Buzz Archives for December 2003
SimpleQuiz
It's often hard to know what the most appropriate markup is for any given job. Should that small bit of text be wrapped in a <span> or an <h3>? When do you use <ul> and when do you use <dl>? And is there ever a time when it's appropriate to ...
By Dave Shea | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- Benefits of XHTML Modularization
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Just what is this magic word beginning with 'M' that spans six syllables? What does it mean, and what implications does it have for us? In this issue of “WaSP asks the W3C”, we learn some of the benefits of XHTML Modularization.
By Steph Troeth | Filed in HTML/XHTML, WaSP Asks the W3C
- Best Practices in Web Page Development
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The Apple Developer Connection has published an article on best practices in creating Web pages: Safari complies with standards, but not all browsers do, so you may need to adjust your site to look right to all readers. Learn how to design, modify and validate your website so that it can ...
By Steph Troeth | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- Web Standards for Business
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In his article “Web Standards for Business”, François Nonnenmacher talks about how the separation of content and presentation falls in line with enforcing corporate brand and image through style guides, and how employing Web standards can benefit a company's Web development process and technical support infrastructure.
By Steph Troeth | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- Microsoft’s Patent Tricks
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More patent news to report. On Tuesday, Microsoft was granted a patent on the “method and apparatus for writing a Windows application in HTML.” Though Microsoft is quoted in the article as “having no plans to enforce it,” one is forced to wonder how this will extend to the recently-uncovered XAML, ...
- Kamus yang memang istimewa
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Jikalau kau memerlukan sesuatu perkataan dalam Bahasa Hindu, Bahasa Swahili, Bahasa Cina, ataupun Bahasa Inuit, kunjungilah laman Web ini. C'est une collection de dictionnaires multilingues. If you need a word in Hindi, Swahili, Chinese or Inuit, visit this Web site, a collection of multilingual dictionaries. Best of all, it's all valid ...
By Steph Troeth | Filed in Web Standards (general)
- #ericmeyer:first-child
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Most WaSP readers are very familiar with WaSP's good friend Eric Meyer, who has helped the world learn Cascading Style Sheets. Well today, WaSP would like to publicly celebrate the birth and homecoming of Carolyn Maxwell Meyer, first child to Eric and Kat. By all reports she is very ...
By Molly E. Holzschlag | Filed in WaSP Announcement
- WaSP Interviews: Todd Dominey
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WaSP Interviews continues today with a look behind the scenes at PGA.com. Todd Dominey of Dominey Design talks about the heartache of an outdated Content Management System, integrating ugly advertising code with a standards-based site, and the finer points of CSS vs. Flash-based navigation. Read the interview.
By Dave Shea | Filed in WaSP Announcement
- Writing Efficient CSS
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Worried about keeping your CSS lean and mean? Well, toss your style sheets on the treadmill and check out Writing Efficient CSS, authored by the style gurus behind Position Is Everything. Through the intelligent use of shorthand properties, style inheritance, and a host of other handy tips, you'll learn ...
By Ethan Marcotte | Filed in CSS
- Browser Testing
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Of course, it's always important to test standards-based work amongst the myriad browsers on the market today. A standard can only be a standard if the software supports it. While we're getting closer, we're not at the point yet where we can build our code and rely on every browser ...
- Bo, Selectors
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From the people who brought you the Listamatic, Listutorial and Floatutorial comes a new CSS tutorial called Selectutorial. In this new tutorial, Russ Weaklyorial explains the mysteryorials of CSS selectors and how you can go beyond the simple type selectors to take advantageorial of inheritance, pseudo classes and how to ...
- Good Gawds
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With the inexcusably cheesy heading taken care of, I can move along to tell you that the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS for short) is now open for business. The guild is seeking as many enthusiastic, members as possible during the 'soft launch' (with the official launch date early ...
By Ian Lloyd | Filed in Accessibility
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)