferences and choices in everything we do: from the way we do things, what we like and don’t like, how we evaluate and quantify what makes a good experience. Yet it is impractical from a cost prospective for businesses to consider an online presence that accommodates for the varying differences amongst customers.

Improving Customer Experiences with Hueyify

At Hueyify we’ve been asking ourselves these questions and working towards solving these problems with the Hueyify platform. The Hueyify platform aims to take the online presence a step further where the customer is closer to a true “one-to-one” personalised online experience that seamlessly travels with them as they browse across the entire Internet.

The Hueyify platform offers benefits for both the customer and businesses in different ways. Ultimately the customer will have a far better experience and businesses can have a wider reach into target markets that previously they were unable reach and more importantly measure this via the Hueyify metrics.

Hueyify is excited for our coming plans to launch the platform. To gain early access to the platform next year before it goes live you can register your Expression of Interest Online. This enables you to have early insight and use the Hueyify platform before Hueyify is available to the market.

If you are interested in the Investment Opportunities with Hueyify then please contact us at: Investment Opportunities.

About the Author

This article was written by:

Kenneth Springer

Founder at Hueyify | Thought leader for the next era of Web browsing

The power of Imagination

One of the values we value at Hueyify is the recognition and appreciation in understanding the "power of imagination". It seems we are not alone and there are many great quotes that reinforces this very point:

"Logic will get you from A to B. IMAGINATION will take you EVERYWHERE".
Albert Einstein

"The power of imagination makes us infinite".
John Muir

 "What you think - you become.
  What you feel - you attract.
  What you imagine - you create".
BUDDHA

"The man who has no imagination has no wings".
Muhammad Ali

"Imagination has the power to change everything". 
Shinsekai Yori

At Last : Our First Major Milestone Reached for hueyify.com

Hueyify is pleased to announce that we have successfully reached our first major milestone with the hueyify.com platform. We have successfully transitioned from the proof-of-concept to an early version platform prototype and presented it last Thursday on 17th of September 2015. We are excited and working hard towards the Beta version release of the platform.

If you are interested in the Investment Opportunities with Hueyify then please contact us as detailed at: Investment Opportunities.

______________________________________________________________

"It is not the endless challenges or the possibility of failing that I fear the most.

But rather: it’s the fear of not daring to tackle the opportunities when it leads me towards a path where none will go"

Kenneth Springer
Hueyify Founder

Hueyify Founder Kenneth Springer Interviewed for Start-up Tips

At Hueyify there is a huge amount of momentum and energy. Days are a blur where we are racing towards our vision and continuing with the Hueyify journey.

Recently the Hueyify founder Kenneth Springer was interviewed by the journalist Thea Christie who works for StartupSmart for entrepreneurial tips on start-ups. Springer was happy to share some tips in hope that it would be useful for another also embarking on the entrepreneurial journey.

Click to read article: 8-tips-for-first-time-entrepreneurs

Thank you Monash Lions (District 201V5)

Hueyify would like to thank the Monash Lions for inviting us as guest speakers to attend their AGM last night followed by a wonderful dinner gathering afterwards with their club. Everyone was extremely warm and friendly and made us truly feel welcome and at home.

During the AGM we had the opportunity to share the Hueyify project, our personal journey and vision for the future with the Monash Lions club. We are also thankful for the donation received towards the Hueyify project. Bootstrapping the Hueyify project has been extremely challenging and we are grateful for their support and generosity.

The Monash Lions club will provide photos and the details from last night via a media press release and publishing through their community networks.

Warm heartfelt thanks to the Monash Lions for being a part of and sharing the Hueyify journey.

Accessibility – Skip-to-Content: What’s that???

These days almost everyone has their own website in one form or another: whether you have your own personal Blog or a Mum / Dad with an online eShop for that extra side income or perhaps you maintain a fully-fledged website for work or for your own business.

