Not so short note on aria-label usage – Big Table Edition – HTML Accessibility
This is a very handy table of elements from Steve of where aria-label
can be applied.
Like, for example, not on a div
element.
This is a very handy table of elements from Steve of where aria-label
can be applied.
Like, for example, not on a div
element.
A very handy community project that documents support for ARIA and native HTML accessibility features in screen readers and browsers.
Supporting Internet Explorer 11 doesn’t mean you need to give it the same experience as a modern browser:
Making sure (some of) your code works in older browsers, does not mean all functionality has to work everywhere. But, mind you, ninety percent of web development means putting text and images in boxes.
And to be honest, there is no reason to not enable this everywhere. Same for form submissions. Make it boring. Make it solid. And sprinkle delight on it.
With a Progressive Enhancement mindset, support actually means support. We’re not trying to create an identical experience: we’re creating a viable experience instead.
Also with Progressive Enhancement, it’s incredibly likely that your IE11 user, or your user on a low-powered device, or even your user on a poor connection won’t notice that they’re experiencing a “minor” experience because it’ll just work for them. This is the magic, right there. Everyone’s a winner.
Rachel follows up on my recent post about CSS grid in old IE with her thoughts.
As Jeremy notes, the usefulness of a tool like Autoprefixer is diminishing, which is a good thing. It is becoming far easier to code in a way that supports all browsers, where support means usable in an appropriate way for the technology the user has in front of them. Embrace that, and be glad for the fact that we can reduce complexity based on the increasing interoperability of CSS in our browsers.
A great in-depth report from Alice on creating, running, and most importantly, selling an in-house design system. This makes a great companion piece to her Patterns Day talk.
Where internal teams seem to go wrong is not appreciating that the thing they’re building is still a product and so it needs to compete with other products on the market.
24 Ways is back! Yay! This year’s edition kicks off with a great article by Hui Jing on using @supports
:
Chances are, the latest features will not ship across all browsers at the same time. But you know what? That’s perfectly fine. If we accept this as a feature of the web, instead of a bug, we’ve just opened up a lot more web design possibilities.
Smashing Magazine has launched its lovely new design, but more importantly, it has launched its lovely new business model. Ads are gone. Patronage is in. This is a resource worth supporting.
We’re getting rid of advertisers and digging back to our roots: community-based, community-built, and determinedly non-commercial.
I approve!
A List Apart has given me so, so much over the years that becoming a supporter is quite literally the least I can do.
Oh, how I wish I could’ve been at Web Directions Code in Melbourne to see this amazing presentation by Charlotte. I can’t quite get over how many amazing knowledge bombs she managed to drop in just 20 minutes!
Donate money to support Codebar:
By donating to codebar you are helping to promote diversity in the tech industry so that more women, LGBTQA and other underrepresented folks will be able to get started with programming and raise their skills to the next level.
Thanks to jQuery, you probably don’t need jQuery. Just look at all these methods that started life in jQuery, that are now part of the standardised DOM API:
remove()
prepend()
before()
replaceWith()
closest()
This resonates a lot—we’ve been working on something similar at Clearleft, for very similar reasons:
We rode the folk knowledge train until it became clear that it was totally unscaleable and we struggled to effectively commute know-how to the incoming brains.
At Made By Many, they’ve sliced it into three categories: Design, Technology, and Product Management & Strategy. At Clearleft, we’re trying to create a skills matrix for each of these disciplines: UX, UI, Dev, Research, Content Strategy, and Project Management. I’m working on the Dev matrix. I’ll share it once we’ve hammered it into something presentable. In the meantime, it’s good to see exactly the same drivers are at work at Made By Many:
The levels give people a scaffold onto which they can project their personalised career path, reflecting their progression, and facilitating professional development at every stage.
You can help support the indie web community with their fairly modest costs: about $200 each month for hosting, domain names, and the like. Also:
We want IndieWeb events to be as accessible as possible, regardless of personal barriers. Because of this, we have offered a travel scholarship fund in the past to underrepresented groups thanks to our generous sponsors. Your support will allow us to continue to offer and expand this scholarship fund, helping make sure that IndieWebCamps represent everyone.
Rachel uncovers a great phrase for dealing with older browsers:
It isn’t your fault, but it is your problem.
She points to multiple ways of using CSS Grid today while still providing a decent experience for older browsers.
Crucially, there’s one message that hasn’t changed in fifteen years:
Websites do not need to look the same in every browser.
It’s crazy that there are still designers and developers who haven’t internalised this. And before anyone starts claiming that the problem is with the clients and the bosses, Rachel has plenty of advice for talking with them too.
Your job is to learn about new things, and advise your client or your boss in the best way to achieve their business goals through your use of the available technology. You can only do that if you have learned about the new things. You can then advise them which compromises are worth making.
Oh, how I wished everyone approached building for the web the way that Rachel does. Smart, sensible, pragmatic, and exciting!
I heard nothing but good things about this talk from the Fronteers conference. There’s some great stuff in here—I really like its historical perspective.
Charlotte is a big fan of feature queries.
Eric walks through a really nice use of CSS shapes and @supports
on a page of the An Event Apart site.
It’s a nice little illustration of how we can use advanced features of CSS right now, without the usual wait for widespread support.
A thorough explanation of @supports
from Jen, with plenty of smart strategies for using it in your CSS today.