A few weeks ago I was teaching a class and I asked the attendees how they use the information available on iDigHardware.  Several people said that they frequently share links to the site with their customers, which is exactly what I have hoped for.  If I post an article or video about a particular topic, you can just share it when the question comes up rather than reinventing the wheel.

One challenge has been finding the right information when it is needed – within the next few months, there will be more than 2,500 posts on the site!  That’s a lot of information to search through, so I’ve tried to find ways to organize it.  I have a page for published articles that each address a code issue in-depth, and there is another page with links to relevant videos.  One of the people in my class mentioned that she used the Topics menu because there are dedicated pages to some of the most common issues (fire doors, safety glazing, and school security) and she doesn’t have to go looking for individual posts.

Last week, I was contacted by some of my coworkers who needed a way to answer questions about accessibility – for example, if someone wants to know whether a certain product is “ADA-compliant.”  Because the accessibility standards aren’t very prescriptive about door hardware, and there is currently no certification to state that a product is compliant, sometimes it’s tough to give a definitive answer.  Are thumbturns ADA-compliant?  How about keypads?

I combined the feedback from the training class with the request from my coworkers, and I created a new page on the Topics menu called Accessibility.  It pulls together some of the considerations when trying to determine whether operable hardware is compliant with the accessibility standards, and each heading leads to more information about that requirement.  There is also a whiteboard animation video about accessibility, and at the bottom of the page, there are links to additional articles.  It’s at the top of the Topics menu when you need it.

The new accessibility page got me thinking…are there other common issues that should have their own pages on the Topics menu?  If you think of any, leave a comment in the reply box.

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