CSSKarma

Web Directions North – Vancouver (Day 1)

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In vancouver at WDN08. Just heard Jeffery Zeldman agree with me on how to get work done. I’m sitting in room 2 right now waiting for Derek Featherstone to talk about Real World Accessibility… should be good, will report back later.

DEREK FEATHERSTONE – REAL WORLD ACCESSIBILITY

• go beyond the section 508 checklist
• usability issues magnify with disabled users
• extra punctuation cases problems [keyword(s):]
• term “news” implies that there is an archive
• make sure things have a logical linear flow
• maintain action focus on a page change (different than a page refresh)

Google maps

• voice recognition grid for map clicking
• they use onClick div for map controls
• ironFeathers replaces this with a styled button element which is more accessible

———–

• Focus on task by user rather than for a software (jaws)
• “makes stuff work” rather than “make stuff work for this browser”
• everyone still uses baseCamp
• greasemonky is a good solution for individual user needs (js/css)

Proximity

• WAI:ARIA
• role=”alert”
• WAI:ARIA support is coming soon

Sitting in a talk by Tara Hunt right now. about how Web2.0 is more about the people than the technology. Not sure how many notes I can get from this, but so far it’s a good talk.

TARA HUNT – GOVERNMENT 2.0

• TransitCamp [people wanting to improve transit websites]
• people “demanding” the web applications [ex. California wildfire google map/flickr tracking photos]
• fixMyStreet (uk)
• web mashups to create web 2.0 apps that people want
• “fair copyright for canada” Facebook group stopped legislation
• library of congress flickr account

How to encourage collaboration

1. release an API – make data available
2. publish everything openly (mockup designs to flickr)
3. be available for comments/questions
4. embrace the chaos – don’t be afraid to fail
5. reward contributors
6. show progress
7. take small, simple steps [not shocking to the user and easier to reverse]
8. reach out to people from different backgrounds
9. view the public as a partner, not a recipient
10. run real, open, betas [let people know its a beta and that you want feedback]

Government 2.0 = trust

• http://www.slideshare.net/missrouge
• http://www.horsepigcow.com

JONATHAN SNOOK – AJAX FRAMEWORKS

• Frameworks in 3 layers
• DOM
• Application conventions (call to the server)
• widgets (ex. lightbox)

Popular frameworks

1. Prototype -> for data heavy stuff
2. jquery -> heavy DOM work
3. Extjs -> application widgets
4. script.aculo.us -> animation
5. MooTools -> a little bit of everything
6. YUI -> a lot of everything
7. Dojo -> application widgets

JARED SPOOL – INTUITIVE DESIGN

• Designs don’t intuit anything, they just sit there
• intuitive is personal
• what users currently know based on past experiences
• we are constantly using language our users don’t understand
• intuitive design in evolutionary
• current knowledge is what the user knows
• target knowledge is what users need to know to complete a given task
• The “gap” is the area between current and target knowledge, this is where design happens [trying to bridge the "gap"]
• a wizard MUST be in the gap
• hide complexity by upgrading in smaller steps
• reducing target knowledge is necessary to make design seem intuitive
• www.uie.com/brainsparks
• Making things easy to discover
• “exploratory discoverability” – finding stuff as you go
• give clues – lack of clues prevents productivity

GINA TRAPINI – BETTER GMAIL

• greasemonky for JS
• stylish for CSS
• remember the milk in GMail
• diveintogreasemonky.org
• http://ginatrapini.org/workshop/firefox

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