Background The latest WebAIM screen reader survey results came out last week, and I had been looking forward to the results of the questions related to screen reader detection. I can say I was a bit surprised by both. To make it easy, I’ll reprint the questions and answers here.…
I will have the pleasure of speaking at the 2014 HTML5 Developer Conference in San Francisco, taking place May 19 through May 23 (I’ll be speaking on May 22). The quick overview of the conference: The HTML5 Developer Conference has grown to become the highest attended HTML5, JavaScript, and Web…
On Friday Jeff Croft posted a piece titled Web Standards Killed the HTML Star where he makes the argument that just knowing HTML and CSS is no longer enough to get a job. He states that the web standards movement has effectively rendered the need for specialized knowledge of browser…
I’m a bit behind on my reading. There is always some new wiz article on web technologies and it’s hard to keep up. Since any chummer can write one, sometimes you have to approach them with caution even if they’ve survived the meat grinder of public review for as long…
Ganesha may or may not be stealing chocolate from the advent calendar. For a few years now web developers around the world have celebrated Saturnalia Christmas with advent calendars covering topics related to the web. Some come and go, but you’ll probably recognize a few regulars on this list. I…
This post is an unexpected follow-up to my post Image alt Exception Change Re-Re-Requested (note one fewer “re-”) from June 2012. Back then, some had called into question the need for alt attributes to be required and ubiquitous on all img tags. Well, guess what — alt is back under…
Yesterday Henny Swan asked a simple question on the Twitters: I'm curious to know, who uses subtitles on web content (X device) who's not deaf or hard of hearing? For example I did when breastfeeding.— Henny (@iheni) November 12, 2013 Adam Banks put together a Storify of the responses that…
Yesterday I had the pleasure of visiting the University at Buffalo (my alma mater) to give a presentation for its CIT professional development series. I got to talk about responsive design. Knowing in advance that the room would have technical and non-technical users I went for a code-free presentation. One…
I don’t care for infographics. Their original purpose of visually conveying otherwise complex information has been superseded by their current use as marketing drek with “quirky” illustrations, blocks of prose, and the occasional useful factoid. The love affair with inforgraphics is confounding to me as a web developer. They are…
I started this post way back in March after reading Brad Frosts’ bit on carousels. Then I let it sit unfinished. With the buzz around ShouldIUseACarousel.com this week, I figured I’d finish it up. The data is old, although I offer updated numbers at the bottom. The Process I looked…
As of today I am an author over at Web Standards Sherpa. I wrote an article discussing the process of juggling a no-budget, tight-timeframe web site for Buffalo Soccer Club while still trying to adhere to best practices. The article is titled “Balancing Act: Features, Budgets & Timelines.” I get a…
Last week I spent my Friday afternoon trying to get my head around how to apply ARIA properly to a tabbed interface. I even got so far as to map it out on my whiteboard and snap a photo so I could mull it over during the weekend. And then…