Buzz Archives: Opinion
WaSP Round Table: IE8’s Default Version Targeting Behavior
One week ago, several WaSP members took the time to have a virtual sit-down with Chris Wilson of Microsoft to talk about IE8’s proposed default behavior of having to opt-in for the browser’s new standards mode.
By Aaron Gustafson | February 24th, 2008
- The good, the bad, and the ugly - iPhone edition
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The iPhone has had a tremendous impact on the web, eliciting impassioned testimony from supporters and detractors alike. What does it mean for the web standards? What about the rest of the mobile web? And (how) should we design for it?
By Aaron Gustafson | August 22nd, 2007
- Current browsers and the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
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In web accessibility, you’ll often hear emphasis being placed on the duty of web authors to create accessible content. However, this is only one part of the web accessibility equation.One that has been particularly close to me, or rather one that has provided me with a lot of opportunity to ...
By Patrick Lauke | May 20th, 2007
- hAccessibility
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By Bruce Lawson and James Craig. (German translation) Microformats are a great idea. They allow the embedding of parsable, semantic data (like contact information and event details) into regular web pages. With the right plug-in, that information can be saved directly to your calendar program or address book. Like Microformats, a ...
By James Craig | April 27th, 2007
- Have Your Say about the Future of HTML
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This article has been written on behalf of the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group (WHATWG) and has been cross posted on The Web Standards Project, Lachy’s Log, Molly.com and 456 Berea Street. There’s been a lot of discussion about the W3C’s recent decision to continue the development of HTML ...
By Molly E. Holzschlag | November 7th, 2006
- All aboard the PAS 78 gravy train
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With the extensive media coverage following its launch, a large number of businesses, education establishments and government agencies with a stake in the UK online market should be aware of PAS 78 - Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites. Partly due to the cost associated with this document, ...
By Patrick Lauke | May 11th, 2006
- Lessons that the standardization process can teach us
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Over at Six Apart they’re working to turn Trackback into a standard, and WaSP emeritus Anil Dash shares some of the wisdom he’s gained from the process. Some of the points he makes have bearing on the things we’re trying to accomplish over here at WaSP…
By Ben Henick | May 1st, 2006
- Committed to Sincere Progress, Not Perfection
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Last week a standards friendly redesign of the ABCNews site was announced, only to be met with criticism on the homepage of the Web Standards Project site. An obvious conflict emerges from what we see in the redesigned site under discussion, and in the point of the argument made ...
By WaSP Member | October 18th, 2004
- End of Free IE Not the End of Web Standards
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The WaSP sympathizes with the anxiety Web developers have expressed regarding Microsoft’s recent announcements. In the space of a few short days, we learned that Internet Explorer for Macintosh and Windows would cease to exist as free, standalone products. Instead, they will be integrated into MSN for Macintosh and the ...
By WaSP Member | June 27th, 2003
- New Members, New Directions
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We're trying something new here at the Web Standards project. Instead of griping and complaining about poor support for standards, and giving people tools to discriminate against users of non-compliant browsers, we're going to focus on helping site builders deliver sites that work everywhere. In every browser. On any platform. ...
By WaSP Member | February 14th, 2003
- It’s Spring
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The garden has masses of flowers, the tank tops have come out of storage, and the other day, I was walking a friend through some excellent, beautifully-done, just-created pages over the phone, and we weren’t seeing the same things. “Oh, she said, in an embarrassed tone. It’s just stupid old ...
By WaSP Member | June 10th, 2002
- Expectations and Misunderstandings
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A response to Eric Ott and Al Sparber THE WaSP HAS TAKEN SOME GRIEF lately, both for wanting things that we've asked for and for wanting things that we've never asked for. All we've ever asked is for web developers and designers to have a choice: that if they want to create ...
By WaSP Member | December 10th, 2001
- Of Web Standards & Patents
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WaSP urges all Web developers to read the Patent Policy draft and mail comments to the W3C before the 11 October cutoff date. Our own opinion follows. WaSP to W3C: Remember your Charter and Mission The WaSP would like to commend the W3C for taking the initiative to make explicit its ...
By WaSP Member | September 10th, 2001
- Reply to Mozillazine
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Yesterday, David Flanagan of O'Reilly published an article claiming that the standards compliance of the upcoming Netscape Navigator 6.0 browser was seriously compromised, and requesting that the company postpone the final browser release until it more robustly supports open standards. Mozillazine's Chris Nelson responded with a rant that blasted Mr. Flanagan ...
