Reading List 305
- FCC Requires Video Conferencing Accessibility & Proposes ASL Support – yay.
- A Heart-felt Apology and a Chance to Start Again from AccessiBe, overlay maker. Hurray!
- Meanwhile, AudioEye Is Suing Me – totally definitely NOT an overlay maker, AudioEye, is suing Adrian Roselli. Boooo.
- Overlays – Web Accessibility for Business Owners Dan Payne has a soothing voice and doesn’t swear or thump the table when explaining why accessibility overlays aren’t the panacea they often pretend to be.
- Getting started with View Transitions on multi-page apps – “It took less than an hour to do, requires zero JavaScript, and two lines of CSS. I’m pleased with the results”. Progressive enhancement with declarative code – real web developers love to see it!
- Amazon Luna will drop Windows and Mac apps as it ‘doubles down’ on web app – “We saw customers were spending significantly more time playing games on Luna using their web browsers than on native PC and Mac apps. When we see customers love something, we double down. We optimized the web browser experience with the full features and capabilities offered in Luna’s native desktop apps”
- Talking of which, News from WWDC23: WebKit Features in Safari 17 beta – “Web apps are coming to Mac”. No news of the View Transitions spec or meaningful browser choice on iThings.
- Web Apps on macOS Sonoma 14 Beta – some tech notes by Thomas Steiner
- A series of hands‐on guides to assitive technology and accessibility testing
- 11 HTML best practices for login & sign-up forms – includes the evergreen “All clickables should use button or a, not div or span”. Sadly, there are people allowed within 14 miles of the front end who still need to be told this.
- Fieldsets, Legends and Screen Readers again – Steve “Chuckles” Faulkner updated his 15 year old blog post.
- Semantics and the popover attribute: what to use when? – Hidde on the new HTML attribute named after one of my favourite Soviet constructivist artists, Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova (Любо́вь Серге́евна Попо́ва). I like things like popover, dialog, details and summary – they’re common pains for people who use keyboards or assistive tech, and have often prompted “Full-stack” developers (as opposed to Web Developers) to drag in libraries and frameworks in order to implement them.
- The Industrial Hammer Complex – What we actually have is an industrial complex bent on manufacturing only hammers, committed to convincing you that only nails exist, and motivated to sell you a lifetime hammer subscription!” I recently investigated a page that had different spinners for each block (header, footer, nav – because MiCrOsErViCeS!!!). It preloaded loads of WebRTC framework, OAuth shit (because SPAs are gReAT!!) and an SVG logo (that contained a 1.6MB bitmap). All this, to show a login form, which took 45 secs over 3G.
- Boring Report is an app that aims to remove sensationalism from the news. In today’s world, catchy headlines and articles often distract readers from the actual facts and relevant information.” Using AI, Boring Report processes exciting news articles and transforms them so readers focus on the essential details and minimises the impact of sensationalism.
- Google’s Open Source AI Tool Is a Major Step Forward for Accessibility in Gaming – “Project Gameface uses your head and facial movements to control a mouse cursor.”
- US Agency Releases Free Stock Photos of People With Disabilities
- When digital nomads come to town -“Cities from Canggu to Medellín are welcoming tech workers, but locals complain they’re being priced out. The digital nomads’ visits are transitory, but they leave neighborhoods permanently transformed. Today, there are streets in Medellín, as in Mexico City or Canggu, that look more like Bushwick — where English is more common than the local language. Building exteriors retain their historic character, but interiors converge to a sterile homogeneity of hotdesking, free charging outlets, affordable coffee, and Wi-Fi with purchase.”
- Rishi Sunak alt text tweet criticised for misusing accessibility feature – #AltTextGate
- Kenny Log In – “GENERATE A SECURE PASSWORD FROM THE LYRICS OF AMERICA’S GREATEST SINGER SONGWRITER”
Buy "Calling For The Moon", my debut album of songs I wrote while living in Thailand, India, Turkey. (Only £2, on Bandcamp.)