Heydon asked screen readers some questions about their everyday interactions with websites. The answers quite revealing: if you’re using headings and forms correctly, you’re already making life a lot easier for them.
I wrote a while back about how I switched from using a button to using a link for progressive disclosure patterns. That looks like it was a good move—if I use a button, I’d need to use aria-controls and, as Heydon outlines here, the screen reader support is pants.
I’m in complete agreement with Heydon here:
But it turns out the only surefire way to make performant Web Stuff is also to just write less. Minify? Okay. Compress? Well, yeah. Cache? Sounds technical. Flat out refuse to code something or include someone else’s code in the first place? Now you’re talking.
Just like the “mobile first” mindset, if you demand that everything must justify its existence, you end up with a better experience for everyone:
My favorite thing about aiming to have less stuff is this: you finish up with only the stuff you really need — only the stuff your user actually wants. Massive hero image of some dude drinking a latte? Lose it. Social media buttons which pull in a bunch of third-party code while simultaneously wrecking your page design? Give them the boot. That JavaScript thingy that hijacks the user’s right mouse button to reveal a custom modal? Ice moon prison.
A great series of short videos from Marcy on web accessibility.
In the same vein as Hugo’s script, Ire walks through the steps involved in making an accessible modal window. Seeing all the thinking and code required for this really highlights the need for a way of making the document in the background inert.
Over the years I’ve come to realize that most difficult part of making websites isn’t the code, it’s the “hidden expectations”, the unseen aspects I didn’t know were my responsibility when I started: Accessibility, Security, Performance, and Empathy.
I’m not a fan of the checklist approach to accessibility, but this checklist of checklists makes for a handy starting point and it’s segmented by job role. Tick all the ones that apply to you, and this page will generate a list for you to copy and paste.
Hot on the heels of an accessible toggle, here’s an accessible modal dialog script.
A handy Chrome extension to simulate different kinds of visual impairment.
I think it’s a safe bet that this new book by Heydon will be absolutely brilliant.
It’s a handbook with valuable, time-saving techniques that will help you avoid hacky workarounds and solve common issues effectively.
On the need for a way to mark parts of a document as “inert” while the user is interacting with modal content.
Some interesting outcomes from testing gov.uk with blind users of touchscreen devices:
Rather than reading out the hierarchy of the page, some of the users navigated by moving their finger around to ‘discover’ content.
This was really interesting - traditionally good structure for screen readers is about order and hierarchy. But for these users, the physical placement on the screen was also really important (just as it is for sighted users).
A very handy collection:
This book contains frontend coding patterns (and anti-patterns) that will assist developers in building accessible e-commerce web pages, widgets and workflows.
I like that it contains a list of anti-patterns too.
There’s also a corresponding collection of working demos.
A nice little collection of interaction patterns with built-in accessibility and no dependencies.
A typically superb article by Aaron. Here, he breaks down a resilient approach to building for the web by examining the multiple ways you could add a button to a page. There’s a larger lesson here too:
We don’t control where our web-based products go or how our users access them. All we can do is imagine as many less-than-perfect scenarios as possible and do our best to ensure our creations will continue to do what they’re supposed to do. One of the easiest ways to do that is to be aware of and limit our dependencies.
Here’s a fantastic and free little book by Adam Scott. It’s nice and short, covering progressive enhancement, universal JavaScript, accessibility, and inclusive forms.
Download it now and watch this space for more titles around building inclusive web apps, collaboration, and maintaining privacy and security.
Did I mention that it’s free?
Hidden little details that make a big difference for screen readers.
A website is only as beautiful as the underlying markup.
A glanceable one-stop-shop for how today’s browsers are dealing with today’s accessibility features. Then you can dive deeper into each one.
A nice tool for choosing colour palettes that look good and are also accessible.
Seems like ages since I’ve seen Saqib. He’s been working on something very nifty indeed:
…Seeing AI, a research project that helps people who are visually impaired or blind to better understand who and what is around them. The app is built using intelligence APIs from Microsoft Cognitive Services…
On universal design: “We’re reframing disability as an opportunity.”
One day someone will write a history of the Internet, in which that great series of tubes will emerge as one long chain of inventions not just geared to helping people connect in more ways, but rather, to help more and more types of people communicate just as nimbly as anyone else.
I don’t care about Opera Mini (I’m not its Product Manager). In the same way, I don’t care about walking sticks, wheelchairs, mobility scooters or guide dogs. But I care deeply about people who use enabling technologies — and Opera Mini is an enabling technology. It allows people on feature phones, low-powered smartphones, people in low-bandwidth areas, people with very small data plans, people who are roaming (you?) connect to the web.
