Given from a developer's perspective, this presentation will address the concept of responsible web design as an approach to the authoring of accessible web sites.
Web Design for Literary Theorists I: Introduction to HTMLPatrick Mooney
First in a series of workshops for graduate students in the Department of English at UC Santa Barbara.
More information: http://patrickbrianmooney.nfshost.com/~patrick/ta/lead-ta/web-design/2013-2014/
YouTube screencast with audio: http://youtu.be/7Sv0LLGgi9A
Introduction to Web Design for Literary Theorists I: Introduction to HTML (v....Patrick Mooney
First in a series of workshops for graduate students in the Department of English at UC Santa Barbara.
More information: http://patrickbrianmooney.nfshost.com/~patrick/ta/lead-ta/web-design/
YouTube screencast with audio: http://youtu.be/ZyYRmJXbT4o
Wait what? How to Enhance your Responsive Process with Content QuestionsEileen Webb
Many of the challenges that come from building a responsive site are based not in the technical implementation, but in the content. All your copy is now readable on a small screen, but is it useful there? Is it still serving the site and business goals? Who's actually going to write those blog posts?
We’ll talk about some approaches that content strategists use to figure out how (and if!) content should be displayed on your site, whether you’re dealing with a heavy archive of articles or a nimble webapp. We’ll explore common techniques and questions you can integrate into your workflow that will help you and your client think through the long-term content needs and goals of a new site.
Full text transcript at http://webmeadow.com/blog/archives/201405/wait-what-how-enhance-your-responsive-process-with-content-questions
Sure, you could do a lot of guesswork at the beginning of a website design project. Let’s build a template and throw in some placeholders, and see what becomes of it! Only to discover when the text and media come rolling in from your content creators that half the template needs to be rebuilt, and the menu structure you had in mind was way off-base.
This happens a lot, costing everyone involved valuable time and energy — especially you. Learn how to put content first in the sequence of design steps.
This talk will cover:
- Defining your audience and goals
- How to convince your client to provide content in a timely fashion
- Understanding, organizing, and prioritizing content
- Brainstorming ideas for optimal site and page structure
Every year these fast paced Ignite presentations offer teaching tips and projects that bring new ideas to the Media classroom. Presentations from BEA Ignite, April 2018 in Las Vegas.
Web Design for Literary Theorists I: Introduction to HTMLPatrick Mooney
First in a series of workshops for graduate students in the Department of English at UC Santa Barbara.
More information: http://patrickbrianmooney.nfshost.com/~patrick/ta/lead-ta/web-design/2013-2014/
YouTube screencast with audio: http://youtu.be/7Sv0LLGgi9A
Introduction to Web Design for Literary Theorists I: Introduction to HTML (v....Patrick Mooney
First in a series of workshops for graduate students in the Department of English at UC Santa Barbara.
More information: http://patrickbrianmooney.nfshost.com/~patrick/ta/lead-ta/web-design/
YouTube screencast with audio: http://youtu.be/ZyYRmJXbT4o
Wait what? How to Enhance your Responsive Process with Content QuestionsEileen Webb
Many of the challenges that come from building a responsive site are based not in the technical implementation, but in the content. All your copy is now readable on a small screen, but is it useful there? Is it still serving the site and business goals? Who's actually going to write those blog posts?
We’ll talk about some approaches that content strategists use to figure out how (and if!) content should be displayed on your site, whether you’re dealing with a heavy archive of articles or a nimble webapp. We’ll explore common techniques and questions you can integrate into your workflow that will help you and your client think through the long-term content needs and goals of a new site.
Full text transcript at http://webmeadow.com/blog/archives/201405/wait-what-how-enhance-your-responsive-process-with-content-questions
Sure, you could do a lot of guesswork at the beginning of a website design project. Let’s build a template and throw in some placeholders, and see what becomes of it! Only to discover when the text and media come rolling in from your content creators that half the template needs to be rebuilt, and the menu structure you had in mind was way off-base.
