Furthermore the pirate bay case according to almost every legal analysis is non-existent. They didn't even have any copyrighted material on their server - just torrent links - which is not against Swedish law.
True. However, aiding someone in copyright infringement is also a crime and this is probably easier to prove in the Piratebay case.
Using valid (X)HTML is no guarantee for accessibility. Worse is that they are mising some basic features in their search page that would have made it more accessible. Run it through BACC - the basic accesibility analyzer to see some errors.
The standards debate is often run by technical people who tend to focus on the actual standard instead of the end result. More discussion on what standards actually help you achieve is always welcome and should help get the point across.
It is often said that a market leader in one niche has no interest in adhering to standards. This may be true (as it will help keep competitors out of your market share). This is why legislation has to make sure that standards are enforced. With such legislation competition and innovation continues. Without such legislation customers will end up in vendor lock-in and innovation will be insignificant and more of a "marketing thing" to keep customers happy.
I wonder when Google will change their HTML to be compliant with the W3C recommendations? It is amazing that they are so far behind other companies with regard to markup quality.
I believe that following these and other specifications would make life much better for all users. These guidelines will make sure your software works with most assistive technologies as well.
There are also a lot of open source developer tools to help you test your applications. E.g.:
It seems to me that you have to draw the line someplace.
A common mistake is to treat disabled users as a separate group. In fact, disability is something that affects most people at some time in their life and disabled users (with varying disability) will exist in all target groups you can come up with for your OSS project.
Instead, focus on standardization. In this way you will enable assistive technologies such as screen readers, magnifiers and braille displays to make the most out of your application.
A few hints:
If your OSS project is as web app, use the W3C specifications for HTML, test your app with the W3C validator and learn about basic semantic markup. This goes for all you Wordpress template creators out there as well.
If you project is a Windows app, make sure it is compatible with Microsoft Active Accessibility Api.
In general, follow the GUI guidelines or the environment your application is supposed to be used in.
I have been participating in the development of the web guidelines for Sweden's public sector. In that document we recommend using a specific set of access keys (of which most are numeric) to make the user experience consistent between sites.
Using numeric access keys reduce potential conflicts with other access keys in the browser.
Re:GIMP is becoming a real threat for Photoshop
on
First Look at GIMP 2.4
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· Score: 4, Funny
I think GIMP will become a real threat to Photoshop in the near future.
I think GIMP will become a threat to Photoshop when the following has happened:
...Adobe fire the all usability and QA people working with PS.
...Adobe outsource a complete rewrite of the PS UI to a bunch of crack-smoking monkeys who decide that "every UI component should just float".
...Adobe spam internet designer communities with false "switcher" posts who describe how they after 10 minutes managed to move to Product B for all of their "graphics needs".
Before you jump on the AJAX bandwagon you should make sure you use it correctly. Using it correctly means augmenting your application with AJAX until assistve devices have caught up with AJAX/based apps.
RSS 1.0 is also the only syndication format endorsed by the World Wide Web consortium.
RSS 0.9 and 2.0 were created at the companies Netscape and Userland.
As you may already know MS is a chronic automimmune disorder where your body attacks the protective sheath around nerve cells causing them to degrade slowly over time. It is not yet curable. This type of damage is smaller than if your spinal cord was ripped apart in an accident and thus it may be easier to repair.
If this therapy proves to be useful in MS it will help a large number of people and save billions for countries.
That is when screen readers start making use of the semantic information in the "strong" element. Right now a lot of the semantic markup is wasted. But, you have designed your web site for the future.
It's because the UK is really close to the US:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=50.625000,-51.533 192&spn=57.250000,119.552956&hl=en
Maps don't lie!
Re:We Need an Intergalactic Fleet of dildos
on
How To Talk To Aliens
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· Score: 2, Funny
They will want to trade with us if we have heavy firepower. It's a status thing, really.
What evidence is there that Aliens regard firepower as something important? Maybe the aliens fear a giant intergalactic dildo more? To be on the safe side we should do both and put them in orbit immediately.
This is true for a lot of open source software. Developers often ignore the need for more advanced management of applications. A lot of companies will not touch software unless installation and configuration can be managed properly.
I believe that it is quite easy to add this type of support to a lot of open source software. A simple thing like creating an MSI-package for your application will often help deployment a lot.
Maybe all that is missing is a few decent tutorials on packaging and AD integration to get open source software into corporate IT-environments?
