Layout methods in web design have gone through a transition in the last few years, unfortunately we’re still using floats a lot, but flexible layouts have made a comeback in the form of responsive design – which is great. Recently though, I have been puzzled by people suggesting that we should use EMs for layout…

I just had an interesting day at the Open Rights GroupConference (#ORGcon). As someone that doesn’t identify with any political party, it’s the only (mildly) activistic group I’m involved in. That’s probably due to the close connection with the tools I use everyday at work, like the Internet.

A few things I learned from the day…

In a rare non-web related post, I had a thought on HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography I wanted to share. Some people seem anti-HDR, I’ve just been trying it out.

I’ve noticed a bug in Webkit browsers that impacts accessibility: Zooming in does not trigger media queries. Responsive design techniques can really help people who zoom in with their browser, but not in Chrome or Safari at the moment.

Chris Mills at the Web Standards project posted up an open letter to the W3C about the new “HTML5 logo“, which I commented on, but it seems comments are off. So here’s what I wrote…

The Australian Government recently released a study into the Accessibility of the Portable Document Format (PDF) for people with a disability, which Duff Johnson analysed very effectively.

I can agree with almost all of Duff’s points, and it’s covered so well I didn’t feel I needed to…

I attended the Roundtable Discussion about Bristol City Council’s Future Web Platform, an interesting insight into how local authorities think about their web presence. Something about the presentations & process jarred with me, and it took a little while to work out what the problem was: the assumptions. I’ve dissected some of them and proposed new ones.

I’ve noticed a trend in how I use the internet now, where I use different aspects of it in different contexts. In my browser there is a set of bookmarks in a folder called “Send to”, which allows me to direct resources to different places.

I noticed something in the browser stats before I noticed it on my laptop – Google’s Chrome doesn’t ask you about updates. I knew, almost subconsciously, that there was a Google updater programme running. However, I didn’t realise the impact it could have on web development, and potentially users as well.

I’ve recently been struck by a parallel: the differences between usability and accessibility are very similar to the differences between writing the HTML5 spec and covering accessibility requirements. Perhaps that can help explain the friction, and why WAI-ARIA is needed.