How many of you had considered accessibility as part of your website design and implementation? If you were one of the few who did then kudos to you for considering accessibility as part of the website design – you are one of the few. However, for most websites this is what often gets overlooked. Not surprisingly as building websites is hard work and let’s face it – we have so many things on our mind from the content to the general style and feel of the website that best represents the branding and the ease of use. Not only we have to contend with multiple browsers and with multiple device platforms (desktops, mobiles and tablets etc). It can be a costly experience in both time and learning. No doubt where possible shortcuts are taken or the importance of accessibility has been forgotten.

I’ve been asked to share some of the accessibility knowledge with a focus on a single concept in each article. The goal is to show how easy it is and how it is the little things that we do to our website that makes it more accessible. You don’t have to be a “web guru expert” and for the most part it is just copying-and-pasting the appropriate HTML code tags to make it happen.

So what is Skip-to-Content???

Skip-to-Content and sometimes known as just “skip to main content” or “skip nav” is generally the first link that appears on your website in the tab-order that allows the user to skip over everything and jump straight into the main content part of your website.

With this explanation I often get asked with a confused look: “Why would you want that?” or sometimes with just an exasperated “Huh??!!!” I then further explain that not everyone uses the mouse to interact with your website directly which is often the case with those who are blind or have severe case of dexterity.

Most websites have a banner at the top with navigational menus, searchable fields and login links. Imagine for those users who don’t use the mouse has to press that tab key 20 times to skip over all the uninteresting content simply to reach the main content of your website? If that sounds bad then consider that that they have to repeat this for each page navigation on your website. This is the reality for some users that visit your website.

Thankfully we can make websites more accessible simply by including the link at the top of the page “Skip-to-Content” in the first tab-order.

 “I think a Skip-to-Content Link on top of the Page is Confusing”!!!

I wholeheartedly agree with this statement. For visually-abled users seeing the link at the top of the page “Skip-to-Content” is confusing and may leave the user bewildered especially when the content appears directly under the narrow banner.

Luckily with a little CSS trick you can make the “Skip-to-Content” link only appear when it has the tab focus and otherwise it remains completely hidden. We have adapted this implementation for both the www.hueyify.com and the hueyify.blogspot.com.au and illustrated as follows:


The Hueyify website page:

On the first tab item on the website page the “Skip-to-Navigation” appears:

The Hueyify blogger page:

On the first tab item on the website page the “Skip-to-Navigation” appears:

Adding “Skip-to-Content” to my Website – The Steps…

These few steps will show you how you can add the “Skip-to-Content” to your own website and hopefully you can see it isn’t that hard.

1. Back up your Website

Before you make any changes please back up your website so you can always back-out and revert any changes you make.

2. Add the Link

You need to add the link to appear right after the <body> tag. Depending on how your website was created you may need to modify every page or simply modifying your template so that the link appears throughout the entire website.

 

<a class="skip-to-main" href="#main-content">Skip to Main Content</a>

3. Add the CSS

You will need to add the styles to either a CSS file or directly embed the CSS into your page. If you are unsure what this means then this is covered in detail at: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_howto.asp

For Hueyify we used the following CSS styles and you are encouraged to change the colours and styling to suit your website:

 

a.skip-to-main
{
    position:absolute;
    left:-999px;
    top:auto;
    width:1px;
    height:1px;
   
    overflow:hidden;
    z-index:-999;
}
a.skip-to-main:focus, a.skip-to-main:active
{
    color: #333333;
    background-color: rgb(254,243,146);
   
    left: auto;
    top: auto;
    width: 30%;
    height: auto;
    padding:5px;
    margin: 10px 35%;
   
    border:4px solid rgb(253, 231, 38);
   
    text-align:center;
    font-size:16px;
    font-weight: bold;
   
    overflow:auto;
    z-index:1031;
   
    -webkit-border-radius: 15px;
    -moz-border-radius: 15px;
    border-radius: 15px;
   
    -webkit-box-shadow: 3px 3px 5px 0px rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.75);
    -moz-box-shadow:    3px 3px 5px 0px rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.75);
    box-shadow:         3px 3px 5px 0px rgba(200, 200, 200, 0.75);
}

The key point to making all this work is the “left:-999px;” which will push your link off screen when it is initially rendered. In effect hiding the link. However, when the link has the focus or becomes active the “left: auto” ensures that the link becomes visible on your website appearing over all the other controls on your page through “z-index: 1031;”. This is what makes the magic work.