By WaSP Member | November 7th, 2000
- For the Good of the Web: An Open Letter to Netscape
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TWO YEARS AGO, when your market share was still high as a kite, you pledged to fully support five key standards in the next version of your browser. Having urged you to do this very thing, we praised your decision to everyone who would listen. Developers and the trade press ...
By WaSP Member | July 20th, 2000
- Here We Go Again
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On 27 March, we hailed Microsoft for shipping IE 5/Mac, the first browser to Do The Right Thing with HTML and CSS. Naturally, this pleased our Microsoft friends, while convincing thousands that we were whores of Redmond. On 10 April, we flamed Microsoft for previewing IE 5.5/Windows, a browser that strikes ...
By WaSP Member | April 11th, 2000
- Does The WaSP Hate Microsoft?
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Does The Web Standards Project hate Microsoft? Are we out to get them? Do we punish them for small faults while praising competitors who offer inferior products? Are we secretly siding with Netscape, Sun, Apple, (insert name here)? The perception has come up from time to time, usually in the wake ...
By WaSP Member | March 20th, 1999
- Where’s the beef?
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Greetings gals and guys! Pretend for a moment that it's 1996 again. It was a good year for the web and things were looking better. Microsoft was making bold pronouncements. Do you remember these words? "The Web has been starved for well-designed graphical layout and presentation extensions. We've had ...
By WaSP Member | October 1st, 1998
- DOM de DOM DOM
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I know, fellow travelers. You're hearing the theme from Dragnet just like I am. It's time for The WaSP to take a look at the latest out of the mouths of Microsoft and Netscape. It's actually been a good week for the Web. On the 18th the W3C released ...
By WaSP Member | August 21st, 1998
- Whatever happened to CSS-1?
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Greetings fellow travelers! As you may have guessed it's been pretty busy around WSP headquarters this week. If you've read the press surrounding The Web Standards Project you may have noticed a few discrepancies. I know I did. The first thing I saw was Microsoft trying to sound superior in their ...
By WaSP Member | August 14th, 1998
The Web Standards Project is a grassroots coalition fighting for standards which ensure simple, affordable access to web technologies for all.
Recent Buzz
British Standard for accessibility
By Bruce Lawson | July 11th, 2008
The British Standards Institution (BSI) has invited two members of the WaSP, Bruce Lawson and Patrick Lauke, to join the drafting committee for the first British Standard for Web Accessiblity.
Two years ago, the BSI was sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission to write a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) called PAS 78: Guide to Commissioning Accessible Websites. Publicly Available Specifications are written quickly and “expire” after two years, but because of the popularity of PAS 78, the BSI have decided to update it to become a full British Standard.
We’ve just started work on the draft, which doesn’t yet have a title, although our working title is “encouraging the development of fantastic user experiences for disabled people online”.
Consequently, it’s too early to say what will be in BS8878, which will be released next spring. I can say that it will not tread on the toes of whichever version of WCAG is live then, as it’s a document to help site owners rather than developers. Like PAS 78, it will encourage adherence to current web standards.
Neither can I say who else is on the committee, except that it’s chaired by Julie Howell, and there are representatives from all over industry—broadcasting, banking, legal, education and (crucially) representatives of disability groups, including groups working with those with cognitive disabilities.
Patrick and I gratefully acknowledge our employers, Opera Software and the University of Salford, who are supporting us by paying our travel expenses and giving us time off to attend meetings and write the drafts. They have nothing material to gain by supporting us, and are exercising no editorial control, but are helping to make disabled people’s experiences of the web better.
As a procedural footnote, now that Derek Featherstone has moved role within WaSP to be Group Lead, I’m working with Patrick to be co-lead of the Accessiblity Task Force. Our main projects will be the British Standard, continuing to work with the microformats community testing various date-time patterns with screenreaders, and monitoring the developments in HTML5.
Filed in Accessibility, Accessibility TF | Comments (15)
More Buzz articles
| Title | Author |
|---|---|
| Opera Web Standards Curriculum | Rob Dickerson |
| hAccessibility redux? | Patrick Lauke |
| RNIB Surf Right Toolbar available for IE | Bruce Lawson |
| Easy-to-use Flickr and YouTube | Bruce Lawson |