Archive for the ‘accessibility (a11y)’ Category
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/09/19
In a German thread, Kristian Köhntopp perfectly explained why I too always use light mode, so I put the English translations here:
- Dark mode is a strain on the eyes and useless.
- Specific: In darkness (and in dark mode) your pupils widen, the diaphragm opens. This reduces the depth of field and the eye muscles have to do more work and precision when focusing.
- Conversely, with light and a bright background you have a smaller pupil, a small aperture and more depth of field. This means that everything is automatically sharp, even if the eye has not readjusted.
The German thread:
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Posted in accessibility (a11y), Conference Topics, Conferences, Development, Event, LifeHacker, User Experience (ux) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/04/15
The problem with error messages is that they just displays errors as a fact without providing the user of future steps.
Offer them with a helpful, actionable message instead.
Not just for people with a visual impairment, I added readable text to the image below.
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Posted in accessibility (a11y), Conference Topics, Conferences, Development, Event, Software Development, Usability, User Experience (ux) | Tagged: HelpMessages | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/04/07
A while ago, I wrote two threads (one in English and one in Dutch) about using the Twitter Alt-badge to make pictures in tweets more accessible.
The English one had the correct quote, but a wrong link which I corrected below (we want editable tweets!).
Two bots that I mention in reply-Tweets usually helps to rudimentary restore the text:
@get_altText @AltTextUtil OCR
in the first Tweet and to the reply that @AltTextUtil gives, I respond with another
@get_altText
Here are the two threads:
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Posted in accessibility (a11y), Development, Power User, SocialMedia, Twitter, TwitterBot | Tagged: a11y, inclusion, inclusive | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/03/05
I originally searched for the tables below to see if I could get the visualisations of TeX and LaTeX right for infinite loop in “LaTeX: A Document Preparation System” by Leslie Lamport, printed in 1994..
Didn’t work, neither did using plain html super and subscript. The only thing that worked was using CSS styles (I chose to embed them, as separate CSS files are a huge premium over the WordPress plan), which also preserves actual meaning for screen readers:
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Posted in accessibility (a11y), CSS, Development, HTML, Power User, Software Development, Unicode, URL Encoding, User Experience (ux), Web Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/02/11
A lot of forum software (not just on retro computing or history) embed image smileys in their messages translated from text-smileys.
It seems they missed that a lot of them have made their way into Unicode, making it not just easier to display but also a lot easier for visually impaired.
So, please software developers, use the Unicode characters whenever possible.
Here is a good start
--jeroen
Posted in accessibility (a11y), Awareness, Development, Inclusion / inclusive society, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2024/10/15
[Wayback/Archive] Accessibility Myths has great debunks.
Quite a few of them are phrased with a web perspective in mind. That’s just because of prevalence. These myths are there on native platforms (mobile, Windows, MacOS and Linux) as well and can be debunked in the same way.
Similar myths are even there for real life: accessibility of buildings, signage, streets, you name it are just that and can be debunked with common sense.
An inclusive society actually is cheaper than a exclusive one, as it benefits everyone. The same holds for your software.
Related: [Wayback/Archive] Learn Accessibility | web.dev
Via:
- [Wayback/Archive] Accessibility Awareness on X: “When you make the pitch for accessibility, be prepared for pushback. There are several myths and misconceptions, so it’s good to be aware of what they are and how to dispel them.”
- [Wayback/Archive] Accessibility Awareness on X: “”Learn Accessibility” is a course that takes you through the essentials for building accessible websites and web apps. Created for both beginners and advanced users, this course can be taken beginning to end, or used as a reference for specific topics.”
--jeroen
Posted in accessibility (a11y), Awareness, Development, Hardware Development, Inclusion / inclusive society, Power User, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2024/03/19
I wish Wordle would be more accessible, but alas after all this time it still isn’t.
Luckily there is [Wayback/Archive] wa11y.co: Wordle Accessibility
At the end of your Wordle game, click “Share” to copy your result then paste it below to generate descriptive text.
It is open source on GitHub at [Wayback/Archive] cariad/wa11y.co: Makes Wordle results accessible. (most of it is written in JavaScript)
I first bumped into it via:
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Posted in accessibility (a11y), Development, JavaScript/ECMAScript, Scripting, Software Development, Web Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2024/02/14
As an alt-text advocate, I appreciate [Wayback/Archive] Thomas 🔭✨: “The same people who say it’s t…” – Hachyderm.io
The same people who say it’s too hard to write alt text are now suddenly “prompt engineers” who literally write alt text to generate images.
#inclusion #a11y #accessibility
In case you missed it, this is indeed a thing: Prompt engineer – Wikipedia.
--jeroen
Posted in accessibility (a11y), AI and ML; Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, ChatGPT, Development, GPT-3, HTML, Power User, SocialMedia, Software Development, Web Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/06/20
Een ontzettend belangrijke podcast is [Wayback/Archive] All the Cyber Ladies – PodcastFeed
Een podcast voor, door en over vrouwen in cybersecurity.
Ik mis geregeld de periode van 30-35 jaar terug waarin IT-teams vaak “gewoon” uit 25% vrouwen bestonden. Gemêleerde teams zijn van onschatbare waarde voor goed functionerende IT, niet alleen vanuit oogpunt van #a11y en #inclusie: ook voor information security.
De tijd maakt inmiddels gelukkig een inhaalslag: er komen steeds meer vrouwen in de IT en je merkt gestaag dat teams diverser worden. All the Cyber Ladies draagt eraan bij dat proces binnen information security verder te versnellen.
De podcast is begin juni dit jaar van start gegaan en heeft nu al een trouwe schare volgers die hopelijk verder groeit naarmate Google deze hoger in de zoek-index opneemt.
Uiteraard is er ook een [Wayback/Archive] All the Cyber Ladies – PodcastFeed RSS zodat je die aan je eigen Podcast Player kunt toevoegen (en vaak staat die er al zoals bijvoorbeeld bij [Wayback/Archive] Player.FM: All The Cyber Ladies podcast)
Via [Wayback/Archive] Lucinda on Twitter: “@jpluimers Zeker!! Je kan de podcast in veel andere players vinden. https://t.co/ksUB8Hd7e4” / Twitter.
–jeroen
Posted in accessibility (a11y), Awareness, Cyber, Development, Inclusion / inclusive society, Infosec (Information Security), Power User, Security, SocialMedia | Leave a Comment »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 