4. Setting the Anchor Point to the Main-Content

The last part to making all this happen is setting the anchor to where the link should jump to when clicked.

You do this by inserting id="main-content" and tabindex="-1" in a tag that appears at the anchor position point you wish to skip over.

On the Hueyify website we had a tag that looked like:

 

<div class="container-general">

and we changed it to become:

 

<div id="main-content" class="container-general" tabindex="-1">

5. Testing it

All is required is to test your website and fix any issues as they arise. Ensure that the link doesn’t appear on the page when it gets rendered and if it does then it probably means your CSS wasn’t set correctly or is being cached.

Ensure that you can tab through from the browser you are using and the link appears when it has the focus. Selecting it should jump over the content to the anchor point you have set.

Other Concerns / Issues…

Tabbing quickly

There may be a potential issue with the above if the user is “tabbing” very quickly in that the “Skip-to-Content” link only appears for a fraction of a second and may be overlooked.

However, it is in my experience this isn’t generally the case when the user arrives at your website for the very first time as they would be generally testing out and assessing whether the “Skip-to-Content” accessibility feature exists.

Main Content is Already on Top

For some websites the navigation actually already appears after the main content or at the bottom of the page then this may cause some confusion for the visually blind as they will be wondering if there is any navigational menus for the website.

Perhaps in this situation you could consider having a “Skip-to-Navigation” link in place instead. At least in this way it would shed some light on those blind and provide means to jump directly to the navigational links for the website.

Multiple Skip-to Links

If your website has multiple sections then it may be useful to have multiple “Skip-to” links particular if it is likely that the user would want to jump right into the different sections. However, these should be used sparing otherwise it defeats the whole purpose of the “Skip-to” links (i.e. if there were many “Skip-to” links then it may mean the user will want another “Skip-to” link to skip over all the “Skip-to” links you had provided).

What are “Skip-to” Link Alternatives?

If you do not like the concept of the “Skip-to” links then perhaps consider the use of Headings. Whilst those who are blind may be able to skip content by jumping to headings through their screen reader is still doesn’t assist those who are sighted but have dexterity issues and still need to tab through all the unnecessary links to reach the main content.

Leo Club of Knox – Trivia Night 2015 for Leo and Lions

Earlier in the week myself and my family was invited to attend to the Trivia Night hosted by the Leo Club of Knox as a guest member held at the Bayswater Senior Citizens Centre last night (Saturday 30^th of May).

This gave an opportunity for us to present Hueyify to all the Leo and Lions in attendance. There were other Lion Clubs in attendance from Rowville, Heathmont, Wantirna and others making an audience of about 190 people.

I must say the Club made us feel very welcome last night including everyone who sat on our table who formed our team for the trivia night. It was a fun night even though I was terrible at Trivia. Thankfully my daughter knew some of the answers to make up for my shortfall  - good job Elleleen!

About halfway through the night Huey and myself stood in front of the audience and presented a little about Hueyify, why Hueyify was formed, a little about what we are trying to achieve, how we wish to help others and our vision for moving forward to make a difference to the world. We ended with playing a short informative video showing what Hueyify has to offer.

After the presentation Srisa the Leo Club of Knox President presented a donation cheque towards Hueyify and the work we are doing. We are grateful for the donation and appreciative for their support. Bootstrapping the Hueyify project and constantly seeking funding is the most difficult challenge we are facing and am appreciative for any help. Donations will be reflected in our donations link where donations can be made: https://www.hueyify.com/donate

Some photos from the night:

Presenting to a room of 190 Leos and Lions. There were two overhead projectors on display although the contents didn’t show up in this photo.

With the Leo and Lion club leaders – left-to-right: Kumar, Kenneth & Huey, Murray and Srisa.

Hueyify Receives Trademark Registration

We are extremely pleased that our trademarks for the word Hueyify® and the Hueyify logo have been successfully registered.

