I have no illusions that accessibility on the web can be tricky. It’s primarily tricky because of the way developers choose to implement it. Web Axe nicely sums it up: Most people don’t realize that the web IS accessible. The problem is that designers and developers break it.— Web Axe…
Testing accessibility on your web projects can be a tricky task if you have no firsthand experience with visual, audible, physical or even cognitive impairment. Having resources in the community is important as is tracking down the same tools in use in that community. Despite all this it’s nice to…
Just over a year ago now I covered how the HTML5 specification is going to allow the alt attribute to be excluded from img elements under some very specific circumstances (Image alt Attributes Not Always Required in HTML5 and More on Image alt Requirement in HTML5). The one I am…
A blindfolded photo attempt of my meal, served and eaten in near darkness. Thankfully it turns out that my aim with my fork was better than my aim with my cellphone camera. Two weeks ago our longtime client Olmsted Center for Sight (formerly the lengthily-named Elizabeth Pierce Olmsted, M.D. Center…
Nearly two weeks ago I wrote up a post outlining the W3C decision to no longer require the alt attribute on images in HTML5: Image alt Attributes Not Always Required in HTML5. I was genuinely surprised to see that was the most popular post on this blog and garnered the…
It has long been accepted that the alt attribute of the <img> element, while not a perfect method to provide a text alternative to an image, is still a necessary attribute to provide at least some level of access to the image content for users who cannot see the image…
The W3C is on a roll this week. It’s the post-holiday rush, I think, which is at least making some stuff move forward. I just hope that all these new developments don’t get lost among each other. W3C has just published Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) 1.0 as a Candidate…
I can’t turn on the TV, surf the web, or peer into my Twitter feed without stumbling into another year-end wrap-up of 2010. These dime-a-dozen contrivances abound like the proverbial lemming to the cliff (lemmings don’t really do that, it’s also a contrivance). However, there have been enough of some…
I will be speaking twice in September, both of them sponsored by Infotech Niagara. If you’re in the Buffalo area, these are great opportunities to boost my ego and watch me cruise abandoned plates for food. Developing Coding Standards The first event is Developing Coding Standards, where I will be…
Back in November, the W3C released a handy tool aimed at helping developers quickly access information from various W3C specifications (W3C Cheatsheet for developers). The features were pretty straightforward: This cheatsheet aims at providing in a very compact and mobile-friendly format a compilation of useful knowledge extracted from W3C specifications…
Three bits of news from the W3C this week related to browsers and accessibility. Well, two about browsers and two about accessibility with one of them acting as my cross-over reference.The User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group has published an updated Working Draft of the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG)…
I might have posted this last week, considering this was scheduled to happen on Thursday, April 21, but then the time shifted from 10am to 1pm, and then no notes went up.Judy Brewer, Director of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) was scheduled to appear (testify) before the US House Judiciary…