This applies to browser behavior as well. I’ve been encountering a significant number of sites recently where the site tries to offer the user ways to make the site more accessible. Sometimes these are part of an overlay or widget providing accessibility “fixes” and sometimes they are part of the core code. In both cases they are taking the wrong approach to implementing help. Let me explain why.
Comments closedYou can see in the photo our little pantry was quickly thrown up. Now we are facing winter weather in Wisconsin. We realized we needed a better structure. So we bought a small 22 sq foot shed. We posted that this was happening on social media and looking for assistance to install it as both my wife and I are disabled.
Comments closedTimes are tough, but we have a little extra. Instead of shaming people for needing help, we are sharing what we can. I have been a Buddhist for over a decade. I’ve read all the major religious texts as well as the major philosophy and ethics books as part of getting my degree in philosophy. My wife is a deacon at her Episcopal church. One thing we agree upon is that all humans deserve care, love, support, the right to food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare. Actually, we agree on a lot, but most of it is irrelevant to this post.
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ – Matthew 25(40)
If you have the means to help your local community, I encourage you to do so. If you can’t provide a pantry like ours, find somewhere to donate time or money. Because our budget for this is coming out of our pockets, we have limits. If you’d like to help us support our community, please visit our page about the pantry and donate.
Comments closedTechnology is moving at an ever rapid pace. Some of the recent “AI” things to come along is one area that comes to mind. AI has its flaws and used incorrectly can do great harm, but it also can also improve the quality of life for others. Don’t stop them from using tools that help them, no matter your belief of such tools.
Ok, that’s the tip. You don’t have to read further. But if you desire to continue, I need to let you know what comes next is me processing an interaction I had that spawned today’s quick tip.
1 CommentYou’ve seen the warnings before TV shows and movies. “This show contains flashing lights.” This warning on visual media also applies web sites and apps. Guideline 2.3.1 addresses this by implementing a requirement that reduces the potential for severe damage. Let’s discuss why.
1 CommentIt was Christmas Day in 2012 that I had my first major incident. You see, for as long as I could remember I suffered from migraines. I recall having to takes days off school when I was a freshman. But they started before that. At this moment in time, I was getting 20+ migraines a month. I had migraines that would last days. I had some last hours. Those were the worst. I’d start to feel better to only have another come on before the end of the day. Along with the migraines would come anxiety, nausea, dizziness, brain fog, aphasia. But that day was different.
1 CommentYou know the feeling. You’ve just spent the last twenty minutes filling out a form on a website. Suddenly, it asks for a specific piece of information. You need to dig for this information. You spend the next 7 minutes digging in your desk, files, computer, until you find it. Flip back to your form, and you are logged out.
If you are lucky, the form will allow you sign back in and continue from there. There’s a good chance you may need to start over. For you it is frustrating and takes time. But what if you can’t complete the form in the time given? Maybe it’s because you can’t answer the questions quickly enough.
1 CommentOk, the title is clickbait, but what isn’t these days.
Today Americans from the United States of America celebrate our Independence Day from British rule. This annual celebration usually includes trips to the lake or beach. People often grill outside with friends and family. The day wraps up with fireworks. Growing up, the Fourth of July was one of the greatest parties of the year.
Comments closedHopefully those of you working towards EAA are breathing a little easier today. While some of you were pushing last minute updates, I attended my local Pride celebration.
Well organized and attended, it reminded me why I do this work. People from 1-99+. People with visible disabilities. People with disabilities only visible because they made it so by wearing a device to control the disability (hearings aids off, headphones, walkers instead of canes). This wasn’t a celebration of LGBTQ+, this was a celebration of people being people.
1 CommentYesterday Apple unveiled their new design system, Liquid Glass. It is replacing the design we currently see in order to provide more design options to your device. The basic concept of liquid glass is that all UI will look like glass. This includes spectral aberrations, highlights, and shadows. All these elements are presented on a transparent background. The default font color looks adapts based on the background. Lighter backgrounds are supposed to show darker fonts, and dark background shows lighter fonts.They didn’t address what happens if the background has both.
Out of the box, this new design style presents accessibility issues. The contrast will rarely be correct for normal vision users to see, much less low vision users. Users can adjust this easily, and I expect Apple to respond with this as their “compliance” answer.
Am I being aggressive here? I hope not. I believe it is important to call out Apple on this. Apple is aware that the design styles they create will eventually take over design. It happened with the Mac, the iMac translucent back, and iMac swivel head. It also happened with MacBooks, the iPod, and the iPhone. Skeuomorphism is another example. Must I go on?
Unfortunately, Apple is more than a product company. They’re more than a software company. They’ve become a lifestyle company. They shift thinking. They spawn design thieves who make knock off products.
The federal government is taking actions that appear threatening to disabled people. Over the years, Apple, you have been doing a good job as an accessibility leader. We need you on our side now more than ever. Liquid Glass is not what we need in this moment.
Apple has iOS 26.1 in developer beta and some of the concerns about Liquid Glass are being addressed.
See me on LinkedIn or Bluesky if you want to discuss this.
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