We needed a new word that is a verb that means “the ability to transform Internet content and display it in any way possible that aids your web browsing experience”. As the origins of the idea formed from a blind boy named “Huey” meant we coined a new word by converting it to a verb to form the name “Hueyify”.

The Hueyify logo was designed and created by Kenneth, Elleleen and Huey Springer.

Trademarks are very valuable assets as they signify to the public the branding in relation to the product and services offered. However, for us at Hueyify it means something more as it also represents the symbol for the vision and the goal of the new Internet era we are striving for.

Thank GAAD – Global Accessibility Awareness Day is this Week!

This week is a busy week with a few events on thanks to Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) that is on the 21st of May this year.

Believe it or not – GAAD is now a worldwide event that encourages people to take timeout to learn, engage and discuss issues in relation to accessibility and people with different disabilities. The focus is on accessibility within the digital medium such as web, software, mobile etc. You don't have to be an guru expert in this area to participate as it is all about awareness.

If you are interested in the history of GAAD then it all started with a single blog post written by a Los Angeles based web developer by Joe Devon back in 2011. Joe set the challenge that “Accessibility know-how needs to go mainstream with developers”. You can read the original blog post here: CHALLENGE: Accessibility know-how needs to go mainstream with developers. NOW”.
mysqltalk.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/challenge-accessibility-know-how-needs-to-go-mainstream-with-developers-now

It so happened that through Twitter an accessibility professional Jennison Asuncion from Toronoto discovered Joe’s blog post by accident and they joined forces leveraging on their own networks to realize the event.

From there onwards GAAD has been celebrated each year. Checkout www.globalaccessibilityawarenessday.org to see the list of events that you are invited to attend. I’ll definitely be attending to the A11Y Bytes session in Melbourne on the 20th of May. Who knows what new things we would learn this time round?? See you there!

One Week After Google's Mobile Armageddon

It’s been over a week since the Google mobile friendliness has been introduced as part of their ranking system. What this means is that whether your website is mobile friendly or not will now be factored into their algorithm ranking. This is a major change particularly as people are searching more frequently from mobile phones.

Web pages that are deemed mobile-friendly will have a higher perceived ranking by Google than those that are not. In case you have missed it – Google said the mobile-friendly signal would take effect beginning on April 21. Which means it has been in effect for just over a week.

This change isn’t overall a bad thing and makes your website more accessible. Many people with severe vision impairments actually prefer to use iPad and if your content shows up nicely on the iPad then that is great. The screen size of an iPad is more suited as some have "tunnel vision" and for others it enables them to hold the screen more closely to their eye to see content. Both benefits which cannot be easily achieved on a desktop screen.

 

Checking for Mobile Friendliness

The most important point is that the approval isn’t on a website basis but rather on a page-by-page basis which is checked in real time. This means you need to ensure that every page on your website satisfies the page mobile friendliness test.

You can test it by entering the full page URL at:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly/

 

What happens if you Failed the Test?

If your website had failed the test then simply follow the instructions and feedback provided by Google.

Initially Hueyify website failed the Google mobile-friendly test. We actually had checked the Hueyify website on several different mobile devices of varying screen sizes and all were readable. Hueyify website was already using responsiveness and didn’t think there would be an issue. Clearly we were misguided and wrong.

However, it seems that Google didn’t accept our viewport widths (we were using fixed widths that degraded gracefully depending on the varying device screen dimensions). It took us a while to track down exactly what the error was since the Google hint feedback was vague and unhelpful.

Make sure you are using viewport tag and use the width=“device-width”. The moment you alter the width you will get an error from Google that in our opinion wasn’t technically correct. However, we can waste more time arguing about this point as opposed to just rectifying the error in a way that is suited for Google.

Additionally, we couldn’t determine what dimensions was Google using as part of the mobile-friendly testing. After some trial and error it seems that Google is testing the mobile based on the early versions of the iPhone screen dimensions. This means if your content fits nicely on about 320px then you will be fine and pass the test. Obviously, 320px is very narrow so you would need to make sure your website displays nicely on larger screens.

