Web Standards, Accessibility and Other Stuff

I posted a blog entry on the Refresh Detroit site for a new book coming, HTML Mastery:

New Book Coming “HTML Mastery�

The Office 2.0 Experiment article on Vitamin really got me thinking about how business and technology is changing, particularly open-source technology and web applications. It’s so cool how anyone can easily and very inexpensively create an online office with all the required services. The list of tools in the Vitamin article is good, but here’s some that I recommend, all of which are FREE:

• OpenOffice - Open source office suite. Can open, edit, and save MS Office files.
• Nvu - Web authoring application, XHTML editor. I feel the best of its kind.
• CutePDF - Create PDFs online. Nuff said.
• W3C Schools - Training on all aspects of web development. Very good tutorials, quizzes, etc.
• GMail - Great email and calendar service.
• Google Docs & Spreadsheets - Create office documents and collaborate with others online.
• K7 - Fax and Voicemail.
• Box - 1GB of free file storage. Pay small amount for 5GB.

Went to Chicago over the weekend. The trip was half business, half pleasure. It was good to visit the windy city again; it’s been about a decade since I’ve last been there. You can view pictures of my Chicago trip on Flickr. Here’s a summary of the trip:

• Went to a cool jazz/blues club called Andy’s Jazz Club.
• Ate at a trendy Thai/French restaurant called VTK (Vong’s Thai Kitchen). Also drank a Tiger and a Sapporo!
• Saw some of the financial district which was pretty neat.
• Paid a whopping flat parking fee of $22 at the Navy Pier, ugh!
• There are Starbucks everywhere which is great, but can get expensive!
• Went to the Apple store on Michigan Ave.
• Watched the Michigan-Ohio State football game at the ESPN Zone sports bar.
• Traffic wasn’t bad except a major detour for some construction on I-94 on the way there.
• The Sears Tower is 1,450 feet (443 meters) high–1,730 feet (520 meters) including twin antenna towers.

Yesterday, Ross Johnson and I attended the Fourth Annual Usability and Accessibility Event on World Usability Day, (November 14) at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

We each got a late start to the day as I slept through my alarm and Ross got stuck in traffic. It was dark and rainy morning, but we arrived at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in Lansing just in time. The morning was spit into two sessions and the afternoon was a string of several diverse topics. The break was excellent as pumpkin pie was provided! It also a good opportunity to meet few more usability professionals.

I had an iRiver MP3 device with me, and did some short interviews with folks (funny how a couple people did not want to be recorded). A podcast following the day’s events will be released on Web Axe next week. I suspect it will be very entertaining!

Update 11/21:
The Web Axe podcast on the Usability Event is now posted.

Check out the Declaration of Standards Compliance from ptvGuy. It’s a very unique, entertaining, and valid perspective on using web standards. Play the audio right off the page, and/or read the content. (The humor is more evident if you’re familiar with the verbiage of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.) Also, Ross Johnson and I will be interviewing ptvGuy sometime soon for the Web Axe podcast.

So my team Michigan, ranked #2, won its football game this past Saturday. But the old maize ‘n’ blue won just barely to Ball State, a team that was an underdog by over 30 points! And U of M’s nemesis Ohio State, ranked #1, also won in a close game. I know both teams played under their ability, so my question is: do they deserve to keep their rankings?

OSU received all votes for #1 both in the AP and USA Today polls, even thought they played relatively poorly, and there are other undefeated teams in the country ranked lower, such as the Louisville Cardinals and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (yes, Rutgers!). Louisville (#3) and Rutgers (#15) are also undefeated, but have much more momentum at this point of the season.

Shouldn’t Louisville and Rutgers be ranked higher? Do Michigan and Ohio State deserve to be #1 and #2? Let’s hope U of M and OSU are just saving their best for their annual season-ending meeting, this year bigger than ever! Go blue!

Rutgers #1?

Ross Johnson and I recently interviewed Patrick H. Lauke, the webmaster at University of Salford (UK). He is a vital member of Accessify.com and a member of the Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force (ATF). He is also a co-author of the book Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance.

The interview was scheduled for 11am, but with the change of daylight savings time and time zones, there was a slight mix-up. So we ended up starting early, at about 10:30am, which was fortunate since we ended up speaking longer than planned. Every minute was valuable as Patrick is very knowledgeable in the web standards and accessibility world, and has a very pleasant demeanor. (It seems most of these guys live and work in the UK!)

The Patrick H. Lauke Interview on Web Axe