Here’s a bit of convergent evolution: Hugo’s script is similar to what I wrote about recently.
He also raises a point that Kevin mentioned:
I would like to investigate on the
detailsandsummaryelements as they are basically a native implementation for content toggles.
For some reason details never got much browser love, even though it’s clearly paving a well-trodden cowpath.
A very lightweight script for toggling the appearance of elements in an accessible way.
I really, really like these principles. Time to add them to the list.
Three very easy to implement additions to scrollable areas of your web pages: tabindex="0", role="region", and an aria-label attribute.
Use the right element for the job.
- Does the Control Take Me to Another Page? Use an Anchor.
- Does the Control Change Something on the Current Page? Use a Button.
- Does the Control Submit Form Fields? Use a Submit.
A great description of a solid architectural approach to building on the web (and not just for accessibility either).
This is my go-to method for adding validation messages to forms—I think I first heard about it from Derek—so it’s nice to see it corroborated by Steve:
Add the error message as a child of the label element associated with an input.
Marco gives a run-down of the basics of getting accessibility right on the web. Nothing here is particularly onerous but you’d surprised how often developers get this wrong (or simply aren’t aware of it).
He finishes with a plea to avoid unnecessary complexity:
If there’s one wish I have for Christmas from the web developer community at large, it is this: Be good citizens of the web, and learn proper HTML before you even so much as touch any JavaScript framework. Those frameworks are great and offer a lot of features, no doubt. But before you use hundreds of kilobytes of JavaScript to make something clickable, you may want to try if a simple button element doesn’t do the trick just as fine!
It really isn’t hard to get the basics of accessibility right on the web …and yet those basics are often neglected.
Here’s a handy shortlist to run through, HIKE:
- H stands for headings and semantic markup.
- I stands for images and labels.
- K stands for keyboard navigation.
- E asks for you to ACT with a little extra love for custom components and more.
(ACT = ARIA, Colour Contrast, Text Size)
The best ARIA role is the one you don’t need to use.
Two sides of a debate on progressive enhancement…
Andrey “Rarst” Savchenko wrote Progressive enhancement — JS sites that work:
If your content website breaks down from JavaScript issue — it is broken.
Joe Hoyle disagrees:
Unlike Rarst, I don’t value progressive enhancement very highly and don’t agree it’s a fundamental principle of the web that should be universally employed. Quite frankly, I don’t care about not supporting JavaScript, and neither does virtually anyone else. It’s not that it doesn’t have any value, or utility - but in a world where we don’t have unlimited resources and time, one has to prioritise what we’ll support and not support.
Caspar acknowledges this:
I don’t have any problem buying into pragmatism as the main and often pressing reason for not investing into a no-JS fallback. The idealistic nature of a design directive like progressive enhancement is very clear to me, and so are typical restrictions in client projects (budgets, deadlines, processes of decision making).
But concludes that by itself that’s not enough reason to ditch such a fundamental technique for building a universal, accessible web:
Ain’t nobody got time for progressive enhancement always, maybe. But entirely ditching principle as a compass for resilient decision making won’t do.
See also: Mike Little’s thoughts on progressive enhancement and accessibility.
A really great idea from Chris: using SVG to create the web equivalent of type lockups that can scale with all the control you want, while still maintaining accessibility.
Speaking of accessibility, Emil’s comment is very useful indeed.
Jennison Asuncion outlines the problem with relying on a swipe gesture for interactions.
I would say that this could be expanded to just about any interaction: it’s always dangerous to rely on one specific gesture. It’s always better to either provide multiple ways of accomplishing a task, or to simply take a declarative approach, get out of the way, and let the user agent handle it.
Some mea culpas from a developer at Medium. They share so that we may learn.
This is such an incredibly useful resource by Steve and Léonie: documenting how multiple screen readers handle each and every element in HTML.
It’s a work in progress, but it’s definitely one to remember the next time you’re thinking “I wonder how screen readers treat this markup…”
The inaugural London accessibility meet-up is happening on October 28th with two great presenters: Robin Christopherson and Julie Howell—that’s right; she’s coming out of retirement for one last talk!
All the videos from the excellent Responsive Field Day are now available. Even better, the audio is also available for your huffduffing pleasure!
All the presentations and panels were great. Sophie Shepherd’s terrific talk has really stuck with me.