This happens a lot, costing everyone involved valuable time and energy — especially you. Learn how to put content first in the sequence of design steps.
This talk will cover:
- Defining your audience and goals
- How to convince your client to provide content in a timely fashion
- Understanding, organizing, and prioritizing content
- Brainstorming ideas for optimal site and page structure
Every year these fast paced Ignite presentations offer teaching tips and projects that bring new ideas to the Media classroom. Presentations from BEA Ignite, April 2018 in Las Vegas.
"But what can we do right NOW?" Every developer new to accessibility asks this question at some point. Billy Gregory will offer developers new to accessibility 10 "Day 1" tips they can use immediately to improve the accessibility of their work.
An abridged version of my developer talk, given to an amazing crowd at DevTO in Toronto, Canada.
How Accessibility Made Me a Better DeveloperBilly Gregory
This is a longer version of my presentation "Responsible Design: Accountable Accessibility" but with a catchier name :)
This talk tells my story of how I went from front end developer who knew nothing about accessibility to an accessibility advocate.
Included in this talk are my "10 Tips" that any developer can use on day one without any experience authoring accessible HTML.
This talk was originally presented at the Accessibility Conference in Guelph, Ontario, Canada on May 29, 2013.
AD CC and Me: Lessons Learned in Video AccessibilityBilly Gregory
"If accessibility is about inclusion, videos about accessibility should be too." Part case study, part primer. Lessons learned while making "The Viking and The Lumberjack", an accessible video web series.
Learn how V&L filmed, edited, added audio description, and captions to their series.
Seriously, if these two can do it, anyone can!
Originally presented at CSUN 2016.
Open Web Camp 2014: On Fireproof, Future-Proof, Failure-Proof Things.Dylan Wilbanks
The moment we start creating a website, we’re setting ourselves up for failure later. Bad code creates middle of the night fire drills. Lack of thinking about accessibility gets our employer sued. Not thinking ahead on mobile generates rework.
We accept this as the normal course of business — but is there any way we could prevent (or lower) this cost? Is there anything we can learn from the building codes that dictate how our built environment is constructed?
A quick tour of how we got where we are with the web, and perhaps some valuable takeaway points.
Increasingly video content is becoming part of the enterprise web environment. The promise of HTML5's video element was supposed to solve a lot of the issues around serving videos to the web. But has it succeeded? And what of Accessibility?
This seminar will cover the state of video delivery on the web today, the issues, the promises, and, importantly, how to ensure that it all meets accessibility requirements.
Getting Things Done for Technical Communicators at TCUK14Karen Mardahl
My presentation at TCUK14 in Brighton in September 2014 - technicalcommunicationuk.com. It is an update of my similar presentation in June at UA Europe.
Getting Things Done for Technical CommunicatorsKaren Mardahl
A TCUK15 workshop by John Kearney and Karen Mardahl at the ISTC's technical communication conference on September 29th in Glasgow, Scotland. Script for the workshop is at http://www.mardahl.dk/2015/10/29/the-getting-things-done-workshop-at-tcuk15/.
What are the features in HTML5 that have the potential to:
make it easier for developers to provide a more accessible user experience?
make it harder for developers to provide a more accessible user experience?
Where does WAI-ARIA fit into the HTML5 accessibility story? How can WAI-ARIA fill the gaps in HTML5 UI accessibility?
Presentation on how usability and accessibility problems are related. Including people with disabilities in usability testing can reveal deeper insights into the kinds of problems users might encounter
Designing with Empathy [Reasons to be Creative 2013]Aaron Gustafson
Every decision we make affects the way real people experience our products.
We've all heard the rallying cry for user-centered design, but even those of us who ascribe to that ideal often fall back on our own biases and instincts when it comes to making decisions about how people experience our content and our services.
Sadly, this often means we make decisions we think will be good for our "users" - that anonymous, faceless crowd - rather than actually trying to understand the perspectives, surroundings, capabilities, and disadvantages of the actual people who we are here to serve.
