Buzz Archives for July 2002
No tables for Lycos
Lycos Europe will be moving to a new design that validates as XHTML 1.0 Transitional and uses CSS for layout. (Netscape 4 users will get a plain text version with no formatting.) Spotted by Tom Gilder, reported in W3C’s public evangelist archives. Hat tip: Tantek Çelik.
By Jeffrey Zeldman | Filed in CSS
- 37signals.com redesigns with XHTML and CSS
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37 Signals, a smart agency for accessible, usable, yet beautiful web design, has today launched a slight redesign of their company site with validating XHTML Transitional and CSS.
By Eric Costello | Filed in Design
- Amaya Updated
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The W3C web editor/browser Amaya has been updated. Version 6.2 increases support for CSS, XHTML, SVG, and MathML. Amaya is not a commercial browser like IE, Navigator, Opera, et al. W3C members use it to demonstrate and test new developments in web protocols and data formats. W3C Jigsaw plays a ...
By Jeffrey Zeldman | Filed in General
- FrontPage gets LIFT
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UsableNet announced yesterday it has integrated its LIFT product into Microsoft FrontPage, the vastly popular (though not particularly standards-friendly) web authoring tool. UsableNet’s LIFT, previously incorporated in Macromedia Dreamweaver MX, encourages accessible authoring techniques and includes built-in accessibility validators and reference guides. LIFT won’t stop FrontPage from generating proprietary non-standard markup, ...
By Jeffrey Zeldman | Filed in Authoring Tools
- Dreamweaver Task Force
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The WaSP's Dreamweaver Task Force has posted an assessment of Dreamweaver MX. The Task Force worked with Macromedia through various stages of product development to help improve Dreamweaver's support for web standards and accessibility.
By Jeffrey Zeldman | Filed in Authoring Tools, Dreamweaver TF
- New CSS Tutorial: Web Page Reconstruction with CSS
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Although spilling into July a bit, Digital Web has one more tutorial for its June CSS theme. Web Page Reconstruction with CSS by Christopher Schmitt is one of the best CSS tutorials I've seen around for helping to understand the thinking and decision-making process behind markup. This is a terrific ...
By Shirley Kaiser | Filed in CSS
- a few valid points
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news.com misses the point
By Steven Champeon | Filed in General
- New Web standards education and outreach forum
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W3C is starting a new discussion list, the Web standards education and outreach forum, for Web standards evangelists, authors, and others to discuss ways to improve the quality of web-standards related books, publications, lectures and training courses. Hope to see you there! hat tip: Eric Meyer
By Shirley Kaiser | Filed in 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)