Buzz Archives for July 2004
Netscape Lives!
It doesn't have the cryptic appeal of 'Frodo Lives!' scrawled on a subway station wall, but it does have the advantage of being true: an updated version of Netscape — version 7.2 — is due on August 3rd. Based on version 1.7 of the Mozilla suite, Netscape 7.2 won't be ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers
- Defenestrating Tables
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Fellow WaSP Douglas Bowman has posted a analysis of the benefits of tableless design. It's based on his presentation at Digital Design World in which he made-over Microsoft's home page using only CSS for layout. What's makes this post especially interesting is Bowman's focus on real-world business benefits: I thought it was ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in CSS, Training
- The Value of Samaritanism
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Inspired by the Odeon debacle, former WaSP extraordinaire Jeffrey Zeldman holds forth on the value of good samaritans who build accessible, standards-compliant versions of popular web sites for free. Zeldman also gives an excellent analysis of the accessibility and usability problems with Odeon's official site and how samaritan Matthew Somerville addressed ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Accessibility, Browsers, Usability, Web Standards (general)
- CSS to Go
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CSS guru Eric Meyer has announced the release of the CSS Pocket Reference, 2nd Edition. My copy of the first edition is among the well-worn pile of books I lug around in my laptop bag on all extended trips. Looks like it's finally going to get a well-earned leave of duty.
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in CSS
- Web GUIs: Brendan Eich and Miguel de Icaza on Avalon & XAML
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Jon Udell recently discussed XAML and Avalon, Microsoft's next-generation GUI development technologies, with chief Mozilla architect Brendan Eich and Ximian, Mono and GNOME leader Miguel de Icaza . XAML and Avalon represent the future of Windows applications. The fact that XAML is a declarative markup language — an implementation of XML, ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- Adaptive accessibility
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IBM has a new service called WAT that promises to help make web sites — even those that aren't standards-compliant — more accessible. WAT accomplishes this feat by manipulating web pages before they are displayed to the user. SeniorNet, one of the organizations working with IBM on the service, has ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Accessibility
- Popular Magazine Not Cool with Us
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Family Circle Magazine's Web site gives you the upgrade your browser message when viewing it in Mozilla v1.7, Safari, or FireFox v0.92. Opera v7.5, however, does work. Ah, after more than double my coffee in take due to a bad night's sleep, I have woken up to why it doesn't work. ...
By Meryl K. Evans | Filed in Browsers
- Honey. Vinegar. Flies.
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While I'm quite sure this post won't be seen by the folks who most need to read it, I feel the need to speak up. In a post discussing his new fan site, Robert Scoble notes the surfeit of vitriol directed at the IE Team in the comments to their blog. ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers
- Web Standards and IA: A Match Made in Heaven?
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Christina Wodtke and Nate Koechley have done an admirable job describing how today's web technologies make sense for process as well as application. In their recent presentation at WebVisions 2004 (which from all reports was a fantastic conference), Wodtke and Koechley describe how standards-based development with semantic markup and CSS ...
By Molly E. Holzschlag | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- XHTML 2.0 Draft Update, Debate Ensues
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The W3C has released the sixth (that's right, sixth) draft of XHTML 2.0. Despite its draft status, the release re-ignited the ongoing HTML vs. XHTML debate. Here's a simple little fact: You don't have to use XHTML if you don't want to! The point isn't that XHTML is wonderful and ...
By Molly E. Holzschlag | Filed in HTML/XHTML
- IE SP2 Preview
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Release Candidate 2 of IE for Windows XP SP, Microsoft's security-minded update of IE, is available. The update promises tighter security, which means potential knock-on effects web developers will need to account for. IE Team member Tony Schreiner has details.
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers
- Blogging IE
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The recently-reconstituted Internet Explorer team has a new blog. Not much there at the moment but the usual fluffy first posts, a smattering of links to blogs belonging to various IE team members and mentions of the ever-popular IE Wiki. No doubt that'll change soon enough, though. Definitely worth ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers
- (X)HTML FAQ
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The W3C would like to take a moment to clear up some frequently asked questions. In a brand new FAQ, they address the differences between HTML and XHTML, and what they mean to content authors. If you've ever wondered why XHTML changed things that used to work in HTML, this ...
By Dave Shea | Filed in W3C/Standards Documentation
- The Clue Stick
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After viewing their browser-restricted redesigns, Eric Meyer swings the clue stick at Feedster and allmusic.com: Scott Johnson's response in the case of Feedster is, in effect, "we don't have the resources to support all browsers."Yes, you do. It actually costs less to support all browsers. Well said. Apparently Mr. Johnson thought so, ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Accessibility
- That’s Sir Tim to You, Peasant
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Via Dan Gillmor: Congratulations to W3C founder and 'father of the web' Tim Berners-Lee. TB-L was recently knighted for "services to the global development of the internet." Well met indeed, Sir Tim.
