September 17, 2009
This is the third post (of three) discussing the topic of Ajax. If you haven’t already done so, you might want to go back and read Part 1 (general introduction, definitions, and history) and Part 2 (development sandbox with examples). Now that I’ve covered the basics of Ajax and implemented some demos, I’d like to address the issue of Ajax accessibility. Does the use of Ajax necessarily exclude people with disabilities? Does Ajax cause a roadblock for search engines (search engine optimization) and mobile devices? Are there ways to improve the accessibility of Ajax and JavaScript-enhanced websites?
As I’m writing this, I’m wondering what kinds of accessibility concerns there are in the sandbox demos I included in Part 2 of this series. Did you notice some issues as you were trying out the demos? Perhaps I’ll have to put them to the test in a more formal manner… but that’s a task for another day (and another blog post). In this post I’d like to discuss some general accessibility issues and possible solutions that are available to web developers today. It’s by no means an exhaustive list or a definitive hands-on guide, but hopefully it’s a good starting point for further research.
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Categories: Accessibility, Ajax/Scripting, Resources, Web Standards
September 13, 2009
This is the second post (of three) discussing the topic of Ajax. In case you haven’t already done so, you might want to read Part 1. It’s not essential, but it will provide some general context and a roadmap of the three blog posts.
Now that I’ve covered the basics about what Ajax is and is not, I’d like to spend some time playing around with some actual Ajax code. I’ll go ahead and say up front that there’s not much original here. I’m not professing to be an expert Ajax programmer (or hard-core JavaScript programmer, for that matter). Using a home improvement analogy, I’m not trying to build my own hammer, screwdriver, or copper tubing from scratch; I’m holding the tools in my own hands and trying them out to see what each can do. In other words, I’m exploring the use of readily available Ajax and other JavaScript components in my own server environment.
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Categories: Ajax/Scripting, Resources, Web Standards
August 29, 2009
Lately I’ve noticed a huge variance in the usage of the term Ajax. So I’ve decided to take some time to explore the topic and share my findings in a few blog posts. In this first post, I’d like to share some info from the original blog post that defined and popularized the new interaction design approach. I’ll include some historical details, various definitions, and even a few technical bits and pieces thrown in for good measure.
In the next post, I’m going to create a development sandbox to jump in and have fun implementing some popular examples in a controlled environment. I’m hoping to create a repository for my own future use as well as document competency in this area of web development. I’m not planning to reinvent the wheel here… there are a ton of great resources already available. I’m going to poke around and see what’s out there and then put together my own simple demos. Admittedly, some of the demos will be true Ajax (according to the original definition) and some will follow the more general purpose definition which I’ll call “animation effects” created with a combination of JavaScript, CSS, and other technologies. There are some great JavaScript frameworks, such as jQuery, Prototype, YUI, and Dojo, that dramatically simplify Ajax (and pseudo-Ajax) development. I’ll include a variety of examples using some of those frameworks as well.
In the last post, I’d like to explore the topic of Ajax accessibility. Is it true that Ajax creates websites that can’t be accessed by people with disabilities? Does Ajax hurt your website’s search engine ranking? Can Ajax be implemented in an accessible way? I’m not completely sure, but I’m hoping to find out! The Web Accessibility Initiative has created a development suite called Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) to help with accessible Ajax solutions. I’m really excited about ARIA’s possibilities, so I’ll spend some time exploring it as well.
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Categories: Accessibility, Ajax/Scripting, Resources, Web Standards
July 27, 2009
I’ve been working on a site that requires both English and Spanish content. The user interface elements, such as the primary navigation, copyright statement, and form labels, need to be bilingual as well. The client needs the ability to update all of the content (and write new blog entries) themselves, so early on I decided to use WordPress. I’d read that WordPress can handle multilingual sites, but I wasn’t clear on how that worked exactly. Also, I don’t speak Spanish – which means I can’t provide my own translations – so I needed a solution for that as well. I considered using something like Google’s Language Tools for little things like labels, but I’ve always been suspicious about whether I’m using the preferred form of translated bits of text like “Search” and “Older Entries” and many others.
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Categories: Accessibility, Multilingual, Resources, Web Standards, WordPress
July 4, 2009
I’ve been using WordPress for a little over a year now. Like most people, I’ve always thought of it as a simple blogging system… and that’s about it. It works really great for blogs (like this one), but a few months ago I used it to build a job listings site for one of my clients. Ever since that time I looked for additional creative uses for WordPress. Recently, I’ve been exploring the idea of using WordPress as a general purpose content management system (CMS). I’ve done a bunch of research, reading, and experimenting over the past few months. In this post I’d like to document some of my findings: sites of interest, handy documentation bookmarks, useful plugins, etc.
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Categories: Multilingual, Resources, WordPress
May 27, 2009
A few years ago I created a post titled Web Standards Resources. I wanted to create a list of sites, books, and blogs that were useful for me as a front-end developer. Recently I’ve decided to create a similar list of UI components that I refer back to time and again. Mainly, I’m wanting to create a list for myself for later reference. Hopefully you’ll find some of these useful in your own projects.
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Categories: Accessibility, Resources, Web Standards
January 16, 2007
I’ve been looking for a better way to display the large images in the Photography section as well as the screen shots in the Websites section. I finally found one that I’m happy with. It’s called Lightbox JS v2.0 by Lokesh Dhakar, available for free download. On the site it’s described as “a simple, unobtrusive script used to overlay images on the current page. It’s a snap to setup and works on all modern browsers.” I’d have to agree on all accounts… it’s pretty impressive. If JavaScript is not available, the link simply points to the large image itself. You can also group several images in a single window. The user clicks the left or right side of the large image in order to view the next or previous in the set. I’m using it on several of the pages in the Photography section, such as Australia, Studio, and Greece. I’m also using it on the “View Large” link just below the screen shot thumbnails on the Websites page.
Categories: Accessibility, Resources, Web Standards
September 4, 2005
There have been many online resources that I’ve found extremely valuable over the past couple of years of learning about Web standards development. I thought I’d take some time and share them—with you and with myself for later reference.
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Categories: Resources, Web Standards
