Buzz Archives for August 2006
Back to School, Back to Reality
As a student of Interactive Media Design at the Art Institute of Dallas, Texas, Blake Elshire learned CSS as part of his course, then discovered that not all students were quite as charmed by the technology as he was. He shares his thoughts and insights with WaSP EduTF.
By Rob Dickerson | Filed in Education, Education TF, General
- Calling all Assistive Technology vendors
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WaSP issues an open invitation to work with Assistive Technology vendors to help ensure greater support for standards-based web development techniques in software that enables access for millions of people worldwide.
By Derek Featherstone | Filed in Accessibility TF, Web Standards (general)
- IE7: The List is In
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A comprehensive list of bug fixes, implementations and developer/designer resources for IE7 has been published by Markus Mielke of Microsoft (and also a member of the W3C CSS Working Group) on the IEBlog today.
By Molly E. Holzschlag | Filed in Browsers, General, Microsoft TF, Web Standards (general)
- New book: Web Accessibility - Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance
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Those who remember the (now defunct) seminal Glasshaus book Accessible Web Sites may be interested to know that friends of ED have just released a completely reworked and expanded successor: Web Accessibility - Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance.After an overview of the accessibility law and guidelines, and a discussion about ...
By Patrick Lauke | Filed in Accessibility, Accessibility TF, Action, CSS, Education, General, HTML/XHTML, Training
- Flash, JavaScript, UX, standards, apologia, apologies, and one man’s opinions
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The recent discussion of plug-in implementation, here and elsewhere, points to broader issues that affect everyone who is invested in web standards adoption.
By Ben Henick | Filed in Accessibility, Authoring Tools, Browsers, Bugs, CSS, Education, Emerging Technology, HTML/XHTML, Training, Usability, Validation, Web Standards (general)
- Flash, JavaScript, and web standards: like sodium and water?
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As expected, Flash and such are proven a controversial topic.
By Ben Henick | Filed in Browsers, HTML/XHTML, Validation, Web Standards (general)
- Valid Flash, video, and audio embed (object) markup
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The following three links need to be in one place, once and for all: Valid Flash <object> markup: “Flash Satay” by Drew McLellan Valid video <object> markup: “Bye Bye Embed” by Elizabeth Castro Valid audio <object> markup (with Quicktime): “Object Embedding” by Simon Jessey, et. al. Here's the backstory: Eighteen months ago, I ...
By Ben Henick | Filed in Design, HTML/XHTML, Validation
- Safari for Windows?
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Swift is a new open source browser based on Apple's WebCore & JavaScriptCore rendering and JavaScript engines. Warning: it's marked as 1.0pre alpha, and it is very much an alpha: very rough-looking UI, no scrollwheel support, pathetic form controls and I've had reports from colleagues that some folks can't even get ...
By Chris Kaminski | Filed in Browsers, General
- Check out IconFactory.com
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Over the last week we've been noticing the short teaser movies at Iconfactory.com. We could tell that something was up, but we weren't sure quite what. Now, it's official: they've redesigned, and it not only looks great, it's also standards-compliant XHTML and CSS. To the folks at IconFactory: great job, and ...
By Dori Smith | Filed in General, Validation, Web Standards (general)
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)