In this session, Aaron will explore why empathy is a good thing, how empathy empowers creativity, and how we, as a community, can inject more empathy into our work.
Almost all Browsers allow you to install Extensions/Add-ons to make them more powerful by adding new functionality. Dirk Ginader will show you how he built build such an Browser extension to add a feature all modern Browsers lack, and how you can do the same by using basic web technologies and how to make them run in every Browser.
This presentation covers various methods for making your infographics not only accessible, but also shareable. This presentation was developed for the CSUN 2013 conference. The accessible version of this presentation is at http://www.last-child.com/accessible-infographics/csun-2013-presentation/
VIDEO OF THE TALK: https://youtu.be/oeSsyb-tzfo
Understanding your users' behaviours, needs and motivations is key to design a kickass web product.
Learn about quick, easy and efficient user research methods to build user-centered products and services.
This workshop will be led by Charlotte Breton Schreiner, Senior UX Architect.
Whether you are an entrepreneur building a prototype, a developer crafting a product during a hackathon or a designer who wants to test ideas with end users, this workshop is for you.
We will cover accessible user research methods that anyone can apply without any prior UX knowledge. During the workshop, you will have the opportunity to try some of these methods with the other participants and realize how powerful taking a user-centered approach can be.
Le Wagon Workshop, Tuesday 24th October 2017
"But what can we do right NOW?" Every developer new to accessibility asks this question at some point. Billy Gregory will offer developers new to accessibility 10 "Day 1" tips they can use immediately to improve the accessibility of their work.
An abridged version of my developer talk, given to an amazing crowd at DevTO in Toronto, Canada.
How Accessibility Made Me a Better DeveloperBilly Gregory
This is a longer version of my presentation "Responsible Design: Accountable Accessibility" but with a catchier name :)
This talk tells my story of how I went from front end developer who knew nothing about accessibility to an accessibility advocate.
Included in this talk are my "10 Tips" that any developer can use on day one without any experience authoring accessible HTML.
This talk was originally presented at the Accessibility Conference in Guelph, Ontario, Canada on May 29, 2013.
AD CC and Me: Lessons Learned in Video AccessibilityBilly Gregory
"If accessibility is about inclusion, videos about accessibility should be too." Part case study, part primer. Lessons learned while making "The Viking and The Lumberjack", an accessible video web series.
Learn how V&L filmed, edited, added audio description, and captions to their series.
Seriously, if these two can do it, anyone can!
Originally presented at CSUN 2016.
Open Web Camp 2014: On Fireproof, Future-Proof, Failure-Proof Things.Dylan Wilbanks
The moment we start creating a website, we’re setting ourselves up for failure later. Bad code creates middle of the night fire drills. Lack of thinking about accessibility gets our employer sued. Not thinking ahead on mobile generates rework.
We accept this as the normal course of business — but is there any way we could prevent (or lower) this cost? Is there anything we can learn from the building codes that dictate how our built environment is constructed?
A quick tour of how we got where we are with the web, and perhaps some valuable takeaway points.
Increasingly video content is becoming part of the enterprise web environment. The promise of HTML5's video element was supposed to solve a lot of the issues around serving videos to the web. But has it succeeded? And what of Accessibility?
This seminar will cover the state of video delivery on the web today, the issues, the promises, and, importantly, how to ensure that it all meets accessibility requirements.
Getting Things Done for Technical Communicators at TCUK14Karen Mardahl
My presentation at TCUK14 in Brighton in September 2014 - technicalcommunicationuk.com. It is an update of my similar presentation in June at UA Europe.
Getting Things Done for Technical CommunicatorsKaren Mardahl
A TCUK15 workshop by John Kearney and Karen Mardahl at the ISTC's technical communication conference on September 29th in Glasgow, Scotland. Script for the workshop is at http://www.mardahl.dk/2015/10/29/the-getting-things-done-workshop-at-tcuk15/.
