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Advanced google OperatorsGoogle supports several advanced operators, which are query words that have special meaning to Google. Typically these operators modify the search in some way, or even tell Google to do a totally different type of search. For instance, "link:" is a special operator, and the query [link:www.google.com] doesn't do a normal search but instead finds all web pages that have links to www.google.com. Several of the more common operators use punctuation instead of words, or do not require a colon. Among these operators are OR, "" (the quote operator), - (the minus operator), and + (the plus operator). More information on these types of operators is available on the Basics of Search page. Many of these special operators are accessible from the Advanced Search page, but some are not. Below is a list of all the special operators Google supports. Alternate Query Types cache: the query [cache: If you include other words in the query, Google will highlight those words within the cached document. For instance, [cache:www.google.com web] will show the cached content with the word "web" highlighted. This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the "Cached" link on Google's main results page. link: The query [link: This functionality is also accessible from the Advanced Search page, under Page Specific Search > Links. related: The query [related: This functionality is also accessible by clicking on the "Similar Pages" link on Google's main results page, and from the Advanced Search page, under Page Specific Search > Similar. info: The query [info: This functionality is also accessible by typing the web page url directly into a Google search box. Other Information Needs define: The query [define:] will provide a definition of the words you enter after it, gathered from various online sources. The definition will be for the entire phrase entered (i.e., it will include all the words in the exact order you typed them). stocks: If you begin a query with the [stocks:] operator, Google will treat the rest of the query terms as stock ticker symbols, and will link to a page showing stock information for those symbols. For instance, [stocks: intc yhoo] will show information about Intel and Yahoo. (Note you must type the ticker symbols, not the company name.) This functionality is also available if you search just on the stock symbols (e.g. [ intc yhoo ]) and then click on the "Show stock quotes" link on the results page. Query Modifiers site: If you include [site: This functionality is also available through Advanced Search page, under Advanced Web Search > Domains. allintitle: If you start a query with [allintitle:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the title. For instance, [allintitle: google search] will return only documents that have both "google" and "search" in the title. This functionality is also available through Advanced Search page, under Advanced Web Search > Occurrences. intitle: If you include [intitle: Putting [intitle:] in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting [allintitle:] at the front of your query: [intitle:google intitle:search] is the same as [allintitle: google search]. allinurl: If you start a query with [allinurl:], Google will restrict the results to those with all of the query words in the url. For instance, [allinurl: google search] will return only documents that have both "google" and "search" in the url. Note that [allinurl:] works on words, not url components. In particular, it ignores punctuation. Thus, [allinurl: foo/bar] will restrict the results to page with the words "foo" and "bar" in the url, but won't require that they be separated by a slash within that url, that they be adjacent, or that they be in that particular word order. There is currently no way to enforce these constraints. This functionality is also available through Advanced Search page, under Advanced Web Search > Occurrences. inurl: If you include [inurl: Putting "inurl:" in front of every word in your query is equivalent to putting "allinurl:" at the front of your query: [inurl:google inurl:search] is the same as [allinurl: google search]. Ten accessibility blunders of the big playersWeb accessibility is about making your website accessible to all Internet users (both disabled and non-disabled), regardless of what browsing technology they`re using. More and more countries have passed laws stating that websites must be accessible to blind and disabled people. With this kind of legal pressure, and the many benefits of accessibility, the big players on the web must surely have accessible websites, right? Let`s find out 1. Incorrectly assigned ALT textGuilty party: Amazon Screen readers, in-car browsers and users connected through slow dial-up connections who turn off images rely on ALT text, in place of images. There are two types of images: informational and decorative. For optimal accessibility, informational images should have an ALT description that adequately describes the image and decorative images should have ALT="" assigned to them. By assigning this null value, browsers simply ignore the image. The majority of images on Amazon don`t have any ALT text - quite extraordinary considering how non-time-consuming it is to assign them. Even more bizarrely, some informational images, such as the Amazon logo, have been assigned ALT="". 