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- Macromedia Jumps on the SVG Bandwagon (sort of)
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/. is reporting that Macromedia will support SVGT in it's mobile player. An article from Macromedia explaining the decison has drawn fire from O'Reilly's Antoine Quint for what he perceives as inaccuracies in Macromedia's article. I don't know the technology well enough to know whether Quint has a point or not, ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- Happy Anniversary, Moz!
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Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the Mozilla Foundation, Happy Anniversary to you! Mozilla has been around for a long while, though the Mozilla Foundation is one year old today. It has been a great year for the project. On their anniversary page today at Mozilla...It's already been a year ...
By Holly Marie Koltz | Filed in Browsers
- Desperately Seeking Clue
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About a year ago, UK web accessibility activist Matthew Somerville worked up an accessible, x-browser version of UK cinema chain Odeon's web site. His work won acclaim from such disparate sources as the Guardian and snarky IT industry newsletter NTK. Even Odeon themselves seemed pleased, as they allowed Mr. Somerville ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- All Music Lovers, Listen Up!
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If you've visited allmusic.com recently, you may think you're experiencing a flashback to the 1990s. (Remember those "Best Viewed in Browser X" notices?) Check out their recent redesign using something other than IE 5.5 or above on Windows and you'll get this browser alert message: "Notice: You are accessing allmusic.com with ...
By Kimberly Blessing | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- WHAT’s going on?
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Over on the WHAT WG front, Ian Hickson has posted an update on the progress of WHAT WG in their efforts to develop backwards-compatible extensions to HTML. Ian’s post includes some very interesting background to the formation of WHAT and the impetus behind their efforts. Joe Gregorio has some other ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers, HTML/XHTML, W3C/Standards Documentation, Web Standards (general)
- What’s in a namespace?
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Following up on Anders Pearson's Safari post, Dave Hyatt has decided to use namespaces for the Apple's HTML extensions. The move seems to have largely satisfied Eric Meyer and Tim Bray, though Eric would still like to see a different DOCTYPE used. Personally, I agree with their ultimate conclusion: things ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers, HTML/XHTML, W3C/Standards Documentation, Web Standards (general)
- safari extensions
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Dave Hyatt and the Safari team have been busy lately adding support for a number of extensions to html to be used by the upcoming Safari RSS reader and Dashboard. On the list is IE's contenteditable, along with a slider widget, search fields, a composite attribute on the <img/> ...
By Anders Pearson | Filed in Browsers
- Tell it to the IE Team!
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Ever wished you could give your opinion directly to the IE team at Microsoft?Here's your chance! They're making themselves available for an online chat Thursday, July 8, at 10:00 am Pacific. See you there?
By Dori Smith | Filed in Browsers
- What’s that object?
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The object element has long been a subject of mystery and frustration. How do we use it? How well is it supported? As part of the WaSP asks the W3C project, we consult the W3C about the correct way to include multimedia elements such as sound, animation and video into our ...
By Steph Troeth | Filed in WaSP Asks the W3C
The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.
Recent Buzz
WCAG 2.0 is a W3C Recommendation
By Matt May | December 11th, 2008
After 9.5 years of work, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 have reached W3C Recommendation status. On behalf of the WaSP Accessibility Task Force, I’d like to welcome WCAG 2 officially into the pantheon of Web standards.
I think this tweet by caledoniaman sums up the level of anticipation:
WCAG 2.0 and a new Guns ‘n’ Roses album in the same year. What’s the world coming to.
Interesting comparison. They’ve each had about as many pre-releases. In any case, I can say, having spent over 8 years with it, that WCAG 2 is not as entertaining as Chinese Democracy. But I do think that it’s better equipped to stand the test of time.
If I had to pick one thing I’m most happy about, I’d say it’s that the HTML- and text-centrism in WCAG 1 is largely gone. In its place is a much more flexible (dare I say robust?) concept of accessibility-supported technology. So when newer technologies can show themselves to be directly accessible, they too can be used in WCAG 2-conformant content.
Over the years, many people have conflated “WCAG-conformant” with “accessible,” and that’s led to people making statements like: “Don’t use JavaScript–it’s inaccessible.” That’s bad for everyone, from users with disabilities who actually can work with JavaScript (which is to say, the vast majority), to Web designers and developers, to policymakers, to those developing new technologies.
With WCAG 2, “Don’t use x” is no longer valid. (Was it ever?) It is now up to you, the developer, to work on the direct accessibility of your content, no matter what technology you choose. I believe we’re about to experience a new wave of accessible design techniques, as a result.
But first, we need to flush “Don’t use x” out of our system. Some are accustomed to saying it about anything they’re not comfortable with. That’s only holding accessible design back. It’s time to learn what’s out there, today, and use it in everyday Web design. It’s time to make everyone’s Web more accessible. Have a look at the WCAG 2.0 Recommendation, and its supporting material. Then, start thinking about what a more accessible Web could be. We still have a lot of work to do.
Filed in Accessibility, Accessibility TF, W3C/Standards Documentation, Web Standards (general) | Comments (8)