This is a very handy tip. I had been putting form role="search" all over The Session. Turns out that’s overriding the default role of “form”. Oops!
Heydon’s putting together a collection of songs from webby people. I need to either give him a Salter Cane track or record some tunes for this.
A handy little bookmarklet for doing some quick accessibility checks.
Instead of coming up with all these new tools and JavaScript frameworks, shouldn’t we try to emphasize the importance of learning the underlying fundamentals of the web? Teach those who are just stepping to this medium and starting their careers. By not making our stack more and more complex, but by telling about the best practices that should guide our work and the importance of basic things.
Apps:
Apps must run on specific platforms for specific devices. The app space, while large, isn’t universal.
Websites:
Websites can be viewed by anyone with a web browser.
And that doesn’t mean foregoing modern features:
A web browser must only understand HTML. Further, newer HTML (like HTML 5) is still supported because the browser is built to ignore HTML it doesn’t understand. As a result, my site can run on the oldest browsers all the way to the newest ones. Got Lynx? No problem. You’ll still be able to find matches nearby. Got the latest smartphone and plentiful data? It’ll work there, too, and take advantage of its features.
This is why progressive enhancement is so powerful.
My site will take advantage of newer technologies like geolocation and local storage. However, the service will not be dependent on them.
Brad points out the importance of supporting—which is not the same as optimising for—the non-shiny devices out there.
I really like using the Kindle’s browser as a good baseline for checking that information is available and readable.
I like this nice straightforward approach. Instead of jumping into the complexities of the final interactive component, Chris starts with the basics and layers on the complexity one step at a time, thereby creating a more robust solution.
If I had one small change to suggest, maybe aria-label might work better than offscreen text for the controls …as documented by Heydon.
A great run-down by Heydon of just one ARIA property: aria-label.
Marcy’s Tumblr blog of examples of accessibility in action on the web.
A superb piece by Ross Penman on the importance of being true to the spirit of the web.
Because in 10 years nothing you built today that depends on JS for the content will be available, visible, or archived anywhere on the web.
It will come as no surprise that I agree with every single word that Tim has written here.
The minimum dependency for a web site should be an internet connection and the ability to parse HTML.
A great description of progressive enhancement.
Progressive enhancement in its basic form means not making assumptions
You can now read Aaron’s excellent book online. I highly recommend reading the first chapter for one of the best descriptions of progressive enhancement that I’ve ever read.
A great Zooniverse-style project for the website of Australia’s Museum Victoria that allows you to provide descriptions for blind and low-vision people.
I completely share Bruce’s concern about the year-zero thinking that’s accompanying a lot of the web components marketing:
Snarking aside, why do so few people talk about extending existing HTML elements with web components? Why’s all the talk about brand new custom elements? I don’t know.
Hear, hear!
I’m a fan of web components. But I’m increasingly worried about the messaging surrounding them.
A great presentation on web components by Marcy, with an emphasis on keeping them accessible.
Yesterday, Aaron gave a great talk at BD Conf about forms. In one example, he was using aria-describedby. I was a bit confused by the differences between aria-describedby and aria-labelledby, so Aaron has very helpfully clarified the distinction.
A great technique from Heydon for styling radio buttons however you want.
Patty’s excellent talk on responsive design and progressive enhancement. Stick around for question-and-answer session at the end, wherein I attempt to play hardball, but actually can’t conceal my admiration and the fact that I agree with every single word she said.
Léonie gives a great, clear description of how screen readers switch modes as they traverse the DOM snapshot.
Steve Faulkner responds to Alex’s response to my post about Web Components.
Steve shares my concerns …but he still refers to my post as “piffle”.
I can’t win.
Alice Bartlett shares her experience of getting aria-live regions to work in a meaningful way.
Heydon Pickering put together a great collection of accessible self-contained interface patterns that demonstrate smart use of ARIA.
Bruce’s thoughts on ensuring accessibility in Web Components. He thinks that the vocabulary of ARIA is up to the job, so that’s good enough for me.
Some sensible thoughts from Addy on how Web Components might be peer-reviewed.
A healthy dose of scepticism about Web Components, looking at them through the lenses of accessibility, security, and performance.
I share some of this concern: Web Components might look like handy ready-made out-of-the-box solutions, but the truth is that web developers have to do much more of the hard graft that was traditionally left to the browser.
Scott writes an absolutely spot-on skewering of the idea that progressive enhancement means you’re going to spend your time catering to older browsers. The opposite is true.
