There's a whole lot of technical information out there on the Web, from major supplier press releases to 'amateur' extension coders, from opinions to tutorials. But with so much out there what's important and what isn't, what is influential and what is one person's soapboxing?

In this brief article, Ian Blackham attempts to highlight and summarize a few of the discussions that have been taking place on some of the more influential blogs in the Web development community. Some of you may read these on a regular basis and even take part in the discussions, however for those that don't, we hope you'll find this (a) an interesting insight into future trends and design points, and (b) provide a starting point for some stimulating and educational web surfing.

 

Hot Topics from the Blogs: July 2004

There's a whole lot of technical information out there on the Web, from major supplier press releases to 'amateur' extension coders, from opinions to tutorials. But with so much out there what's important and what isn't, what is influential and what is one person's soapboxing?

In this brief article, Ian Blackham attempts to highlight and summarize a few of the discussions that have been taking place on some of the more influential blogs in the Web development community. Some of you may read these on a regular basis and even take part in the discussions, however for those that don't, we hope you'll find this (a) an interesting insight into future trends and design points, and (b) provide a starting point for some stimulating and educational web surfing.

No Accessibility = Bad Publicity

OK so we all know that big corporate websites should be well written and accessible to all, being wonderful designed for the average surfer on the Web looking at it through whichever IE installation they have, but also flexible enough to run through a screen reader or other such browsing device.

And so if it's not we write a letter of complaint, or maybe even better write our own accessible version!

Well that's what a guy called Matthew Somerville has done for a number of different UK based sites. Unfortunately the Odeon cinema group got real upset about his version of their site leading to a bit of serious legal activity!

Over at Zeldman.com the blog of hugely influential web standards guru Jeffrey Zeldman there is an interesting piece that not only summarizes some of the in's and out's of both the Odeon case, but also details some other activities in this area.

Now, as the piece points out, if nothing else, the heat and sound generated by this case will persuade other businesses to move accessibility up the priority list when contracting new web site designs. Nothing moves business opinion faster than being faced with bad publicity, lost income and even legal challenges.

Getting on board with accessibility isn't just a technical choice it's a necessity – even as one of our own contributors, Allan Kent, pointed out if you're talking to a client who doesn't know about the topic, educating the client can win you business.

Reworking Inaccessible Websites

On mezzoblue.com, Dave Shea provides his own commentary and pointers to others who are similarly upset by the whole situation. Not only that he provides a link to a neat way forward; that of writing extensions for a browser that will correct the known problems with a particular site! Indeed a kind soul called Adrian Holovaty has just done that by providing an extension to plug into Mozilla's Firefox browser to help with a problematical site.

So if you don't provide some viewing choices for your customers, somebody might come along and provide them for you – it won't be a seal of approval.

Inspiration, but provide your own Perspiration

By the way, we've mentioned it before on DMXzone and we'll mention it again – Dave Shea is the driver behind the CSS Zen Garden site, which is a fantastic resource for seeing the potential of using CSS. Of course not only is it a showcase but also a fantastic educational resource.

That doesn't make it a code gallery for use though – some people have suffered from having their designs ripped off from there. One of those people – Andy Budd – has recently provided a neat little post about just how blatant rips offs can be and, within that entry, the type of treatment miscreants may face.

Another thing that really winds site owners up is when people not only steal their images but also do on the original site's bandwidth. But there are easy ways to prevent this.

The Return of Battling Browsers

So which browser do you use?

Sorry I didn't mean to sound personal, but the ubiquitous IE has been taking one heck of a pasting lately. There are postings concerning it's insecurity too numerous to list, so I'll just leave you with this one from the Web Standards Project people.

But is the world really all going to jump over to Mozilla's Firefox at the drop of a hat? Are even all those experienced web developers going to make the transition? This is the basis of discussion over at Molly.com, the blog of DMXzone contributor and writer extraordinaire Molly Holzschlag

The issue of browser use has all sorts of implications for security and, within a corporate environment, supporting users. If you're a sys admin looking after a lot of lunchtime web surfers then there are difficult thorns to be grasped.

A neat encapsulation of the current state of affairs is provided at the FAQ of the Web Accessibility Toolbar we recently featured. In short IE is still used by 'the masses' including those who use assistive technologies.