What are the features in HTML5 that have the potential to:
make it easier for developers to provide a more accessible user experience?
make it harder for developers to provide a more accessible user experience?
Where does WAI-ARIA fit into the HTML5 accessibility story? How can WAI-ARIA fill the gaps in HTML5 UI accessibility?
Presentation on how usability and accessibility problems are related. Including people with disabilities in usability testing can reveal deeper insights into the kinds of problems users might encounter
Designing with Empathy [Reasons to be Creative 2013]Aaron Gustafson
Every decision we make affects the way real people experience our products.
We've all heard the rallying cry for user-centered design, but even those of us who ascribe to that ideal often fall back on our own biases and instincts when it comes to making decisions about how people experience our content and our services.
Sadly, this often means we make decisions we think will be good for our "users" - that anonymous, faceless crowd - rather than actually trying to understand the perspectives, surroundings, capabilities, and disadvantages of the actual people who we are here to serve.
In this session, Aaron will explore why empathy is a good thing, how empathy empowers creativity, and how we, as a community, can inject more empathy into our work.
Almost all Browsers allow you to install Extensions/Add-ons to make them more powerful by adding new functionality. Dirk Ginader will show you how he built build such an Browser extension to add a feature all modern Browsers lack, and how you can do the same by using basic web technologies and how to make them run in every Browser.
This presentation covers various methods for making your infographics not only accessible, but also shareable. This presentation was developed for the CSUN 2013 conference. The accessible version of this presentation is at http://www.last-child.com/accessible-infographics/csun-2013-presentation/
VIDEO OF THE TALK: https://youtu.be/oeSsyb-tzfo
Understanding your users' behaviours, needs and motivations is key to design a kickass web product.
Learn about quick, easy and efficient user research methods to build user-centered products and services.
This workshop will be led by Charlotte Breton Schreiner, Senior UX Architect.
Whether you are an entrepreneur building a prototype, a developer crafting a product during a hackathon or a designer who wants to test ideas with end users, this workshop is for you.
We will cover accessible user research methods that anyone can apply without any prior UX knowledge. During the workshop, you will have the opportunity to try some of these methods with the other participants and realize how powerful taking a user-centered approach can be.
Le Wagon Workshop, Tuesday 24th October 2017
Programming is our present and the future of other coming generations.
Here is a simple guide that may help you organize yourself and start learning with effective ways
Zero Adoption: Lessons Learned From Failing at Open SourceMemi Beltrame
I'd love to tell you a story about how the software I created helped my community. Sadly, I can't: nothing I built ever found an audience. This talk is about how I failed to reach a community, about why it doesn't matter - or rather: what I learned from being stuck in an open source team of one.
For years I was convinced that the success of an open source project was determined by the usefulness of the software. My imaginary blueprint of open sourcing was:
Build something useful
Open source it
Everybody wins
It turns out that it is much harder than that.
This talk is about how I built several tools that would help the UX community to deliver awesome products with a great experience, while never finding an audience for the tools. We'll look at all the mistakes one can make and what to do instead to build a thriving community.
And even if you don't find an audience: Zero adoption does not mean zero value. We'll look at how there is great benefit in building and publishing things, if not for others then for yourselves.
This presentation is an introduction to the field of technical writing based on my personal journey and philosophy of documentation, and was presented to the first meeting of Write The Docs Nigeria on February 20, 2021.
Your open source project competes with millions of others for users, contributors, and perhaps financial support. To stand out from the crowd, you need marketing. If that term makes you shudder (or if you simply think you don’t know how), don’t worry. Deirdré Straughan takes you through what you need to know about open source marketing.
Deirdré details what marketing is (and isn’t), explains why and how you need to do it, and provides practical examples and case studies. Join in to get an overview of marketing tools, and when each is useful, and a guide to the time and resources you’ll need. Along the way, Deirdré explains the importance of overall customer experience (a.k.a. community) and what that implies for your project. You’ll come away knowing why marketing matters, even when you’re not trying to sell something—along with some helpful tips and shortcuts.