2. Non-resizable textGuilty party: CNN To take full advantage of the Internet, users with partial or poor sight need to be able to enlarge the text on web pages for the information to be accessible to them. As such, you need to specify the font size in terms of %, em or a relative value (small, medium etc.). CNN have specified the body text to be 12px in size. 3. Text not created through markupGuilty party: AOL If images are used to display text then the text is obviously not resizable and not accessible to users with poor sight. Additionally, text embedded in images appears pixelated and blurry to users utilising screen magnifiers. The W3C Priority 2 guidelines (point 3.1) covers this so if your website uses images to display text then it is not AA or AAA accessibility compliant. Have a look at the screenshot of the AOL homepage below. Aside from the area with the blue background at the bottom, virtually everything you see is created through images, even their phone number (in the very bottom right of the screenshot). What if I want to copy and paste their number into my address book? 4. Forms aren`t accessibleGuilty party: Most major websites (except AOL) For forms to be accessible, prompt text should be correctly positioned and assigned to form items. For more on accessible forms read our article, Making accessible forms. To check if an input box is accessible or not, simply click on the text next to it (the prompt text) and a flashing cursor should appear in the box. For radioboxes and checkboxes, when you click on the prompt text the item should become selected. 5. Invalid HTML codeGuilty party: eBay With so many different browsers and browsing technologies available, invalid HTML code can have really unpredictable results. You can use the useful W3C HTML validator to check. 6. Link text doesn`t make sense out of contextGuilty party: Weather Channel Visually impaired Internet users often browse websites by tabbing from one link to the next, so for maximum accessibility all link text should make sense out of context. ‘Click here’ and ‘more’ are two common examples of non-descriptive link text. Descriptive link text also has web usability and SEO benefits. Have a look at this screen shot of the Weather Channel. In addition to the ‘Click here’ near the centre of the page, none of the links on the far right make any sense out of context. For example, what do ‘on your desktop’ and ‘free trial’ actually mean by themselves? 7. Using HTML to change font size/colourGuilty party: Google Web users with special needs may need to use specific fonts and colours when
browsing the web to make a site accessible to them. They can utilise their own CSS
document to override the fonts and colours you specify in your CSS
document - but not the ones specified in the HTML document. As such, all
formatting should be called up through the CSS document and shouldn`t
be placed in the HTML document. Don`t do as Google does and use the
8. Tables used for layoutGuilty party: Virtually every major website (except ESPN) Tables are structural elements so any website laid out with tables is automatically ineligible to be W3C AA or AAA accessibility compliant (see point 3.3 of the W3C guidelines). Using CSS for layout ahead of tables means your website will be accessible to all ‘future’ technologies: handhelds, in-car browsers and WebTV. You can test how your website looks on a mobile phone with the Opera mini simulator and you can download the free WebTV Viewer and test your website on that too. Using CSS for layout additionally has search engine benefits and usually allows for a much quicker download. 9. Website relies on JavaScriptGuilty party: Expedia Approximately 5% of Internet users` browsers don`t support JavaScript (source: The Counter) so alternatives should be provided to ensure accessibility to all. Turn JavaScript off on your browser and then go to Expedia. It`s truly remarkable that a website as large as Expedia can`t function without JavaScript. Click on any of the tabs at the top of the screen and you`ll get this: They couldn`t even be bothered to style it like the rest of the site! 10. Separate ‘accessible’ versionOnline poll
Guilty party: Manchester United The W3C says you should only resort to a separate accessible version "if all else fails". Separate accessible versions are strongly advised against because:
Manchester United`s website is so bad in terms of accessibility that it could probably have been named as the guilty party for each of the ten points in this article! Manchester United have completely missed the point of web accessibility: Web accessibility is all about following design standards and then adding in a few simple accessibility features. It`s not just about disabled users being able to access your website - it`s about everyone being able to access your website, including people using handheld devices, WebTV and in-car browsers. ConclusionSo all-in-all, it looks like the big players aren`t leading by example when it comes to web accessibility. Surprising really as they`ll undoubtedly be the first ones to have legal action taken against them should more cases start to make it to court. So come on, guys, sort it out. Web accessibility isn`t rocket science. Any web developer with basic HTML and CSS design knowledge, and a bit of time on their hands, can learn and implement basic web accessibility. This article was written by Trenton Moss. Trenton`s crazy about web usability and accessibility - so crazy that he went and started his own web usability and accessibility consultancy to help make the Internet a better place for everyone. He knows an awful lot about the Disability Discrimination Act and spends much of his time doing DOM scripting & accessible JavaScript. What next?
Republish our web accessibility articlesAll our accessibility articles are available for republishing, provided the author bio and links in the bio remain intact. You can also use our RSS news feed to republish all of our accessibility articles. SEO articles index
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