Beast-Blog.com
Mike Cherim's Professional and Personal Web Log

I’ve discussed the poor quality of free code and applications before. Since very few people had helped me spread the word as I had hoped for, I’m at it again. I realize it isn’t going to be easy to get the core of the development community to change, but I’m no quitter.

Continue reading “The Reality of Dealing with a Mule” »

Over-thinking, over-engineering, or going to extremes is rarely a good thing when acted upon.

I’ve seen it before, I’ll see it again, and I’ve been guilty of it myself. What is it? Extreme Accessibility, of course. But what is it really? What is Extreme Accessibility? And why should one want to avoid it? It sounds like a good thing after all. But it’s really the abuse of features, faulty or overboard implementations, and good intentions gone bad. Sometime in your life, did someone ever tell you that moderation is the key? This logic applies to web accessibility as well.

Continue reading “Avoiding Extreme Accessibility” »

I had mentioned in a previous article, “Replicating Browser Behavior: The Top Link,” that I named it the way I did with the notion that I might expand it into a series of articles. Following through with that, I am offering a look at another browser function often replicated by web developers: The print function. For the record it isn’t really a browser function, but rather a function of the operating system accessed through the browser. I’m including it in that category, though, so let’s take a look.

Continue reading “Replicating Browser Behavior: Print Function” »

With interest I watched an exchange on the Web Standards Group discussion list as to whether developers should bother replicating browser behavior such as keyboard shortcuts. I didn’t weigh in with my thoughts at the time. I was too busy to join the fray, plus I wanted to first consider all the possibilities and read everyone else’s comments. The result was I didn’t change my position. Since it’s sort of after the fact on the list I figured I’d discuss it here. My quick conclusion is yes and no; it depends on the behavior being replicated, the ease of making the provision, its perceived usefulness, and really the content itself.

Continue reading “Replicating Browser Behavior: The Top Link” »

Within every industry compound words are created, then used extensively, often without a second thought once they enter that industry’s mainstream lexicon. The same is true of acronyms, abbreviations, and buzzwords. For instance, look at the web development industry. We use all sorts of verbal shortcuts to convey information that our core readers will have no problems with. Eventually many enter the public mainstream and end up in the dictionary.

Continue reading “Using Compound Words on the Web” »

When they “axed” if I wanted to be interviewed for WebAxe I was delighted. This was about a month ago. Finally, the damage has now been done and I have spoken on the web. I have to laugh. I think I sound like a war correspondent on the front lines, reporting in. Here’s the WebAxe post or you can jump straight to podcast number 44. This interview was hosted by both Dennis Lembree and Ross Johnson. Thanks fellas, it was a pleasure. This is Mike Cherim, signing out. Roger-wilco, over and out.

Continue reading “My WebAxe Accessibility Podcast” »

In a news item that I first saw at Accessify.com there is a quote taken from the original “BarCamp London 2: Accessibility Panel Thoughts” post at Mike Davies’ Isolani site. It’s a quote I don’t necessarily agree with. Before I provide it here I want to say I’m not trying to stir anything up or cause trouble, and I’m not commenting on the rest of the article (which, aside from the alleged damage caused by “universalists,” I mostly agree with), but I do want to say remarks like this bother me a bit. First I’ll provide the quotation, then I’ll explain what it is I don’t agree with and why.

Continue reading “Failed? Fundamentally Flawed?” »

The “offset” class is a name I give to any element hidden off-screen using the Cascading Style Sheet, CSS, and every style sheet I make contains this class. You may call it “offscreen,” “offleft,” “offpage,” or whatever works for you, but regardless of what you call it, how it works and what it offers users remains the same: on-demand accessibility. But I discovered a downside recently.

Continue reading “Enhancing Accessibility with Offsets, Cautiously” »

We needed a bigger, badder, and better back-end for Accessites.org. We like to write lots of articles and needed a more powerful and flexible web publishing application than the homegrown content management system (CMS) we were using before. We decided to go with WordPress dressed up with a variation of my lastest accessible theme — though it was made even more accessible, which is a given considering what it’s serving. Hope you like it; we do.

Continue reading “Accessites.org Reboot” »