What you'll learn
Discover what marketing (really) is and why your open source project needs it
Understand marketing strategies and related activities that can help a project and community grow and thrive
Learn useful tips and shortcuts for developing content and other marketing materials
Get a primer on the importance of a healthy community in attracting users and contributors to a project
Deirdré Straughan
Amazon Web Services
Deirdré Straughan is the open source content lead at Amazon Web Services, where she helps technologies grow and thrive through marketing and community. Her product experience spans consumer apps and devices, cloud services and technologies, operating systems and kernel features. Her toolkit includes words, websites, blogs, communities, events, video, social, marketing, and more. She has written and edited technical books and blog posts, filmed and produced videos, and organized meetups, conferences, and conference talks. You can learn more about her at Beginningwithi.com.
Get hands-on advice for rapid Agile prototyping in a product team.
You'll learn:
- How to determine the right depth and breadth for MVP prototypes.
- How to prioritize use cases for prototyping.
- How to elicit the right stakeholder and user feedback.
- How to correctly annotate prototypes for dev and QA.
Designing for Customer needs: A UX PerspectiveRichard O'Brien
A brief 20 min talk I gave to the Head Start meetup (@HeadStartAus), introducing some Lean techniques to help them consider the customer throughout the product & biz development process.
My thanks to Tea Time With Testers for interviewing me as a feature story for their July 2013 issue. In this interview, I discuss discovering testing, dynamics of live blogging, technical skill development, return of investment on automation, an alternative to formal education and degrees, SummerQAmp and other topics.
The Care and Keeping of Your Junior Developerbonmatts
There are far more open jobs for developers than there are people to fill them. So what is the solution? Here are some strategies for shaping a junior developer into an effective, contributing team member.
Similar to Responsible Design: Accountable Accessibility (20)
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 3DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 3. In this session, we will cover desktop automation along with UI automation.
Topics covered:
UI automation Introduction,
UI automation Sample
Desktop automation flow
Pradeep Chinnala, Senior Consultant Automation Developer @WonderBotz and UiPath MVP
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
Accelerate your Kubernetes clusters with Varnish CachingThijs Feryn
A presentation about the usage and availability of Varnish on Kubernetes. This talk explores the capabilities of Varnish caching and shows how to use the Varnish Helm chart to deploy it to Kubernetes.
This presentation was delivered at K8SUG Singapore. See https://feryn.eu/presentations/accelerate-your-kubernetes-clusters-with-varnish-caching-k8sug-singapore-28-2024 for more details.
JMeter webinar - integration with InfluxDB and GrafanaRTTS
Watch this recorded webinar about real-time monitoring of application performance. See how to integrate Apache JMeter, the open-source leader in performance testing, with InfluxDB, the open-source time-series database, and Grafana, the open-source analytics and visualization application.
In this webinar, we will review the benefits of leveraging InfluxDB and Grafana when executing load tests and demonstrate how these tools are used to visualize performance metrics.
Length: 30 minutes
Session Overview
-------------------------------------------
During this webinar, we will cover the following topics while demonstrating the integrations of JMeter, InfluxDB and Grafana:
- What out-of-the-box solutions are available for real-time monitoring JMeter tests?
- What are the benefits of integrating InfluxDB and Grafana into the load testing stack?
- Which features are provided by Grafana?
- Demonstration of InfluxDB and Grafana using a practice web application
To view the webinar recording, go to:
https://www.rttsweb.com/jmeter-integration-webinar
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
2. “Through code ownership, I became more
Responsible for the overall Design of my code.
I believed that by holding myself Accountable
for the end result, I could directly improve the
Accessibility of my work.”
A tall, questionably handsome, man at the front of the room
3. About me
I’m a front end developer at CGI in Toronto, Canada.
