I’m phasing out my micro.blog account for various reasons. Follow me alternatively at @yatil@yatil.social or see my blog at yatil.net.

I’m phasing out my micro.blog account for various reasons.

Follow me alternatively at @yatil@yatil.social or see my blog at yatil.net.

Well, this explains why cross-posting through micro.blog is not working anymore 😀 Gotta trim my feed! @manton Maybe an error message in...

Well, this explains why cross-posting through micro.blog is not working anymore 😀

Gotta trim my feed!

@manton Maybe an error message in account/feeds would be useful when this happens. 😂

Enough with the baby steps! Let’s make accessibility leaps. (My rejected axe-con submission.)

This was my submission for axe-con 2024 which unfortunately did not make it to the conference. Let me know if the topic would be interesting for you and you would like to hear more about the topic!

• Title: Enough with the baby steps! Let’s make accessibility leaps.

• Outline: So much of our work is based on nudging people into the right direction. Applying a little pressure that makes a change but is not disruptive. This needs to change. This talk showcases steps that we can take that make instant notable differences for disabled people using websites and apps by using policy changes that are strong and disruptive once, instead of continuous glacially slow progress.

• Additional Information: I don’t expect this to be the most technical talk, but it might be most suitable for people who lead teams or companies, hence I selected intermediate. The talk’s goal is to shake people awake and show how gradually improving accessibility is often not the best way to spend their effort.

(Slightly edited for grammar.)

With ARIA and JavaScript, you can make any code “accessible” if your definition is “mapped somewhat correctly to screen reader APIs...

With ARIA and JavaScript, you can make any code “accessible” if your definition is “mapped somewhat correctly to screen reader APIs and work with the keyboard”. Accessibility has so many more facets than that.

Read my latest newsletter: steadyhq.com/en/yatil/…

Read my latest newsletter: steadyhq.com/en/yatil/…

Writing on my newsletter today. Sign up here to not miss a beat. (It contains accessibility industry commentary, practical accessibility...

Writing on my newsletter today. Sign up here to not miss a beat.

(It contains accessibility industry commentary, practical accessibility tips, a look back on what I’ve been up to and sometimes glimpses into the future.)

Web accessibility used to be “the Wild West” but incredibly fun and engaging. Now it is “professional” and unpassionate and business...

Web accessibility used to be “the Wild West” but incredibly fun and engaging. Now it is “professional” and unpassionate and business interests outweigh the drive to make things better for disabled people, the web, everyone. I like a bit “Wild West”.

Accessibility in the real world

This is a repost of a Twitter thread from August 2022. Slightly edited in format and for clarity.

Accessibility must work within the constraints of an ableist world to improve things. I hope it can help to make the world a tiny bit less unjust every day.

I have seen accessibility people say “this is a hill I’m willing to die on” and then they died on that proverbial hill.

Some clients just don’t care, and you have no power to make them care. You can make them aware, you can put procedures in place, you can point at laws. But you can’t change their attitude.

And yes, that might mean that the products of the process are… mediocre at best.

That is disappointing for the accessibility professionals involved, who did their best in the circumstances, and still fail many disabled people.

I think it’s still important to do this work:

Awareness is important, and when more people are aware that accessibility is a thing, more people will be willing to invest in it. This is a slow process, but I have seen it in real life: Companies that have an audit done for compliance and then want to get better.

And sometimes you inspire people to get into accessibility and they might be having an impact for a long time.

Is any of this optimal? No.

Do I wish I had a magic wand that made disability justice a reality and everyone care? You bet!

But I don’t, and so I need to have my practice grounded in the reality of the world as it is, as it otherwise becomes burnout inducing.

And if we cannot afford one thing, that’s people quitting accessibility because they are burned out. Because they feel that they are ineffective and their work is worthless. I feel like that all the time.

That said, the WebAIM Million study shows that between 2019 and 2022 the average error per page has decreased and the most common issues have also decreased. The web is slowly getting better.

I strongly believe that we must change the systems to make web accessibility easier, especially aligning what’s right with what’s easy. Currently a lot of accessibility practices on the web are hidden or require additional knowledge. That is an ableist barrier itself.

I wrote about changing the system on my blog.

I also recorded a talk about the topic.

Quick guidance for referring to (parts of) HTML elements

You always need to be very clear in what you mean. Otherwise, it is hard to read for your audience. Always include brackets with the element names. You can differentiate attributes and values by using these words. Always include the word “value” when talking about values.

