Web Essentials ‘05 Presentation

October 10, 2005
Web Essentials '05: Sydney, Australia, September 29-30

I’ve started posting my presentation materials at: SimplyAccessible.org

Before I post the details of my presentation from WE05, I just wanted to congratulate the entire team - Maxine Sherrin, John Allsopp, Russ Weakley, Peter Firminger and Lisa Miller - for putting on an outstanding event (I can’t thank you enough for inviting me down there to speak and for a truly wonderful experience!) It was an honour to speak at the conference alongside some of the world’s greatest speakers and web professionals. And, to be able to speak to an audience that cares so deeply about the web, web standards and accessibility was a treat. Its no surprise there has been quite a buzz around

Finally - many many many thanks to Jeff Davies who managed to find me a ticket to the Grand Final - we had a blast, and I made good on my promise of muchos beers!

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Web Essentials ‘05: Remote Edition

September 24, 2005
Web Essentials '05: Sydney, Australia, September 29-30

Last year I reported that Web Essentials 04 was a conference that I was able to “attend remotely” with the help of photos and transcripts. This year, the Web Essentials ‘05 crew have raised the bar one more notch when it comes to web standards and accessibility conferences - WE 05 will be podcast so that you can join us from around the world. Great stuff from a fantastic organizing committee!

I’m not sure what will be done in the way of transcripts, but you may find speakers’ presentations making their way on to the web (I’ll be posting mine). Add flickr to the mix, and that’s a pretty good overall experience in anyone’s book.

Survey: Accessibility Challenges

September 18, 2005

Sometimes, accessibility can make you go around in circles, feeling like you’re stuck in a maze and can’t get out. Some accessibility puzzles are truly hard to solve.

I’m wondering - what are some of the most difficult challenges you’ve had with making things accessible? I’m not talking about things like “getting management to buy in,” or “it costs too much.” I’m talking about things that you or one of your colleagues built: a particular site map or navigation bar, a form or part of a form of an online process, or even multimedia components. I don’t need all the details, but an overview of the problem and context would be great, as I’m trying to get an idea of what others are struggling with right now.

The Meaning of Web Standards

September 14, 2005

Imagine, if you will:

Derek
As part of this web standards and accessibility consulting project we’ll produce a document that guides your work so your developers are ‘doing the right thing’
Client
That’s excellent - really good value and great for our redesign efforts
Derek
No problem. Let’s make it happen
Client
Yes. Let’s.

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Terry Fox Run

September 12, 2005
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Earlier this year, I lost a dear friend to cancer. A member of my immediate family has been diagnosed with cancer within the last few months. It sucks. I hate it. And I want to help beat it.

My wife, Kathryn, and I have been planning to participate in the annual Terry Fox Run in support of cancer research for some time now. I know that many of you will be giving in other ways to other charities and causes such as the relief efforts in New Orleans. I also know that I should have done this sooner, but if only a small portion of those that read this blog can/do make a small donation between now and the run, it will help. Thank you very much!

Terry Fox run online donation form

SXSW 2005 Panel Transcript

September 1, 2005
SXSW Interactive 2005

A long time ago, in a location far far away, there was a presentation at SXSW that included myself, Ian Lloyd and James Craig moderated by Glenda Sims. Audio was recorded and we had all promised that it would be transcribed and posted.

Which brings us to now - 6 months later, and we are able to finally announce that the transcription of “Accessibility… can’t we all just get along” is now live.

Many many many thanks to Glenda and James for their work transcribing the audio, and to James for putting the well-structured, accessible, and well-designed transcript together. There are some details in his work that show great use of space, style and semantics. Making things accessible isn’t always easy, but hopefully those of you that weren’t there will enjoy the audio and the transcription, and those of you that were there can relive the memories like it was the “good ol’ days.”

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Social Networking Diseases and Disorders of the new Millennium

August 31, 2005

Contact Flickritis

Symptoms: general uneasiness, sometimes accompanied by mild headaches and sweaty palms; often characterized by feelings of deja vu and that feeling you get when you meet up with someone you think you know but can’t remember their names.

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Accessibility and Availability

August 25, 2005

There is always debate about exactly what accessibility is and isn’t. This debate was recently rekindled with Joe Clark’s thorough, well-written article: Facts and Opinions About PDF Accessibility. In that article, Joe states:

The goal of the accessibility advocate is to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, period.

Tommy Olsson disagrees with Joe’s stance on what the mandate of a web accessibility advocate is and suggest that it is much more than ensuring the web works for those with disabilities. I’m sure that many others agree with Tommy’s stance, and I completely understand his point of view.

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More Buzz: DOM Scripting Task Force Launched

July 18, 2005
Web Standards Project

Hot on the heels of the Web Standards Project’s announcement of the Accessibility Task Force comes the announcement of the DOM Scripting Task Force (DSTF).

After June’s @media conference, there was a meetup of several JavaScript minds organized by Peter-Paul Koch (ppk). It was an absolute pleasure to have been invited along to the meetup by my friend, and fellow DOM Scripting believer/advocate Jeremy Keith. There was much enthusiasm, much excitement, and much work to be done. Shortly thereafter, an informal group became the DOM Scripting Task Force.

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Today is the day

July 8, 2005

No retrospective, no “Oh, I feel soooo old,” no corny sentiments.

Its my 34th birthday today, and I was greeted with two lovely handmade cards from my kids (my son Kampbell helped out his sisters Kaitlyn and Kyla on both of them), and a number of “goodies” to satisfy my belly - including a bunch of UK treats. My favourite is the McVities chocolate topped digestive biscuits (don’t know why, I just love them…), found at a lovely local shop thanks to my wonderful wife Kathryn…

I certainly don’t feel any older - but perhaps just a bit more blurry. Is it bad that I’ve “lost” my wallet twice in the last ten days, and then found it in really silly places after tearing the house apart?