I am NOT an Accessibility Specialist, expert, guru, ninja, etc…
What I am is a developer who has grown to understand the
importance of Accessibility, not only to those who rely on it
but to the web as a whole.
As the web shifed, grew, mutated, evolved, matured, into
this fantastically semantic place, I began to realize one
simple fact about Accessibility that all developers should
embrace …
7. If it worked for me…
I like to explain Responsible Design
using my own story as an example.
Not because it’s particularly unique,
but because it’s incredibly common.
So, using my not so unique story as an
example, let’s start at the beginning….
8.
9. 2008
I had just taken a job as a front end developer
My new employer had been working with the TTC (Toronto
Transit Commission) for several months and had just begun
development on the templates
I was being parachuted into the project just afer the
templates had come in from the contractor who had been
working on them
11. Trial By Fire
Forced to learn the hard way
For the frst time in my career I was using HTML
elements, tags, and attributes properly
Or in some cases, for the frst time at all.
12. My moment of clarity
My work took on a whole new meaning to me…
•
I realized that I was building a tool, not a static page
•
My code had a life of it’s own, it wasn’t there to be READ, it
was there to be USED
While I never questioned the importance of accessibility, I
learned that it was not my job or my right to dictate who could
use this code or HOW
13. Through Clarity Came Focus
I noticed my skills as a developer had evolved
•
My focus was no longer on making my code match the design
•
I was carefully choosing how and why I was coding every
element on the page, knowing it was going to be tested and I
needed to defend my choices
As a result, over a period of time
•
My code had fewer errors
•
There were less cross-browser issues
•
It was easier for the back end team to integrate
14. Accessibility in 2008
It was hard enough to get some devs to abandon table
based layouts let alone embrace semantic code
We were still years away from the end of IE6
15. I tried to speak to the creative department, but they didn’t
like me questioning their designs
16. The UX team didn’t take too kindly to me suggesting
alternative approaches
17. It was tough to get other clients interested in Accessibility
The most common excuses were that accessibility was “too
hard” or “too costly” so it wasn’t included in the spec
But, like most devs….
19. I looked for ways to improve accessibility without
involving the client, the PM, the designers, or the UX
team while not undermining their work
The answer was at my fingertips, and right in front of
me, all along
My code.
I was ultimately responsible for the work I was putting
out there, there was no one else telling me how to
code.
I could make it as accessible as I wanted to as long as
I didn’t change the look or feel.
20. DIY a11y
I took it on myself to make my work more accessible
I knew the heart of accessible code, was semantic HTML
I read the WCAG document top to bottom
Then I read it again. And again. And again.
Then I had someone smarter than my translate it into
developer speak so I could finally understand it.
I learned which points were bound directly to my work
and that I had complete ownership over
21. When good enough stopped
being “Good Enough”
I approached my development process a little differently
•
I spent more time planning my code up front, which lead to
less time fixing it later
•
I questioned everything on the page, I made sure it was
documented
•
Wireframes became my recipe, I refused to cook without
them
•
I always assumed at least SOME level of accessibility
•
I stopped LOOKING at the designs I was building from,
and learned to READ them
22.
23.
24.
25. Own Your Code
… and not just the stuff you did right!
The real lessons are in the stuff you did wrong
Every bug could be a chance to learn something
you didn’t know before.
26. My Top Ten
Over time, I kept adding to the list of things I could "get away"
with or had complete control over
1) Semantic mark-up
2) ARIA landmark roles
3) Lists and the many ways we can use them
4) Skip links
5) Focus
6) Headings
7) Forms and labels
8) Alt text
9) Hidden text
10) Testing
27. By taking the extra time to carefully craf my code, and
from taking full responsibility for what I was putng out
for people to use, I became protective of my work.
Figuring out what I could do above and beyond just
writing the best HTML was just natural progression.
28. Thank you!
Billy Gregory
@thebillygregory
This presentation couldn’t have been
possible with help from Ryan Burgess
@coveredflth