Hey there!
A little late (again), but a lot has been going on in my part of the world lately (again). I went to DevNexus in Atlanta in April and spoke about Making a Strong Case for Accessibility. The Smashing Magazine article I turned into a talk.
When I returned home, I tested positive for COVID, so I had avoided it for two-plus years but it finally caught up with me and it wasn’t fun for about 3-4 days of really bad symptoms. Please be safe. I let my guard down and ended up getting it and it is no fun. I’m feeling miles better but still got a cough and fatigue. No fun at all and I’m two weeks removed.
So let’s get to it and let’s get to some good finds I have stumbled across!
The Podcast
I’ve not recorded any new episodes as I have plenty of them in the can ready to edit and knock out as I stick with the one episode per month format. The latest episode to be out is my episode with Chris Ferdinandi. Hope you’ll give it a listen/watch (and season one as well) and subscribe.
W3C
The work I have done for the Framework for Accessible Specification of Technologies a.k.a. FAST is in the Editor’s Draft and is taking shape.
“What is FAST?” you may ask. Well, the Framework for Accessible Specification of Technologies (FAST) advises creators of technical specifications on how to ensure their technology meets the needs of users with disabilities. It addresses primarily web content technologies but also relates to any technology that affects web content sent to users, including client-side APIs, transmission protocols, and interchange formats.
You can read more of the abstract and the Editor’s Draft further if interested.
Work
Still working hard to make things accessible. I’m hoping soon, we add a couple more people to the accessibility team, and hoping I can announce some news as soon as things fall into place. More to come.
Conferences
I have two talks to give in the next few months in person at Code On The Beach and Javascript and Friends Conference. Excited to be going to see more friends I have met online and I am keeping my fingers crossed that my talk will get approved for KCDC 2022. Stay tuned!
Awesome Finds
Sheri Byrne-Haber wrote a fantastic article on Regaining Your Accessibility Spark and you should give it a read if you do work in accessibility.
Know Your ARIA hidden vs. none from Scott O’Hara. After reading a tweet this morning from Scott with a really bad example of misuse of ARIA, Scott explains it nicely.
I’m Deaf And I Have ‘Perfect’ Speech. Here’s Why It’s Actually A Nightmare.. I have no words other than go read the article.
Thoughts
I wrote an article on Dev that made me a Top 7 author for the week. It got a lot of views and spread around a bit. Stop Removing Focus.
I’ve been seeing focus indicators being removed too much, and one time is too much. It’s always: someone (designers usually) think the focus indicator is “ugly” (it can be styled and branded to the brand). There are other reasons that focus is removed but just because it’s a good idea (which it most certainly is not) doesn’t mean you have to act on it.
Reasons are explained as to why you do NOT remove focus, in the article.
Wrap it Up, Todd!
Hopefully, you’re all doing well and staying safe and sound. If you could spread the word about not only the podcast but the newsletter as well, I’d be very grateful.
Next month, I’ll be back again with more stuff to fill up the newsletter, so until then, have a great May. Looking forward to summer, though in Arizona, it is always summer it seems here to me.
Until next time friend,
— Todd 🦞