Category: podcast

Podcast #97: Responsive Design and Accessibility

Dennis speaks with George Zamfir on his background, his activity in Toronto, and how Responsive Web Design (RWD) can benefit web accessibility. The conversation stems from George’s talk Responsive Web Design & Accessibility from the Accessibility Camp Toronto last fall. A notable quote from the 50-minute conversation:

Let go of fixed widths

George is a web accessibility consultant for Good W-ALLY (@good_wally) in Toronto, Canada. He and @Jennison co-host the Toronto Accessibility & Inclusive Design meetup.

As techniques for usability and accessibility have some cross-over, so do RWD and accessibility. Case in point, this recent article on Mashable, 6 Easy Ways to Make Your Website Tablet-Friendly. The main points of George’s presentation are that responsive web design:

  • is like a user’s custom stylesheet
  • adheres to web standards
  • thinks mobile first & uses progressive enhancement (PE)
  • caters to users’ needs

Download Web Axe Episode 97 (Responsive Design and Accessibility)

[transcript of podcast 97]

More reading

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Podcast #96: WordPress, Events

Dennis and Ross are back! It’s been a while since the last podcast, and the guys catch up on events, news, and lots of great things happening with accessibility on WordPress.

Download Web Axe Episode 96 (WordPress, Events)

[transcript of podcast 96]

New Song!

So besides a new website, there’s a new Web Axe theme song! The vocal track isn’t added yet, so this episode will have an instrumental version.

The original WebAxe Theme Music is composed and produced by Jeff Ensign a.k.a. Evolution Noise Slave. Check out his work at glafizya.com.

Goings On

News

WordPress

Links

Events

Podcast #95: Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Surveys, more

First, Dennis and Ross discuss a variety of topics including some current surveys and a couple articles about skip-to links. Then Dennis speaks with @JoeDevon and @Jennison about the inaugural Global Accessibility Awareness Day!

Download Web Axe Episode 95 (Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Surveys, more)

[Transcript of podcast 95]

Goings On

  • Ross’ book update.
  • Positive email response to Disability.gov critique.
  • Liz Ellcessor Ph.D. candidate in Media & Cultural Studies at U of Wisc interviews Dennis (Malware warning due to hosting issue).
  • New! a11yBuzz by @KarlGroves, an “accessibility body of knowledge”.
  • 2 updates (validation, open in other browsers) to Web Accessibility Toolbar 2012 by The Paciello Group.
  • Seeing more accessibility jobs in general lately. Hiring good web developers at PayPal in San Jose, San Francisco, Austin; contact @DennisL.

Surveys

Articles

Upcoming Events

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Podcast 94: Women of CSUN12

This podcast is a preview of the 27th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, commonly known as CSUN, February 27 thru March 3 in San Diego, California. If you’re not attending to the CSUN conference this year, this podcast is valuable in learning about current issues in web accessibility and “meeting” several great people in the field. If you are going, then you can also make a better decision in which sessions you want to attend.

First, Dennis and Jennison Asuncion (@Jennison) do an excellent overview of the conference (OK, mostly Jennison). Then several guests, all women, speak about their work, their sessions at CSUN, and some other fun thoughts. Four of the women live in the UK!

Download Web Axe Episode 94 (Women of CSUN12)

[Transcript of podcast 94]

Guests

More Related

Podcast 93: Teaching Mistakes

Dennis talks briefly about a couple of his recent presentations, a few other presentations and articles, and has a great conversation with Katherine Lynch.

Download Web Axe Episode 93 (Teaching Mistakes)

[Transcript of podcast 93]

Happenings

  • Busy new day job for Dennis at PayPal.
  • Two recent presentations by Dennis. Shout out to Norm Coombs of EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) and John Croston (@jfc3) for putting on the Accessibility DC meetup.

Articles

Discussion with Katherine Lynch.

Katherine Lynch who works for Drexel University Libraries in Philadelphia. Katherine is a Drupal and accessibility professional and has done many presentations and written many articles. Find her on Twitter at @katelynch. Dennis and Katherine discuss her recent article 5 Teaching Mistakes Accessibility Advocates Make:

  • We assume that others don’t know anything.
  • We assume that others know too much.
  • We get hung up on one cause of accessibility.
  • We try to convert people who don’t need converting.
  • We blame people for not already knowing.

Related Links