Progressive Enhancement frees us to focus on the costs of building features for modern browsers, without worrying much about leaving anyone out. With a strongly qualified codebase, older browser support comes nearly for free.
A love letter to HTML, prompted by the line-mode browser hack event at CERN.
A cogent definition and spirited defence of progressive enhancement:
Progressive Enhancement is an extension of our shared values on the web and goes to the root of the web. I believe—and hope you agree—that the web is for everybody and should be accessible regardless of the device a user brings to the party.
Preach it, Karen!
“Why would someone ever want to do that?” is the wrong question. It doesn’t matter why they want to do it. The fact is that people do. The right question, the one that we all should be asking, is “how can we make a better experience for them?”
Yet another timely reminder from Tim, prompted by the naysayers commenting on his previous excellent post on progressive enhancement, universal access, and the nature of the web.
A great call-to-arms from Tim, simply asking that we create websites that take advantage of the amazing universality of the web:
The web has the power to go anywhere—any network, any device, any browser. Why not take advantage of that?
Inevitably there is pushback in the comments from developers still in the “denial” stage of coming to terms with what the web is.
Carousels are shit. Auto-animating carousels are really shit. Now proven with science!
It’s great to see the changes that Facebook’s four-person accessibility team have managed to push through.
I’ll be speaking at this event in London on Thursday. It would be lovely if you could come along. It’s free!
These seem just about as reasonable as any other CAPTCHA.
This is a great initiative. I’m going to learn a lot from it. I hope that I might even be able to contribute to it sometime.
An ever-timely call-to-arms from Eric:
Sir Tim Berners-Lee envisioned the web as open and accessible for everyone, no matter where they comes from, what speed their connection is, how capable their browsers are or how good their eyes or hands or both work. I feel proud every day to make that vision reality, and it is the job of web developers to make it a reality.
He’s right. We have tremendous power and privilege, and correspondingly tremendous responsibility.
A behind-the-scenes look at how Gov.uk is handling mobile devices. Spoiler: it’s responsive.
I found this particularly interesting:
When considering the extra requirements users of different devices have we found a lot in common with work already done on accessibility.
A worrying look at how modern web developers approach accessibility. In short, they don’t.
The low-hanging fruit of accessibility fixes; it’s worth bearing these in mind.
James Craig is a mensch. This is how you give feedback to a working group.
There’s some great practical advice for building accessible mobile web apps here.
Bruce’s thoughts on the proposed inclusion of a “content” or “maincontent” element in HTML5.
Personally, I don’t think there’s much point in adding a new element when there’s an existing attribute (role=”main”) that does exactly the same thing.
Also, I don’t see much point in adding an element that can only be used once and only once in a document. However, if a “content” or “maincontent” element could be used inside any sectioning content (section, article, nav, aside), then I could see it being far more useful.
If you make inaccessible iOS apps, you really only have yourself to blame.
There are also some handy tips here for getting to know VoiceOver.
A really nice site dedicated entirely to making the web a better place for the colourblind.
Oh, this is just wonderful: a camera that outputs a text description instead of an image (complete with instructions on how to build one yourself). I love it!
A cautionary tale from Stuart. We, the makers of modern technology, are letting people down. Badly.
We’re in this to help users, remember: not just the ones who think as we do, but the ones who rely on us to build things for them because they don’t know what they’re doing. If your response is honestly “well, he should have spent more on a phone to get something better”, then I’m exceedingly disillusioned by you.
I can’t remember the last time I read something I disagreed with so fundamentally. This sums up the tone of the article:
Accessibility is not a right; it’s a feature.
I do not agree. I do not agree at all.
(Also, the pre-emtive labelling of anyone who may disagree with your point of view as defending a “sacred cow” is as tired and misguided as labelling anyone who disagrees with your viewpoint as a “fanboy”.)
Yes, yes, yes! This article does an excellent job of explaining what Captchas are attempting to do and why, therefore, they are so utterly shit.
This helps to clarify the difference between native semantics and ARIA additions.
A great reminder from Christian that making JavaScript a requirement for using a website just doesn’t make much sense.
This is a great response to my recent post about semantics in HTML. Steve explores the accessibility implications. I heartily concur with his rallying cry at the end:
Get involved!
Given some recent hand-wringing about the web as a “platform,” it seems appropriate to revisit this superb article from Ben. The specifics of the companies and technologies may have changed in the past year but the fundamental point remains the same:
Everything about web architecture; HTTP, HTML, CSS, is designed to serve and render content, but most importantly the web is formed where all of that content is linked together. That is what makes it amazing, and that is what defines it. This purpose and killer application of the web is not even comparable to the application frameworks of any particular operating system.
