News
Information Communication and Society
September 2006: fourquarters'MD Dr David Kreps and Professor Alison Adam presented their co-authored paper: "Inscribing Disability: Web Accessibility and Discourses of Social Inclusion," at the prestigious Information Communication and Society Symposium, which took place this year in York, UK.
IFIP 8.2
July 2006: fourquarters'MD Dr David Kreps and Professor Alison Adam presented their co-authored paper: "Web Accessibility: A Digital Divide for Disabled People," at the prestigious IFIP8.2 Working Group: Information Systems and Organisations Conference, which took place this year in Limerick, Ireland, with the theme: "Social Inclusion: Societal & Organizational Implications for Information Systems".
Big Chip Awards 8
May 2006: fourquarters'MD Dr David Kreps sits as Accessibility and Web Standards expert on the Judges Panel for Big Chip 8, and makes the Web Standards and Accessibility Award at the Awards Ceremony at New Century House.
Manchester Digital Accessibility Working Group
April 2006:RNIB's Julie Howell to speak at Manchester Digital Accessibility Working Group
PAS78
March 2006:
BSi release PAS78 - Guide to Good Practice
in Commissioning Accessible Websites.
Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust
March 2006: fourquarters Information Solutions Ltd was commissioned by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Educational Trust to update and rebrand the website we made for the Race Relations Resource Centre in 2004, transferring the site away from its previous home on University of Manchester servers. fourquarters were very pleased to provide such a service to a valued long-term client. In addition to the website refresh, fourquarters were also commissioned to provide hosting and maintenance for the site.
PITCOM
February 2006: fourquarters' MD Dr David Kreps to be one of two speakers at the Parliamentary IT Committee Meeting "ICT for the Socially Excluded", House of Commons, London
Consultancy for BT Consulting
January 2006: fourquarters have presented two half-day seminars on Web Accessibility for Solutions Architects for BT Consulting.
fourquarters launch free Personal Style Sheet generator
October 2005: fourquarters are pleased to announce the roll out of Version 1 of the fourquarters Personal Style Sheet Generator. Simply choose your options, and download your own CSS Style Sheet.
fourquarters join 3-strong panel to create Manchester Accessibility Working Group
July 13th 2005: fourquarters are proud to take part in the creation of a regional expert group, designed to establish Greater Manchester and the North West as a centre of Excellence for the Digital sector.
fourquarters achieve Investor in People status
March 29th 2005:fourquarters are proud to announce that we have achieved "Investor in People" status.
"The Investors in People Standard is a straightforward, proven framework for delivering business improvement through people... The Standard provides a national framework for improving business performance through a planned approach to setting and communicating organisational objectives."
Special Commendation for fourquarters at the Big Chip Awards 2005
February 24th 2005: fourquarters were given a Special Commendation for the Big Chip Accessibility Award 2005, for our work on the Partially Sighted World Championships website.
The Big Chip Awards, now in its seventh year, celebrate the wealth of talent in digital industries in the North. There are 20 different awards catering to all sectors of the digital industries. Winners of the Big Chip Accessibility Award this year were Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council. Our Special Commendation in this category makes us the recognised commercial authority on Web Accessibility in the North.
UK Biobank
January 2005: fourquarters Information Solutions Ltd was commissioned by the UK Biobank to work alongside London-based branding agency 35 Communications to produce a flagship website to present the UK Biobank project to the nation. UK Biobank will be a unique resource for ethical research into genetic and environmental factors that impact on human health and disease, to improve the health of future generations. As a health sector website, the strict mandate given to fourquarters, as specialists in web accessibility, was to create a website from designs provided by 35 Communications that retained the look and feel of the broader, paper-based campaign material, whilst ensuring compliance to the W3C accessibility standards up to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Partially Sighted World Championships - Manchester FA
December 2004: fourquarters Information Solutions Ltd was commissioned by the Manchester Football Association to undertake a retrofit of their microsite for the Partially Sighted World Championships (PSWC). The Championships were a high-profile, international, event with participants from around the world including representation from countries such as: England, France, Italy, Turkey, Spain, Greece, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Cyprus, Mauritius, and South Korea. As a sports event dedicated to people with visual impairments, it was essential that access to information both prior to and during the event was accessible to all. This included the internet based microsite which provided key functionality including: Requests for Tickets, News and Information on the teams and the event as a whole, Scores, Results and League standings as the Games progressed, and information on the event venue and tournament history.
The site had originally been produced by another company but shortly before the event it was identified that the site, being largely driven by flash-based animation, was completely inaccessible to its very target audience. The strict mandate given to fourquarters, as specialists in web accessibility, was to undertake a retrofit that retained the original design, look and feel of the site, whilst ensuring compliance to the W3C accessibility standards up to Level AA of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
fourquarters Launch New Logo
November 2004: Following consultation with clients and supporters of the company, fourquarters announce a fresh new logo to follow on from the new look website launched in August 2004. The old four colour cross has been replaced with four quarter circles - a design which better represents the brand and ethos of the company: Web Consultancy, ICT Consultancy, Web Design, and Training units, providing the whole solution to public and private sector organisations alike.