• First mention of an element: “<h1> element”
• First mention of an attribute: “id attribute”
• First mention of a value: “my-great-id value”
• Subsequent mention of an element: “<h1>” or “<h1> element”
• Subsequent mention of an attribute: “id” or “id attribute”
• Subsequent mention of a value: “my-great-id value”
• Avoid the use of “tag” when the whole element is the subject of the sentence, do only use “tag” when it is specific to the start or end tag. Always specify “start tag” or “end tag”.

Happy Ted Lasso Day! 📺

Happy Ted Lasso Day! 📺

I started watching the third season of Happy Valley, and darn is that an intense show. Very hard to watch, but excellent acting. 📺

I started watching the third season of Happy Valley, and darn is that an intense show. Very hard to watch, but excellent acting. 📺

Publishing your accessibility resources as PDFs actively excludes people. “Accessible PDFs” are not really a thing. Tagged PDFs benefit...

Publishing your accessibility resources as PDFs actively excludes people.

“Accessible PDFs” are not really a thing. Tagged PDFs benefit mostly screen reader users, which is better than not having it, but it is a far cry from the accessibility and flexibility HTML web pages can give users.

Morning thought of the day: The German word for parasol is Sonnenschirm (“sun umbrella”), why does English use parasol and not...

Morning thought of the day: The German word for parasol is Sonnenschirm (“sun umbrella”), why does English use parasol and not sunbrella? It’s right there! 😉

What an amazing Formula E race! António Félix Da Costa had an excellent overtake at the end for the win. Completely bananas! 🏎️⚡️...

What an amazing Formula E race! António Félix Da Costa had an excellent overtake at the end for the win. Completely bananas! 🏎️⚡️

Sometimes I think about how much of Africa is in the similar time zones as Europe, but how little connection we have culturally and...

Sometimes I think about how much of Africa is in the similar time zones as Europe, but how little connection we have culturally and economically, especially compared to other places in the world.

It makes little sense.

What an excellent pole position qualifying lap from Sacha Fenestraz in the South Africa GP. A perfect lap. Also, I’m super stoked that...

What an excellent pole position qualifying lap from Sacha Fenestraz in the South Africa GP. A perfect lap.

Also, I’m super stoked that this city track is superfast, it makes a difference. Sad that the Mehindras had to bow out of contention. 🏎️⚡️

Shall I move the B key to the left side of my split keyboard or should I train myself to use the left hand to type it. This transition to...

Shall I move the B key to the left side of my split keyboard or should I train myself to use the left hand to type it. This transition to the Moonlander has been very slow.

Looks like Microsoft rated 2.4.11 Focus Appearance similarly low as I did in my blog post: github.com/w3c/wcag/…

Looks like Microsoft rated 2.4.11 Focus Appearance similarly low as I did in my blog post: github.com/w3c/wcag/…

So, last few days with a TouchBar MacBook Pro. Such a potential. I’ll miss it.

So, last few days with a TouchBar MacBook Pro. Such a potential. I’ll miss it.

Shawn Murphy with two magical Snooker frames. First a 145 and then a Maximum of 147 points. Brilliant stuff! 🎱🔴

Shawn Murphy with two magical Snooker frames. First a 145 and then a Maximum of 147 points. Brilliant stuff! 🎱🔴

Adidas will have 1.2 billion Euros less revenue this year because of ending the Kanye West partnership. Good for them to pull the plug...

Adidas will have 1.2 billion Euros less revenue this year because of ending the Kanye West partnership. Good for them to pull the plug regardless!

Posting this again for no reason at all. yatil.net/blog/wcag…

Posting this again for no reason at all.

yatil.net/blog/wcag…

Fun fact: I saw Tom Ford in a semi final live once before: At the 2005 Swiss Open in Zofingen. Seventeen years ago!

Fun fact: I saw Tom Ford in a semi final live once before: At the 2005 Swiss Open in Zofingen. Seventeen years ago!

Watching some World Pool Championship on YouTube and as a Snooker fan, it feels incredibly boring to watch. So little variety in how racks...

Watching some World Pool Championship on YouTube and as a Snooker fan, it feels incredibly boring to watch. So little variety in how racks go, and little strategy. I did enjoy playing pool pre-pandemic, but it’s not an exciting spectator sport for me.

I changed the rating of 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) to 12 (from 15) as I have read through more of the issues with the target offset...

I changed the rating of 2.5.8 Target Size (Minimum) to 12 (from 15) as I have read through more of the issues with the target offset definition.

The blog post now also has a table of contents, and you can easier support me, if you want.