Andy responds to Joe Hewitt’s recent despondent posts about the web. I tend to agree with Andy: I think comparing the web to other “platforms” is missing the point of what the web is.
See also: http://benward.me/blog/understand-the-web
John reinforces the importance of universal access above the desire to build only for the newest shiniest devices:
Universality is a founding principle of the web. It is the manifesto the web has been built on, and I believe one of the key drivers of the almost unimaginable success of the web over these last two decades. We ignore that at the web’s peril.
A great reminder from Bruce that we need to remember to use cutting-edge web technology responsibly.
Leonie points to a change in the semantics of the a element in HTML5 that could be very handy for accessible navigation.
A cute website that’s a call-to-arms against low-contrast text on the web.
Derek runs some tests on how screenreaders behave when block-level elements are wrapped in links, which is now legal in HTML5.
Ignoring the awful misleading title, this is a really good post from Paul on his personal experiences dealing with accessibility on one or two projects.
A superb post by Dan on the bigger picture of what’s wrong with hashbang URLs. Well written and well reasoned.
A nice succinct description of the placeholder attribute, with an emphasis on accessibility.
This consortium of institutions and universities came together “to provide practical solutions and expertise in digital preservation.”
PLANETS stands for Preservation and Long-term Access through Networked Services.
Tim Bray calmly explains why hash-bang URLs are a very bad idea.
This is what we call “tight coupling” and I thought that anyone with a Computer Science degree ought to have been taught to avoid it.
A great little jQuery script to automatically assign ARIA roles to HTML5 elements with the corresponding semantics.
Steven nails exactly why I’m so excited about the increasing diversity of devices accessing the web; not so that we can build more silos, but so that we can sure our content is robust enough for the multitude of different devices:
To be honest, I can think of a few, but not many use cases of web sites or apps which are or should be exclusively mobile. It seems like the Mobile Web allows us to revisit all of the talk of inclusion, progressive enhancement and accessibility from years ago.
The notes and slides from the talk Ann gave at the London Web Standards meetup in May.
It'll be interesting to see how this service works out: people can report accessibility problems with any website, and other people can volunteer to help fix the issues.
A handy table of new HTML5 elements and whether or not they are exposed to assistive technology.
Think Vitamin have been their accessibility material available for free.
An emotionally affecting endorsement of the accessibility features on the iPhone.
The website of the Yahoo accessibility team.
A one-day event in London in September on the topic of accessibility, with a focus on motor impairment.
Steve Faulkner has created a petition to let Google know what screenreader users think of Chrome's appalling lack of basic accessibility hooks.
An API for Turing test questions.
A list of services you can use to get your podcast transcribed.
Test results for screen readers navigating content that uses new HTML5 elements and ARIA roles.
There is a doctype for HTML4 + ARIA but "This DTD is made available only as a bridging solution for applications requiring DTD validation but not using HTML 5."
An excellently written zero-edit change proposal from Edward O'Connor and others, refuting issues raised by Shelley Powers (I offered to help with this change proposal but I never followed through).
An excellent piece by Bruce on why the details element needs to be in HTML5.
A handy accessibility resource from Auntie Beeb.
Your one-stop shop for ongoing accessibility work related to HTML5.
The results of the second screen reader survey from WebAIM are, once again, required reading.
Using Google Chrome Frame in IE will give users of assistive technology the same shitty to non-existent experience they would get in the actual Google Chrome browser.
A pattern library that considers colour blindness.
A hands-on account of the new accessibility features in the iPhone. Sounds like a great experience.
A forthcoming typeface designed specifically to help people with dyslexia read and write more effectively.
Wendy gives some commentary from her ringside seat at the theatre of HTML5.
Bert Bos's 2000 Treatise (published in 2003) is a must-read for anyone involved in developing any kind of format. "This essay tries to make explicit what the developers in the various W3C working groups mean when they invoke words like efficiency, maintainability, accessibility, extensibility, learnability, simplicity, longevity, and other long words ending in -y."
This list of screenreader survey results is required reading. Conclusion: "there is no typical screen reader user."
An excellent rumination on the meaning of accessibility, prompted by real world experiences.
Prompted by the Bespin fuss, Derek shares his thoughts on *when* accessibility should be integrated into products.
Great article by Bruce defending the principle of One Web.
Stuart has an interesting take on ARAI attributes. Why can't they be set declaratively in an external file in the same way as we set styles?