Take care that you can not simply just scale your desktop website version to simply just fit onto the mobile screen as this would mean the content for the most part is illegible due to too small fonts. Tapping is also impossible due to all the elements being spaced too closely together. Google can spot this when your scale factor is unreasonable and will report this back to you as an error.

 

Does this mean I need to maintain several versions of websites?

This is not necessary at all. The whole point of making your website responsive was so that you only needed one set of HTML and control the responsiveness through CSS3 or JScripting. For the most part if you follow the responsive design website then the changes required to pass the Google mobile test in our opinion is probably minimal.

If you are stuck as to what all this means then visit:

https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/get-started/

You can find a whole wealth of information on website and responsiveness at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsive_web_design

https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/layouts/rwd-fundamentals/

The next evolution of the Internet

Internet has changed the way we live. Technology truly has the power to change lives. At Hueyify we are striving towards our vision on how we see the next era of the Internet and the Web.

It is impossible for us to sit still and calmly share with you what we are working on and our goals for the future of the Internet. Sometimes pictures help and at other times a video may do more. I'd say this is probably the time to say when a video is a must.

We have actually broken down the future in the Internet into several major steps and in each there is one core concept / idea that we are striving for. This is our first step. You may question why don't we just jump into the final vision? And that is a good question. However, from our prospective it is better to deliver once key concept at a time and evolve towards each key core concept / idea. In other-words we believe in evolution process of the Internet will be far more valuable than just jumping straight into the deep end.

It is hard to believe our beginnings started from humble beginnings in simply wanting to help others. The more deeper into the project we go and closer to our goal the more clearer our "why" we are doing this and the difference we can make.

Simplicity - It's truly Complicated. Hueyify and Hillary Clinton...

You could be forgiven in thinking that Hillary Clinton and Hueyify has something in common? Hopefully you didn't say politics as we have nothing to do with USA politics. Hooray to you if you said perhaps our "H" shaped logo.

There has been big buzz in the media buzz on Hillary Clinton's logo and it's simplicity. If the truth be told - simplicity is truly complicated. There is nothing simple about simplicity.

As a clever man once said:

“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”—Albert Einstein

The Hueyify logo was made deliberately simple! From the colours, design and dots on each leg... all done for a surprisingly simple reason.

Hillary Clinton's Logo

Hueyify's Logo

Local News about Hueyify - Published in the Leader Community Newspaper

It seems we got published into the local news paper. I didn't think it would appear into the newspaper for a few more weeks yet. However, my daughter Elleleen came and told me her friend had PM-ed her telling her she already read the story in her newspaper. We haven't received our copy yet but that didn't stop us from reading it online.

Link: Leader Community Newspaper. A screenshot of the article is as follows:

Technology Changing Lives - Living the Moment

Technology truly has the power to change lives. We live in a world of constant awesomeness that it is easy to forget what technology can do and appreciate the moment.

Sometimes, just sometimes like today I have the privilege to experience the difference that it makes. I took my daughter out to the Cinemas and we went to see the film "Paper Planes". Being legally deaf means I always struggle at the Cinemas especially if there is a lot of talking in the film. Despite this I am an avid movie goer. It is not uncommon that I need to have a detailed conversation follow up after the film to try to fully understand why certain things happened to fully get the plot of the story. Often I would follow up with watching on DVD with subtitles and be surprised how little I had understood in the original screening of the show. Today's movie session had the "CC" (Closed Caption) so I thought I would give it a try.

The CaptiView (Closed Caption Viewing System) looks like the following below. For me I had position it that it was relatively minimal in having to read the screen and refocusing the film on the screen behind it. Meaning you could almost visually view the caption screen and the screen both at the same time (i.e. a bit of multitasking required which was minimal if you ask me). After a few minutes it becomes second nature and adapted to the new way of obtaining information.