Seriously, how many people need stuff in Office that isn't in OpenOffice.org?
Well, most corporations need the following:
Ability to control installed features from a central location in an easy way (e.g. policy management in AD).
Office suite integration with document management systems
Accessibility support in screen reader software
Comparisons between OpenOffice and MS Office always focus on end user functionality. There are many features in Office that help administrators. Switching to OO isn't only about formatting text and printing pages.
Terminal users is probably a minor problem (sorry). A bigger problem is all users that can not see the image or have english as a second language. The accessibility of this CAPTCHA is poor.
Slashdot Mirror
Using valid (X)HTML is no guarantee for accessibility. Worse is that they are mising some basic features in their search page that would have made it more accessible. Run it through BACC - the basic accesibility analyzer to see some errors.
Running their search interface through the Ruby Accessibility Analysis Kit (http://peterkrantz.com/bacc/) yields more errors:
missing language info, missing headings, using markup not compatible with semantics.
I wonder when Google will change their HTML to be compliant with the W3C recommendations? It is amazing that they are so far behind other companies with regard to markup quality.
Guidelines exist for software as well but are rarely used for some reason. A few examples that would help all users:
I believe that following these and other specifications would make life much better for all users. These guidelines will make sure your software works with most assistive technologies as well.
There are also a lot of open source developer tools to help you test your applications. E.g.:
If the MacBook Pro allows dual boot of Windows XP/OSX I predict a major sucess! Who will be the first to report of a successful boot of Windows XP?
Maybe that is a FF Linux/Windows thing? I am using FF 1.5 on Windows XP and the help file says "Select Tab (1 to 9) Ctrl+(1 to 9)".
The default keys to switch tab focus in Firefox is Ctrl+number.
I have been participating in the development of the web guidelines for Sweden's public sector. In that document we recommend using a specific set of access keys (of which most are numeric) to make the user experience consistent between sites.
Using numeric access keys reduce potential conflicts with other access keys in the browser.
More on AJAX and accessibility can be found here: AJAX and Accessibility.
RSS 1.0 is also the only syndication format endorsed by the World Wide Web consortium. RSS 0.9 and 2.0 were created at the companies Netscape and Userland.
It is great news as it also may have implications for the large number of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients.
As you may already know MS is a chronic automimmune disorder where your body attacks the protective sheath around nerve cells causing them to degrade slowly over time. It is not yet curable. This type of damage is smaller than if your spinal cord was ripped apart in an accident and thus it may be easier to repair.
If this therapy proves to be useful in MS it will help a large number of people and save billions for countries.
Today I am that randomly selected dude and I choose to mod you "-1 Offtopic". I have a bad hair day.
That is when screen readers start making use of the semantic information in the "strong" element. Right now a lot of the semantic markup is wasted. But, you have designed your web site for the future.
GDS also has a plugin architecture with a lot of documentation. Check out http://desktop.google.com/plugins.html for a lot of plugins.
GDS so far has been extremely fast at indexing new files. It even indexes Outlook email.
It's because the UK is really close to the US: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ll=50.625000,-51.533 192&spn=57.250000,119.552956&hl=en
Maps don't lie!
What evidence is there that Aliens regard firepower as something important? Maybe the aliens fear a giant intergalactic dildo more? To be on the safe side we should do both and put them in orbit immediately.
This is true for a lot of open source software. Developers often ignore the need for more advanced management of applications. A lot of companies will not touch software unless installation and configuration can be managed properly.
I believe that it is quite easy to add this type of support to a lot of open source software. A simple thing like creating an MSI-package for your application will often help deployment a lot.
Maybe all that is missing is a few decent tutorials on packaging and AD integration to get open source software into corporate IT-environments?
Dare I say - a waist of money!
My waist is mostly made up of fat. I would be happy if it was made of money. I could have used the money to buy a good PHP book.
Well, most corporations need the following:
- Ability to control installed features from a central location in an easy way (e.g. policy management in AD).
- Office suite integration with document management systems
- Accessibility support in screen reader software
Comparisons between OpenOffice and MS Office always focus on end user functionality. There are many features in Office that help administrators. Switching to OO isn't only about formatting text and printing pages.I wrote an article (and some code) a while ago about a proposal for an accessible CAPTCHA that combines audio and visual information.
Also, having e-mail bouncing and then having to take manual action again seems tedious.