post-next -Ted Drake’s sketchbook

The golden boys and girls of the Museum web site community have put together a new blog to share inside information on what it takes to present a collection online. MuseMatic is a co-ordinated effort between the Museum Computer Network and the American Association of Museum’s Media and Technology Committee. While the design of the blog won’t impress the standardista community, the informaton within should.

Museums and other non-profits have an amazing collection of misfits, psychopaths, and egotistical maniacs. But once you get beyond the marketing departments, you’ll find people who love what they do and have an earnest desire to share their collections, art, history, and culture with anyone and everyone. Museums have been leading the drive towards accessibility, online interactions, user generated content, and doing so with the tiniest of budgets.

So step behind the scenes. Go past the paintings, the skeletons, and the gift shops. Share the lessons learned by some of the largest (Getty) and smallest museums around the world.

I will be speaking at the Front End Engineering summit tomorrow with Nate K at Yahoo!. First off, it’s still amazing to me that I just wrote that sentence. If someone told me a year ago that I would not only be working at Yahoo, but also speaking in front of other engineers, I’d.. I’d… I don’t know what I would have thought.

We will be discussing how accessibility is tied to semantic markup in standards-based web design. It’s an obvious connection for me. Accessibility is about offering information to everyone. Semantic markup displays information in the best possible way. One doesn’t support the other, they are the same.

I will be showing some examples of UFO flash detection, using table headers, what’s involved in building an accessible form, and how to use CSS to offer great content and visual design at the same time.

This post is just a tease. I’ll write some posts about the concepts I’ve covered but can’t show the examples until we launch. It’ll be worth the wait… I promise.

The National Federation of the Blind has filed a suit against Target stores. The Target web site fails not only basic accessibility issues, i.e. alt attributes, but also uses outdated JavaScript navigation and form actions that make it impossible for people using assistive devices to download internet-exclusive coupons and access the online pharmacy.

The NFB actually gave Target 10 months to make adjustments to their site before filing the law suit. Unfortunately, big business seems to need these shots in the arm to move in the right direction.

History of lawsuit-activated advancements

The Australian Olympic site was sued for making ticket purchases impossible online to the blind. New York sued several travel sites for their inaccessible sites. Now Target is the new “target” and perhaps this will be the straw that breaks the hobbled camel’s back.

Just Do It

It all goes back to being more than a “web designer” and thinking about how your site is going to be used by the public. Are you doing something because it “looks cool”, “is quicker”, or “is how it’s always been done”? Or are you doing something because it adds intrinsic value, better performance, expands the audience, assists the user, makes it more intuitive, …

When I add something to a web page, whether it is a link, list, table, or paragraph, I think about how it is going to be used.

Should I put a title on the link? Is the text descriptive enough? Is the list or paragraph the most appropriate structural element? Should the table have a summary? Should I use headers=”" or will scope=”col” be enough?

Ok everyone. If you are ready to enter the high-falootin’ lifestyle of the standards-based web developer, let me know. I know a few places in California looking for qualified programmers.

Filling the Vacuum

Other standardistas have been talking about the new web professionals, those who know how to create valid, accessible web sites. And those who are no longer true pros (who still use tables and invalid markup). What they are not discussing is the vacuum being left behind by the early-adopters. Let’s take me for example, as I always do enjoy the subject.

The Ted Factor

I have created a number of site conversions over the past 2 years. I’ve also moved up and up from job to job. I’d finish a conversion, move to the next, finish that, move to the next, etc… But who ends up maintaining these sites? That is the problem some companies are facing today. You hire someone that builds a standards-based web site and then gets tapped on the shoulder by a bigger company. Now the smaller company needs to hire someone that can work with this new creature.

I got an email today from a former employer. They need someone in San Diego who is ready to work. Sundance Kid and I made huge changes to their sites and now they need someone that knows how to continue the work without us. Another former employer has been searching for a web developer for over a year. What do they do? Hire a table hacker that will revert the pages back to tag soup?

Witness the Disney store makeover in Europe. They went from an accessible, standards-based design to a crappy mess. Why? Possibly it was due to lack of understanding. Perhaps they had nobody that could extend it and they felt more comfortable with the old cut-up images.

Education, Education, Education, Education…

As standards-based web developers, we need to educate others. Take someone under your wing and show them how to use CSS, DOM, or what it means to validate. Don’t hold it in. Be kind to your fellow workers and employers. If they are not recognizing your abilities, look around. Jobs are out there!

So, this post has rambled enough. If you are a standards-based developer. Leave a comment, I’ll respond with information on who to contact. Heck, leave a small resume and perhaps someone else will see this and contact you as well. The jobs I know of are in Southern California, but I do have certain connections to a very large company in Silicon Valley that is looking for quality developers.