Tue, 2005-08-16 06:18
pretty interesting
Tue, 2005-08-16 06:56
#1
Firefox stepping up
Hmm, very interesting, sounds like a good step forward in a browser getting to grips with accessibility, good on IBM for 'Donating' the code lets hope that it does prove worthwhile, and that it actually works to a meaningful degree.
Lets hope the automatic speech rendition and keystroke navigation work well .
Tue, 2005-08-16 07:24
#2
Firefox stepping up
Thanks for posting that link, gleddy. Any news about the industry getting behind Firefox is good news, because it forces M$ to stop handicapping IE so much. It is also interesting to note what the article says about how accessibility legislation is changing the landscape within the WWW:
Quote:
IBM also points to federal guidelines as a reason the accessibility code is so important. The U.S. Rehabilitation Act states that federal employees, regardless of ability, must have access to electronic information and information technology.
"IBM's commitment to further Firefox's capabilities and reach people who have disabilities marks an important technical achievement for Firefox," Mitchell Baker, Mozilla Foundation president, said in a statement. "On a larger scale it is necessary to make the Web and all of its content accessible to everyone."
I have been saying for a while now that by learning CSSP and understanding accessibility issues, individually we are securing our places within tomorrow's workplace/marketplace. Articles like this add weight to that opinion.
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Another interesting article about AJAX and web applications (by the same author) leads off of that page > http://internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3527226 Much of what it says has been said many times before and I have posted similar stories here before, but this one takes a very balanced look at the future of web applications, and brings a few new ideas and opinions to the table. Interestingly, this author too cannot escape the obvious:
Quote:
Two things have kept AJAX in the backseat of Web application development. First, Microsoft's adoption of Web standards in Internet Explorer (IE) has been tepid. And second, it's hard to pull off.
Microsoft used XMLHTTP (define) to get information from the server to the browser, without having to refresh. But there has been little major incorporation of Web standards into IE for Web application developers to manipulate. So developers have little choice but to limit their applications, or else much of the Web-surfing public would be unable to view the page.
Developers have Firefox and other alternative browsers, with their native XML support, to thank for the recent change by Microsoft to incorporate more Web standards, Schmelzer said.
The article suggests that Flash may be better and more popular than AJAX for web applications, but maybe the author should have better considered what he then wrote in the first article about accessibility in the workplace being a legal requirement in the US (as it already is the UK).
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Why do I keep pushing these topics for digestion and discussion? ...because the paths that we as web developers take now with regard to the technologies that we invest our time into, will determine if we still have a place within the industry in the years ahead. It's not good enough to simply run with the crowd anymore. We have to get our crystal balls out and throw our resources into whatever technology we feel is going to take centre stage tomorrow. Get it right and work will find it's own way to our doors. Get it wrong and we'll be desperately trying to scratch a living together in a few years. I've been trying to second-guess the future for years, since investing in a Mac when PageMaker was first released in the eighties, so I don't want to drop the ball just yet!
I'm not trying to frighten anyone, but I am trying to show the importance of understanding how the WWW is likely to develop in the coming years. Our livelihoods will probably depend upon it!
Here endeth the gospel according to roytheboy, who may or may not make the right choices himself :?
Tue, 2005-08-16 13:37
#3
Firefox stepping up
roytheboy wrote:
since investing in a Mac when PageMaker was first released in the eighties
You just brought back some bad memories.
Tue, 2005-08-16 13:52
#4
Firefox stepping up
You guys probably already heard that IBM recommends Firefox and uses it internally. I don't recall to what extent but you can Google for the news article that came out within the last week or two.