Archive for category HTML5
Thinking through Accessibility
Posted by John in HTML5, Web Accessibility on December 14, 2010
It’s a question I hear frequently – not every day, but often enough that it sticks with me: Why do drive-through ATMs have Braille keyboards? The people who ask this question are generally decent folk; they are hardly what I would consider insensitive, and they truly care about the concepts of respect and inclusion.
Open Web Camp II
Posted by John in HTML5, Web Accessibility on July 16, 2010
The idea was simple: put on a free, cool web-event in the Bay Area, and ensure that there were a number of interesting tracks that covered multiple aspects of open web technologies and web development, including accessibility. But rather than put accessibility on a pedestal or separate it out as something “special” or niche, treat the accessibility tracks as equal ‘partners’ in the stack – as interesting, exciting and crucial as learning the next CSS3 tricks, or exploring the emergent mobile platform.
Thoughts on <details> versus @summary
Posted by John in HTML5, Web Accessibility on February 25, 2010
I originally sent these out as a series of tweets on twitter. It was late at night on the west coast, so likely most were asleep when I pumped them out. I hope to expand on these further, but for now, my bullet points: Elements are better than attributes; for semantics, javascript, css If something [...]
Standard or Specification?
Posted by John in HTML5, Rants, Web Accessibility on February 8, 2010
Preamble You skipped over a question I asked in the previous e-mail: If there is advice in the UAAG spec that you think implementors should follow here, then the best way we can ensure that it is followed is, IMHO, to also include it in HTML. Is there something I’ve omitted that UAAG recommends of [...]
Standards Are Not Just Stuff and Nonesense
While HTML5′s generals play with toy soldiers, designers and developers who just want the war to be over, get on with the fight by speaking about, writing about, teaching and using HTML5. Andy Clarke
Standards are more than just specifications. Standards are translated into numerous languages, printed with actual paper & ink in books (which are sold in shops, stored in libraries and used as teaching materials in schools), combed over by legal folk, management folk, and other stake holders who might not know a CSS child-element from a JSON call, but they do know what ‘broken’ means.
Are We Still Arguing About Validation?
As someone who has been teaching HTML for over a decade, I have recollections of students (authoring in Notepad) in total panic because they forgot to close their </table>s, and thus Netscape 3 would deliver a blank page (Draconian error handling has a history too) – I also remember that they only made that mistake once, and never forgot it after that.
Talismans, Active Listening, and a half-time show
Posted by John in HTML5, Web Accessibility on August 4, 2009
First of all, I would like to suggest that today the @summary debate has digressed to something of a fight over a Talisman. Maybe that is in part my fault, and if so I will take the blame. I used that Talisman to force a dialog that has needed to happen for a very long time. Some people might find my tactics offensive, or childish, and others will remain trapped in arguing about what the data and research does or doesn’t say, does or doesn’t do, proves, disproves or concludes. You all need to just stop for a minute and take a deep breath.
![[Photo: John Foliot, web accessibility specialist]](http://john.foliot.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/sxsw2011_150_200.jpg)
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