Links

Ana Rodrigues:

I want it all, but it is impossible.

(From: Oh Hello Ana - I want it all but, it is impossible)

Bravo to Michelle Barker putting this out there, putting into words what many of us feel:

The web is becoming hostile to humans. Users are tracked and their privacy is routinely violated. Search results are populated with ads. We are constantly spammed by bots. Generative AI threatens to turn previously useful public forums into soulless marketing soup, while sacrificing the livelihoods of the creators that unwittingly power them. Power-hungry data centres demand the burning of fossil fuels, and divert water and energy from communities, emitting tonnes of carbon in order to power this digital junkyard. Users abandon hostile websites that take too long to load on low-powered devices, or are forced to upgrade, as the pile of electronic waste grows. We need a web by and for humans.

(From: Manifesto for a Humane Web)

I've noticed that whenever I (or someone else) posts a link to this blog on Mastodon, the decentralised nature of the platforms effectively DDoS's me.

(From: Mastodon Is DDoSing Me | Kev Quirk)

Live regions have a reputation for being "flaky" and inconsistent. While this can be attributed in part to shortcomings in current implementations, the problem can also be caused by developers misunderstanding how live regions are intended to work.

(From: Why are my live regions not working? - TetraLogical)

Excellent post by Patrick Lauke!

I’ve got a few tips for you--and anyone--about speaking. I think I can sum it all up pretty well in one phrase: GET COMFORTABLE.

(From: “Get Comfortable,” an article by Dan Mall)

I hadn't seen this post by Dan Mall about speaking when it came out, but read it as it was shared on Mastodon today. This week I gave a talk that I was quite nervous for beforehand and quite happy with afterwards; from my experience I would second all the advice he gives here on public speaking.

In Branch, Michelle Barker suggests a new mindset for the web:

If “move fast and break things” is Silicon Valley’s rallying cry, then the flip-side is “move slow and mend things”.

(From: The perfect site doesn’t exist - Branch)

She says we should center sustainability in our work on the web, be intentional in content and code, and prioritise being human to being perfectionist. I could not agree more.

Accessibility standards veteran and axe-core product owner Wilco Fiers explains how he sees EN 301 549 relate to WCAG:

EN 301 549 steadily gained importance. It is often dismissed as “WCAG with a different number slapped on it,” but it is far more than that.

(From: 301,549 ways to improve accessibility: EN 301 549 | Deque)

In the post, he explains the EN is broader than WCAG in various ways:

• it has more requirements, like for browser settings to be respected by websites (11.7 User preferences)
• it applies to more than web content (apps, kiosks), a scope WCAG explicitly doesn't support
• it and derivatives of it apply in more and more places, way beyond the EU (Canada, Japan, Australia)

On the authoring tool requirements bit that Wilco mentioned, I wrote a blog post to summarise our group's thoughts: On authoring tools in EN 301 549.

Donny D'Amato on making a design system component for content that is meant for screenreaders:

there has been one concept that I’ve stuggled to put into this component-driven ecosystem; screenreader only as it has traditionally existed as a class (eg., .sr-only) added to an otherwise benign element

(From: Screenreader only)

Tim Paul on how complexity can increase unexpectedly if we automate:

handling complexity isn't the same as reducing it.

In fact, by getting better at handling complexity we're increasing our tolerance for it. And if we become more tolerant of it we're likely to see it grow, not shrink.

(From: Tim Paul | Automation and the Jevons paradox)

With Firefox 125 shipping the feature, good news on popover:

This web feature is now available in all three major browser engines, and becomes Baseline Newly Available as of April 16, 2024.

(From: Popover API lands in Baseline  |  Blog  |  web.dev)