This no doubt forms the very reason why I set out to become an Engineer and work in the IT Industry. This reenforces my "why" I chose my profession. Yet it is the rare moments like this that gets me inspired and excited when I'm on the receiving side and experience the benefits from the technology. No doubt this was the same reason why I founded and formed Hueyify to make a difference to people's lives when browsing the Internet.

Ironically the storyline of the film "Paper Planes" reenforces the point about living dreams and doing something something that you wouldn't have thought was possible. Perfect storyline to go with "living the moment".

I guess from Hoyts point of view - this may not be well received by those who use it. When I researched I had found an article dating back to 2013 to nearly two years ago and it appears that the CC solution is more of a "nightmare than an access solution". I cannot comment but for me the experience was entirely different. It seems that there is a call for OC (Open Captions) in which is how I watch DVD or TV at home otherwise without it I don't bother watching it at all.

I am excited about the next film I would see and most definitely I would be doing this again.

Hueyify and People with Low Dexterity (Bad Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy)

Recently I received an email from a worker at a USA University asking us to tackle issues for those people who have Low Dexterity (i.e. Bad Arthritis, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy) and making Web Browsing easier for this category of people.

I must say what was involved from this request was researching and following through reading various information on this topic. There is so much content to go through and absorb but clearly there is a place for Hueyify to assist as one of the features Hueyify offers is to provide different means of interaction with the Web. Obviously in this instance the interaction must be formed in what works well for those with Low Dexterity. I can foresee further challenges when addressing those with multiple set of disabilities along with Low Dexterity.

I confess that it had never occurred to me that Web Browsing was challenging for those with Low Dexterity and am happy that this was conveyed to us. I must say I am excited at the opportunity and undertaking extra challenge to make a difference.

Question: "How large is the market for computer hardware, software and related products to help blind & deaf people with their daily tasks?"

I just spent a few moments tonight to answer a very interesting question asked on quora:

"How large is the market for computer hardware, software and related products to help blind & deaf people with their daily tasks?"


This is an interesting question and given my background being legally deaf and a father of a legally blind / hearing impaired son there's no doubt I would be biased in my answer to the question.

You can read the answer on quora.

A closer look at Hueyify - Explaining what is it that we do.

These days we have been thinking much about how we tell and share the Hueyify vision and goals. If we cannot clearly share our vision and goals with others and the community then in we surely have a problem. Communication is the key!

I know that we've come a long way from the early days. But like everything else there is a learning curve to go through. For sure we know that at Hueyify we are thinking big and if we have to summarize this into a metaphor that explains what we are doing we would explain it as:
"Imagination is Technology"

And if we may add a few words to describe what we are doing we would say:
"Consume the Web with you in control. Web browsing made easier, smarter and fun"

Which further can be explained by:
"Your Phenomenal Web Browsing Experience. Completely Personalise your Entire Web Experience"

I was notified today that BabyWonder.org posted a blog to create awareness about Hueyify and I must say it was delightful to read that our message and vision is getting through. It was very clear and spot on. Worth a read:

Hueyify presented at the South Pacific Educators in Vision Impairment 2015 Biennial Conference

Very grateful for the opportunity to present at SPEVI 2015 Biennial Conference on January the 14^th 2015. We hope for more opportunities like these to come along.

Making Websites Accessible still falls short? We need to do MORE - pushing beyond just “Accessibility”

It’s interesting to read an article published by ABC news on 6 November 2014 in regards to “Blind woman launches claim of unlawful discrimination against Coles over website” and in recent times the banking industry like Westpac’s innovation to drive ‘service revolution’ published by The Australian 11 Sept 2014. The similarities on these two articles have a focus on accessibility issues in the Internet for all Internet users.

Gisele in the ABC news said she wants “Coles and other online shopping services to remember that there are blind and vision-impaired clients using their website and [they] need to be accessible to people like her” whereas Westpac highlights that they have strong focus on diversity and accessibility in their service revolution.

In addition we have Tasmania’s Anti-Discrimination Commissioner Robin Banks saying her office deals with website accessibility complaints every year – The Examiner 6 Nov 2014. In the Accessibility News International archive you could find at least 1 article each month in 2014 around the globe either complaining about accessibility issues on the Internet in various industries such as education, airline, retail, utilities etc and demanding how organisations needs to cater for people with disabilities.

