Web Standards, Accessibility and Other Stuff

So I’ve been in the Bay area (south of San Francisco, California, a.k.a. Silicon Valley) for almost two weeks now. It’s pretty awesome, and I’m discovering some interesting things about the difference between living here and in the midwest–some bad, some good.

• Motorcycles can legally ride between lanes/cars in California. Personally, I think this is pretty stupid.
• To rent a house in this area, move fast! Use Craig’s List. And be ready to get a cashier’s check. And it’s very expensive of course.
• Garbage/recycling pickup is treated as an extra utility, you pay monthly to the city. This is pretty silly; it should just be included with property taxes like other places.
• Wireless internet at Starbucks in Mountain View is free–because wireless internet is free in the whole city! Thanks to Google.
• The cost of living is obviously higher here than most American cities, but gasoline prices are relatively not too bad.
• The weather’s real nice as expected. Temperatures are not too hot in the day; pretty cool at night. But the sun is much stronger than I thought. I’ll have to get my car windows tinted, man.
• There’s no White Castle!
• Cruising along the coast is as fun and beautiful as I’d hoped. Santa Cruz is especially cool.

When I first used Gmail (Google’s free email service), it was a little awkward at first because the logic behind it is different than all other mail applications…and it’s brilliant. It’s based on email conversations. Email messages are groups into a conversation; this makes your email much better organized and much easier to scan. Seems simple, but it is quite unique, and it’s executed well. The AJAX is smooth and make tasks much easier. There are also a nice Contacts feature and a built in text-messenger (Google Talk).

Google’s other fine products and services makes it a fine choice for online tasks including Google Calendar, Documents and Spreadsheets, and Groups. I find Google’s web applications easier to use, faster, and just slicker than most other similar apps. Google Docs are really cool because not only can you edit docs and (simple) spreadsheets online, but you can collaborate with other people.

Yahoo! made a good effort in the new version of Yahoo! Mail, but falls short in load speed and overall performance.

And unless you pay, you get bombarded with advertising in Yahoo! Mail. MSN mail isn’t much better. And staying away from Microsoft applications is usually a good idea. Ads are much less bothersome in Gmail, in fact, I hardly notice it at all as they are subtle text ads, not big, blaring, graphical ads. The Google ads are also relevant to the content of the email, which can actually be helpful sometimes.

Yesterday was a fun day. It was Cinco de Mayo, and my wife and I got away from the kids and had a great Tex-Mex meal at Don Pablo’s. Of course, had to wash it down with a Corona and a Margarita on the rocks. But more importantly, the Detroit sports teams all won! All games were at home.
The Detroit Pistons won big over the Chicago Bulls in the first game of the second round of the NBA playoffs. Take that, Ben Wallace!

The Detroit Red Wings won pretty convincingly over the tough San Jose sharks in the NHL playoffs. Not a huge hockey fan, but will always watch the Wings when I can.

The Detroit Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals. Gotta get to the very nice Comerica Park before I leave for California. Damn Comerica. They put their name on the nice baseball stadium downtown, and now I hear they’re leave the city…

So, I’ve decided to take a major step and pursue a great job opportunity in California. It’ll be tough leaving family, but all in all, I believe it’s the best decision. My freelance web company, CheckEngine USA, will continue as normal.

The company I’ll be working for is Yodlee, in Redwood City. My title will be “Senior UI Developer”. In addition, I’ve been doing some freelance for Google, so it’ll be neat to be in the neighborhood (Google’s HQ “campus” is in nearby Mountain View).

As my story goes, I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, moved to Orlando for 7 years, and then moved back. I’ve been home now for nearly 3 years, and have got a lot accomplished in relatively little time, so it’s kind of a bummer to leave. In September 2005, I started Web Axe, a podcast on web accessibility, shortly after joining the Detroit Podcasters Network. Less than a year later, I co-founded Refresh-Detroit, an organization of web professionals, with Ross Johnson.

On a personal note, my wife and I have had two children since arriving back home, Carson and Justin. Also, my parents moved out of the home in which my brother and I were raised (in Dearborn, Michigan). They bought a nice condo in Northville where my mom has opened a shop nearby, Petite Maison.