Web StandardsSpeaking Today’s Vernacular

Christian Bradford& Nathan Smith

“Not since Gutenberg invented the modern printing press more than 500 years ago, making books and scientific tomes affordable and widely available to the masses, has any new invention empowered individuals, and transformed access to information, as profoundly as Google.”

David ViseThe Google Story

“The purpose of the Godbit Project is to help the Church catch up with the rest of the world in adherence to Web Standards given by the World Wide Web Consortium, the governing body of best practices on the Internet.”

www.godbit.com/purpose

Godbit.com

• Dictionary.com: “Something considered by an authority or by general consent as a basis of comparison; an approved model.”

• Cohesive set of best practices governing web development; specifically focused on accessibility of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

• Championed by WebStandards.org

What are Web Standards?

WWII Poster American Standard

Web Standards are about ubiquitous computing. Code it once, run anywhere:

• Laptop

• Desktop

• Mobile Phone

• Blackberry

• even Wii!

St. Paul, Apostle:

“... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for t he s ake o f t he gospel, that I may share in its blessings.” ~ 1 Corinthians 9:22-23

Wittenberg, 95 Theses

Early Automobiles

Model T Ford Mercer Raceabout

InternetExplorer

MozillaFirefox

VS

Browser Wars 2.0

Esther in Hebrew Microsoft.com

Web Standards = A three legged stool:

• HTML• CSS• JavaScript

If any of these are built incorrectly, accessibility falls flat.

“The argument is that standards are bad, because somehow standardization will stifle innovation and creativity. I frankly can't see how that logic works. All communication media (other than the web) are rigorously standardized. Radio, Television, film, sound recording, all have strict technical standards.”

John AllsoppLead Dev - Westciv

• Bibleref - Bible Verses & Study

• hCard - People & Organizations

• hCalendar - Event Planning

• XFN - Social Networking

DTS Flash Player - English

http://www.dts.edu/online_ed/

DTS Flash Player - Chinese

http://www.dts.edu/chinese/

AaronScheidiesWorld ClassTriathlete

Aaron is a grad student, pursuing a Doctorate of Physical Therapy at the University of Washington.

He is a world record holder amongst Olympic distance triathletes.

Aaron was born with a juvenile form of macular degeneration called Stargardt’s disease. His vision is 20/400 vision, while people with full sight see 20/20.

Aaron is pictured here setting a world record with Ben Collins. They rode a tandem bicycle, ran and swam tethered. He finished in 01:58:08 at Dallas, TX on 10/14/07.

Accessibility - After the Fact

“Far from being something that is added to a site, accessibility is something we need to ensure isn’t removed. From that perspective, the phrase ‘making a site accessible’ isn’t accurate...”

“Accessibility is not a plug-in. It’s not something that can be bolted onto a site after the fact. So here’s what I’m proposing: From now on, instead of talking about making a site accessible, I’m going to talk about keeping a site accessible. Join me.”

Jeremy Keith - JS Expert

UMC.org - with Flash

UMC.org - no JS/Flash

• Impaired Mobility

• Impaired Vision

• Blindness

• Color Blindness

• Deafness

• Learning Disability

Accessibility Concerns

“Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?’”

~ Matthew 12:9-10

Pharisaic Attitude

“Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.”

~ Matthew 12:13-14

Jesus’ Attitude

“So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.”

~ Mark 2:2-4

Remove the Barriers

Don’t rely on red and green colors for criticalcontextual information. Always provide otherindicators of importance: shape, style, etc.

Blue underlined links exist for a reason.

Colorblindness

• CSS: Misuse of display: none;

• HTML: Lack of alt attributes.

• HTML: Mistakenly using all CAPS.

• HTML: Misuse of <table> for layout.

• HTML: Lack of <label> in forms.

• JavaScript: Mouse-specific events.

Common Accessibility Mistakes

“Do not tell people, or tell yourself, or even think that there’s something inherently wrong with pixel-based fonts. What there’s something inherently wrong with is Internet Explorer for Windows.” Joe Clark www.joeclark.org

Myth Busters

“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do: this I keep on doing.”

~ Romans 7:19

Get Past Bad Coding Habits

Time to Learn New Tricks

Silly programmers,tables are for data!

• Halwww.yourdolphin.com

• IBM Home Page Readerwww-306.ibm.com/able/solution_offerings/hpr.html

• JAWSwww.freedomscientific.com

• Window-Eyeswww.gwmicro.com

• ZoomTextwww.aisquared.com

Assistive Screen Technology

Accessibility Sites

• www.456bereastreet.com

• www.accessify.com

• www.clagnut.com

• www.diveintoaccessibility.org

• www.joeclark.com

• www.juicystudio.com

• www.afb.org

• www.nfb.org

• www.direct.gov.uk/DisabledPeople/fs/en

• http://egov.vic.gov.au

• www.section508.gov

• www.w3.org/WAI

• www.webstandards.org

Authoritative Sites

• jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator

• http://validator.w3.org

• www.jslint.com

• www.contentquality.com

• www.snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html

• www.vischeck.com

• wave.webaim.org

• webxact.watchfire.com

Online Validation Tools

• Fangs - JAWS Simulatorwww.sourceforge.net/projects/fangs

• Firebugwww.getfirebug.com

• Web Developeraddons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60

• Tidy HTML Validatoraddons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249

Firefox Extensions

Recommended Books

• Designing with Web StandardsISBN: 0321385551

• Web Standards SolutionsISBN: 1590593812

• Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory ComplianceISBN: 1590596382

• DOM ScriptingISBN: 1590595335

• AdvancED DOM ScriptingISBN: 1590598563

Recommended Books (cont.)

• HTML MasteryISBN: 1590597656

• CSS MasteryISBN: 1590596145

• Pro CSS and HTML Design PatternsISBN: 1590598040

• Pro JavaScript Design PatternsISBN: 159059908X

• Just Ask: Integrating AccessibilityThroughout DesignISBN: 1430319526

My Book“When I first discovered Textpattern in 2004, I was looking for a flexible CMS that could not only power my blog but also power my whole site, especially the portfolio. I keep trying other alternatives, but always come back to Textpattern.”

Jon Hicksdesigner, Firefox logohicksdesign.co.uk

ISBN: 1590598326

Got Questions?

• Christian BradfordInformation Architect - EMC.comchristian.bradford {at} gmail.com

• Nathan SmithInformation Architect - EMC.comnathan {at} sonspring.com