In addition amongst the disputes we even have companies fighting back where in one case “the Internet Association rushed to eBay’s defense, filing a friend-of-the-court brief saying the web is far too complicated to accommodate disabled people” [Ref]

Hueyify advocates improving website accessibility but questions whether the focus on accessibility is enough and we need to do much more than what the current recommendations suggest as it still falls short in truly solving problems faced by those disabled. While the standards do help, we need to accept that it is logically impossible to satisfy the expectations of each individual as we all have different ideas as to what works best, different cognitive comprehensions and personal preferences. In fact in our investigation into accessibility issues and collaborating with those who are disabled we received different suggestions and opinions as to what would be the best strategy or method to overcome problems faced and at times were conflicting. This clearly stresses that generalising a one-fit-for all isn’t feasible.

It is in our opinion that the accessibility expectations really needs to be dynamic and varying and has the ability to grow and evolve with the user as the user learns, improves and develops their website interaction skills. To put bluntly – accessibility isn’t “fixed” but rather “dynamic” depending on the disabilities in question, the level of experience the user has with Internet and personal preference as to what works best for the individual.

Eileen Fong the CEO of Hueyify, said that the founder of Hueyify – Kenneth Springer and her both strongly believe that a good website can only be the one that is most closely aligned to the reader’s personal preferences. This would truly make the user web experience to be the most optimal and enjoyable. If a website was closely aligned to the individual then it would mean to goal of satisfying both the general population and disabled community would both be achieved. The focus becomes about website experiences. Furthermore, this would not be limited to just online shopping, education or banking, but rather apply across all websites that the user interacts with.

According to the WHO there is 285 million people worldwide have some vision disability in which 39 million are blind and can not access content via sight leaving 246 million with low vision. Factoring in some of the other disabilities we have people with hearing impairment of 600 million people and 1 in 68 children who is autistic (based on Autism Speaks findings). Given the diversity of disabilities it would be challenging to find a solution that addresses the needs of each individual with regards to accessibility given that there is varying degrees of disabilities and different individual interpretations as to what makes accessibility work best for them.

Furthermore when considering the general audience - Ironpaper shows that colours increased web recognition by 80% where websites with a dark colour scheme increased growth by 2% whereas sites with lighter colour schemes experienced a 1.3% growth. Arguably both had shown growth but colour in websites is an influence on the readers. This is supported by “colorcom” who researches on colour and explains that the ideal colour choice would depend on gender, age group and demographic clearly highlighting the significance of personalisation of colour in web design. Ironpaper also states that 48% cited a website’s design in deciding a credibility of a business with 94% citing as the reason they mistrusted or rejected a website.

At Hueyify we believe that there is more to just a focus on “accessibility” when striving for the perfect web browsing experience. As a result we are pushing towards the next era of the Internet with a new product / service with a beta version to be released in 2015 with a focus on enabling personalisation of the entire Internet browsing experience. Hueyify has a learning engine that will learn more about your personal preferences the more you use it. It also enables the user to take control & manage all content in all web browsers providing the freedom, personalisation and preferences on how content can be displayed. Hueyify has a deeper understanding on the accessibility issues and limits because Hueyify was formed and founded based on a blind boy’s struggles with accessibility and ideas on how the Internet could be further improved and to help others who are also disabled.  The main objective is to improve people's Internet browsing experience by aiding comprehension, understanding and improving the overall web browsing experience.

Ms Fong states that it is more than just accessibility at play and is like viewing websites that was personally designed and tailored just for each individual. She also adds that what makes Hueyify ideal is that it is suitable for mainstream and disabled users – a win-win outcome satisfying everyone including website owners by having their websites accessible for all via Hueyify.

Hueyify has been receiving and seeking donations to fast track development of this project and it will have huge benefit to blind and autistic citizens worldwide (Please support us). It is free for anyone who is legally blind or autistic. To find out more visit: "why was Hueyify invented"