First things first: Resource Interactive (yeah, I’m looking at YOU, Resource!) posted a new technology blog. First real topic post (as opposed to the welcome post) is about web accessibility — in my experience as a consultant on past development teams, a much feared, possibly misunderstood (and somewhat maligned) concept by developers, project managers, and business analysts alike.

Once I actually heard “Why do we care so much about BLIND people, anyway?” uttered by a STATE employee over the course of one of my projects. Evidently it was not apparent that they worked with a blind person, and several vision-impaired individuals in their own department. I assure you, they weren’t trying to be a jerk, but they genuinely did not understand why my team put so much effort in designing, testing, and retesting each of our interfaces.

The RI article itself is pretty good, a decent overview of what developers and designers face when building a site these days, a short survey of possible impairments or barriers, as well as a few clever browser-oriented evaluation resources. However, there are some resources not cited in the post that I feel have incredible value — both as a method for automated testing, but even more so as a resource to truly understanding the experience of those with disabilities as they use internet technologies. I’ll be working on a complementary article this week addressing some of the other meaty aspects of accessibilty evaluation (it’s not just a government-mandated checklist anymore!) as well as providing a context for why accessible practices are so important in web development.
Next: Adobe Beta Versions: Anyone want to try out some beta-version Adobe Software?

• Dreamweaver Beta –> http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/dreamweavercs4/
• Fireworks Beta –> http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/fireworkscs4/
• Soundbooth –> http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundboothcs4/

Also: Buzzword Update: I’m pretty stoked about this one, because I’ve been using Buzzword for a while, and it would appear that our voices have been heard to export Buzzword docs as PDFs. Seems like a no-brainer as Buzzword has not been branded as an Adobe Acrobat product officially as of this weekend. To my clients and cohorts — yup, it means you’ll have to update your logins to an Adobe Id. Sorry about that.

Just in case anyone out there needs to brush up on standards-focused best practices for HTML and CSS.

The most clever abuse of radio buttons ever performed by a dinosaur.

This is for my UI homies, all 2 of them.

Journalist, author, and accessibility consultant Joe Clark pens a delicious smackdown citing the peceived shortcomings of the proposed WCAG 2.0 draft process published on a list apart. A fantastic and important read for anyone trying to adhere to web development standards — and especially important for people who engineer accessible sites.

It’s long, and there’s a lot to absorb. And very little time is left to post your comments to the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) committee as it is last call for acceptance of WCAG 2.0.