Hey there!
Another short one today, not feeling too well and I’ve been down for the count much of this past weekend with migraine headaches. Here we go!
Accessibility
I haven’t been talking a lot in the newsletters about accessibility and that is on me. I am going to make sure I get a section in here to discuss it, I mean it was why I started the newsletter in the first place, and also, the name of the newsletter.
Web Axe has a list of upcoming accessibility events listed on their site. If you’re interested in attending these events, then this is the list for you!
Meryl K. Evans has a great article on her blog on “How to Be a Disability Ally”
“One in four people has a disability in the U.S. Despite this high number, not everyone has met someone with a disability. At least, not that they know about. Even allies of disabled people don’t always know how what to do. That’s because everyone has different lived experiences and preferences. Here are ten ways to be a disability ally.”
Alastair Campbell of NoMensa has some thoughts on Focus Appearance, one of the new Success Criteria in WCAG 2.2 2.4.11 - Focus Appearance as he explains the reasoning behind the criteria and discusses the way to test it.
I’ve been doing a lot of documentation lately and been steering clear of auditing and remediation due to a long period of not only having done it in the past three years but burnout. I have been burnt out for quite some time now and actually looking to make some major changes soon. Hopefully by mid-year.
Lots of code I have seen that has been very inaccessible in some different places I have been working on and it still amazes me that we are still putting out code that is not accessible in most places. It gives me the Sisyphean feeling.
Just continuously rolling a boulder to the top of a mountain just to have it roll back down to the bottom.
Conferences
I have been getting out to conferences trying to get over the burn out by speaking on what I have been working on. Some of which is in the W3C, where I am working on Deceptive Patterns and the Framework for Accessible Specifications of Technologies which is still in the editor draft phase.
Don’t get your hopes up that it will come out with WCAG 2.2 as this is slated for WCAG 3 which is 3-5 years down the road, at the least. BUT I can still discuss what has been worked on and what is being worked on and believe me, some of the work is contentious as it touches on social issues (like getting folks to stop using “dark patterns” due to racial connotation and use “deceptive patterns” or “anti-patterns”)
I have spoken at a couple of conferences so far this year, CodeMash and HalfStack Phoenix. Both were great conferences, I had great audiences, and I got to give the new talk “Deceptive Patterns & FAST” so far. I am still fine-tuning the talk and a lot to do with the talk though.
I’ll be in Orlando on March 25th giving the same talk and in Atlanta in April, from the 4th through the 6th for DevNexus where I will be giving an Accessibility Auditing workshop! Excited to be doing that!
- Orlando Code Camp, Orlando, FL. March 25
- Devnexus, Atlanta, GA. April 4-6
Plugs
I have to plug something today because the industry has been hit by layoffs all over the place. So my plug is for the #TechIsHiring Twitter, website and newsletter.
Founded by and built by Chad R. Stewart it is a great resource if you’re looking to not only hire people but get hired. Check it out today!
Finally…
The podcast has been very slow in getting everything out that we have recorded. We have two episodes in the can and we are working to get the first one out. The second episode looks like it will be ready in March. I have to get on the podcast Twitter account and get word out soon. @frontendnerdery.
That’s all from here, time for me to get some rest and try to get back to myself after days of migraine headaches and trying to get my strength back.
Have a great week and make accessible things!