iheni :: making the web worldwide

Last week was one of those busy weeks which was all about conferences and meetups and not a moment of desk time inbetween.

Bruce Lawson does kewai

Molly Holzschlag and Espen André Øverdahl

We kicked off with an Opera BBQ on Wednesday followed by @Media, then rounded off with Standards.Next on Saturday. All in all it was a very HTML5 themed week  and thanks to a brilliant mix of people I learnt a lot and finally met some people who I’ve been chatting with over Twitter for some time now.

@Media

@Media rocked and ended on a high note with the announcement that Maxine Sherrin and John Allsopp would be taking over organisation of the event under the Web Directions monika. After so many rumours that 2009 was to be @Media’s last this was a more then welcome thing to hear. A hat tip and huge thank you to Patrick Griffiths’s for building @Media into what it is today.

Jason Santa Maria and Jon Hicks (avec a fetching tash) during the Hot Topics panel

Standards.Next

For me though the highlight of the week was the first ever Standards.Next meetup focusing on HTML5 - the big news so far to come out of 2009 (well at least I think so). We had roughly 60 people show up to help us chew the fat over HTML5, myths, canvass, APS’s, HTML5.js and accessibility. Thank you to all the speakers for making the event more than Bruce and I could have hoped for and also to everyone who showed up on what was a beautiful summer’s Saturday.

Below are a few links for those that didn’t make it and I’ll keep you updated as to when we post video of the event:

• Bruce Lawson - HTML 5: Are you mything the point? (.ods, 1.8 M), also on video. Yes you can start using some of HTML5 now, browser vendors aren’t evil, no HTML5 wont kill Flash, Silverlight and JavaScript and HTML5 does love accessibility (it’s just built in not bolted on).
• Dean Edwards - Dean presented his excellent html5.js library which will be available soon but you can get a sneak peek on video here. He demo’d implementations of Web Forms 2 that worked across browsers even adopting accessibility settings from the OS for some. An amazing piece of work.
• Remy Sharp - HTML5 JS API’s (PDF), demos and video. How JavaScript and HTML5 can play nicely together. With HTML5 taking care of the more mundane uses of JavaScript (date pickers and validation for example), JavaScript Ninja’s can now spend time on the more sophisticated stuff.
• Martin Kliehm - HTML5 and Canvas slides, links and video shorts. Martin is the go to man for canvas and presented some great research and use cases that go beyond shoot-em-out games and Etch-a-Sketch.
• Steve Faulkner - HTML5 accessibility. The Mighty Steve Faulkner talked about accessibility issues as well as the relationship of WAI-ARIA to HTML5.

Andreas Bovens, Steve Faulkner, Patrick Lauke, PPK and Bruce Lawson during the break

HTML5 Doctor

An extra bonus was the launch of HTML5 Doctor, a collaboration between Rich Clark (of HTML5 Gallery), Bruce Lawson, Jack Osborne, Mike Robinson, Remy Sharp and Tom Leadbetter.

Next for Standards.Next

Plans are yet to be firmed up but we’re looking at doing cognition and accessibility Saturday 19th of September just after Techshare. If you’re interested in speaking or coming a long check the standards.nextwebsite for updates, we’d love to have you come along.

Update 29 June, 2009: Big thank you to Remy who’s managed to video Bruce, Dean’s and his own talks:

• Bruce Lawson -HTML 5: Are you mything the point?.
• Dean Edwards - html5.js here. He demo’d implementations of Web Forms 2 that worked across browsers even adopting accessibility settings from the OS for some. An amazing piece of work.
• Remy Sharp - HTML5 JS API’s.

Tags: conference, html5, standards.next

Perhaps it’s the loss of Sam that makes this all the more pertinent but when Steve Lee Tweeted about software that allows you to manipulate a computer interface I sat up and listened.

I’ve tracked various developments in access tech for the severely paralysed for a while now looking at Brainfingers, the Brain Twitter Interface and even asking if there is something in Opera’s April Fool’s of Face Gestures (see from the sublime to the ridiculous and back again) but this is the most extreme piece of software I’ve come across.

Designed for sufferers of conditions such as locked-in syndrome - where the body is completely paralysed but the mind is absolutely fine - OpenVibe is s system where you can link a person to a computer interface and have them visually select letters on screen.

It’s a slow process but a release for someone who may have to rely on communicating by just blinking as French journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby had to after suffering locked-in syndrome when he woke up from a coma caused by a stroke. Together with a nurse who would show him letters he was able to write a memoir entitled The Diving Bell and the Butterfly explaining what goes through the mind of someone who is perfectly healthy but trapped in a body that wont respond.

Read more about OpenVibe and the video on BBC Click.

Tags: accessibility, brainfingers, OpenVibe

After a short sojourn here’s the best of the web from where I’m sitting this week:

Web inspiration:

• Skip links Chrome and Safari with added WAI-ARIA - Webkit wasn’t playing nicely but Liam McGee has tamed the beast with added WAI-ARIA for good measure. The shelf life of a skip link continues to hang in the balance.
• Accessibility and you - The latest installment from the Flame Haired Love God (aka Chris Heilmann).
• Standards.Next - Not long now, HTML5 deliciousness, controversies and pints, Saturday June 27th.

Pure inspiration:

• Postsecret - an art project of secrets and a must read every Sunday afternoon. I’m looking at it with fresh eyes right now
• Home -  Breathtaking look at the planet, where it’s come from and where it’s going.

For all you mobile standardistas out there the W3C is running an online training course An Introduction to W3C’s Mobile Web Best Practices, 1 June – 31 July 2009

Details, details…

W3C is running an extended and improved version of its online course to introduce Web developers and designers to its Mobile Web Best Practices.

In this course you will:
* learn about the specific promises and challenges of the mobile
platform;
* learn how to use W3C’s Mobile Web Best Practices to design mobile-friendly Web content and to adapt existing content for mobile;
* discover the relevant W3C resources for mobile Web design.

As a participant, you will have access to lectures and assignments that provide hands-on practical experience of using W3C’s mobile Web Best Practices. You will have direct access to W3C experts on this topic who are the instructors for this course, and you’ll be able to discuss and share experiences with your peers who are faced with the challenges of mobile Web design.

Visit An Introduction to W3C’s Mobile Web Best Practices for more information including details of the course material, more about who will benefit most from the course, the registration fee and access to a free sample of the course itself.

Background reading and useful links

• Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0, W3C.
• Making a Web Site Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices, W3C.
• Designing and Developing mobile web sites in the real world, part 1 by Brian Suda.
• Designing and Developing mobile web sites in the real world, part 1, By Brian Suda.
• How to serve the right content to mobiles, by Chris Mills.

Tags: mobile, w3c

Hot off the web this week we have:

• Opera MAMA - a sneak peek at early results for headings, images and summary.
• Combining title and alt text on images - from David Dorward. Just say “no” I say.
• Standards.Next - Informal bootcamps about tomorrow’s web standards today (yes, today) kicks off with an HTML meetup June 27th after @Media in London.
• Appetite for China - I know I have. Proper authentic recipes…
• Refreshable braille displays on the web - a video demo from Bruce Maguire - who took on the Sydney Olympics website for being inaccessible and won.
• Vote Richard Madeley for Speaker of the House of Commons - Come on, he needs a new job and we need a new speaker.

Tags: accessibility, china, html5, twitter