Stevie Wonder talks about assistive technology. I think this finally proves that yes, accessibility *is* sexy!
Gez lays out the case for and against keeping the alt attribute mandatory in HTML5. If he's missed anything, add a comment.
A guide to using ARIA roles from the mighty Steve Faulkner.
A collection of tips, guidance, advice and practical suggestions in developing accessible websites
Joe has written a rousing call to arms on the state of online captioning. It's a lengthy article but well worth reading.
WCAG 2.0 has just entered proposed recommendation status. What a long strange trip it's been.
An in-depth look at the intersection of JavaScript and screen readers, concentrating on events in particular.
Download a PDF of PPK's slides from his JavaScript workshop at Fundamentos Web. There's some good advice contained therein.
Apple have gathered all their resources about accessibility into one handy site. I sense the work of James Craig.
Shawn at the W3C wants feedback on the ARIA working draft, particularly "feedback on host language embedding, that is, how ARIA is implemented in HTML, XHTML, SVG, and other host languages." If you don't chime in now, don't bitch later.
A good overview of ARIA from the mighty Gez Lemon. There seems to be quite a bit of overlap with some HTML5 ideas here.
Sometimes Apple gets it wrong and Microsoft gets it right. That's certainly the case for users with low-vision.
Christian is using the prize money he won at Mashed to put on an event in London in September devoted to "ethical hacking": creating mashups to make social networks more accessible.
Excellent explanation of DRM by Mark Pilgrim, prompted by MSN Music's gunshot to the head.
The last piece is falling into place. IE8 has ARIA support, Mozilla has ARIA support ...and now WebKit is getting there. Excellent!
Ignore the attention-grabbing headline. Brothercake is something more nuanced here (and he's backing it up with examples).
There is an undocumented feature in Google Maps: add "&output=html" to the URL to get the accessible, non-Ajax version.
Joe's latest project is deliberately garish.
A free screen reader. If this turns out to be any good, it could be a game-changer: a long overdue kick in the behind for Freedom Scientific.
This is pretty freakin' awesome: an accessible interface onto Second Life.
Steve Faulkner gives a rundown of the current state of play between screen readers and Ajax.
Excellent research into how screen readers respond to empty links (i.e. A elements with no text between the opening and closing tags).
Remember the video of that Cadbury's ad I linked to a while back? It turns out that there's a transcript of the video on the website.
A new feature on Matthew Somerville's brilliant train timetable site. Just put /fares at the end of any URL to get the cheapest available fare.
It's easy for us to take technology for granted. This video shows how transformative technology can be. I am humbled.
How to get ARIA working in HTML (no namespaces in HTML, remember). Once again, Gez is providing superb documentation in the area of JavaScript and accessibility.
Yet another reason never to fly with Ryanair.
Notes from Joe's @smedias. Please read the whole thing before (mis)judging what he said.
Now this is what I call a captcha. You want to know about my mother? I'll tell you about my mother.
Aral has been busy whipping FlashAid into shape. Now let's get busy kicking the tyres.
Derek points to a new piece of assistive technology and wonders where the next innovation will come from.
Christian talks to Aral and Niqui about Flash and accessibility.
Joe's notes make for great reading, specifically "Accessibility is a precursor to usability."
This transcript of Pat'n'Bruce's talk at the Geek in the Park makes for a great, thought-provoking read.
Bruce pointed out this porn site that doesn't turn away blind users. That gives it the moral high ground over Target, in my opinion. NSFW if your Wplace is prudish.
A lot of these articles are more about JavaScript in general than Ajax per se, but it's good to have all these resources gathered together in one place.
Garret gives an excellent, excellent round-up of the factors involved in the behaviour layer of front-end architecture (that's 'building websites' to you and me).
Writing a presentation on web accessibility? Tired of the usual "The power of the web..." quote?
One great web development tip for every day in the Advent calendar, courtesy of Drew McLellan
The W3C proves that it can move with the times: "The mission of the W3C Web API Working Group is to develop specifications that enable improved client-side application development on the Web." This is very good news indeed.
Derek's new site is going to be a great resource for practical accessibility techniques.
Patrick Lauke, master of photography and accessibility.
A transcript of the panel from SxSW, painstakingly transcribed by James Craig. Audio is also available.
Yet another Ajax implementation, but this one is making some bold claims regarding accesibility. I must investigate further.
Some good thoughts on accessibility. I'm really looking forward to seeing Derek again at @media.
Some good practical tips for improving accessibility in AJAX apps.
