In attempting to reset a password in Google Analytics yesterday, I came across the following CAPTCHA images (those images of warped letters you have to make out to prove you’re not a computer, spider, or robot of some kind).
All I can say is… WTF?
I ended up forgoing the task and using the audio option (for the visually impaired). The woman calling off numbers to me amidst the crackling of static and the tuning of instruments was a far less challenging task.
Analysts are estimating that Apple has sold 700,000 iPhones in the U.S. According to Nielsen//NetRatings, there were about 209 million U.S. Internet users as of March/07, 69.2% of the nation’s population. Making the reasonable assumption that the 700,000 iPhones sold were to people who already regularly use the Internet, that means 0.25% of Internet users in the U.S. will occasionally be using the Mobile Safari browser on their iPhones to visit your web presence, and that’s after the first four days of sales. Does that make you warm and fuzzy, or send a chill down your spine? At RD2, we couldn’t be happier.
The iPhone falls squarely in a facet of the web that has been growing for some time now, a sort of limbo between the “desktop web” and the “mobile web.” Apple recently posted their Development Guidelines for the iPhone which “read like a love-letter to standards-based design” as our local Adam Keys puts it.
Atta Boy, Blake. You have attracted the attention of WaSP and they posted a nice interview with you. LOVE IT!
“As a student of Interactive Media Design at the Art Institute of Dallas, Texas, Blake Elshire learned CSS as part of his course, then discovered that not all students were quite as charmed by the technology as he was. He shares his thoughts and insights with WaSP EduTF.
At the time of year where many schools are starting a new term, some teachers are still demanding archaic Web practices as part of their syllabi. Whether Web standards is taught at educational institutions is an issue that is no longer new. And yet, it is not uncommon for a student to be penalized for using modern Web techniques. Factors contributing to why we are not yet seeing more valid university Web sites, or why fresh graduates are not more knowledgeable in Web standards, still constitute a multi-faceted problem.
Blake Elshire first caught the attention of EduTF via his comment to our Buzz On Quality Education. We invited him to tell us a little more about his experience as a student in interactive media design. Read the interview“
Recently, Microsoft changed the way Flash and anything else that uses <object>, <embed>, or the <applet> method of accessing ActiveX controls. This is a result of the Eolas versus Microsoft patent case regarding the way Microsoft was accessing the ActiveX controls to handle those tags. On February 28th, Microsoft released a patch which changed the way Internet Explorer works with ActiveX.
I paid attention to this case closely. I don’t do the Flash work around here, but I do implement it on many of our sites, so I wanted to be sure we had our bases covered.
Last year, RD2 Best Practices called for the use of the Satay Method for including valid Flash objects in a web site. Unfortunately, using this method triggers the patch and the new “click or hit spacebar for activation” comes up.
In a recent update to our Best Practices, we switched to the use of Unobtrusive Flash Objects, or “UFO”, as our method of implementing Flash.
How exactly does using UFO solve this wonderful problem? Through plain old trickery, my friends.
UFO swaps content through Javascript dynamically. The page has normal searchable text inside of an element with a specific ID. That element is then swapped for the Flash content when the page is loaded. The cool thing is that the text content is still searchable and valid and shows up even if Javascript is turned off. You can have cool Flash content without sacrificing your SEO or site accessibility.
Since UFO works dynamically, it falls under Microsoft’s preferred method for fixing your ActiveX controls, which basically says that any ActiveX controls dynamically written to the screen are automatically activated for user interaction.
No grey borders, no “click or hit spacebar for activation” — just Flash working properly.
Have you ever witnessed someone surfing the web with images turned off? There’s a setting to let you surf the web with images turned off, at least, last I checked (about five years ago). Even years ago, I would notice friends and acquaintances who would do just that. As if to create a more scannable and easy to understand web experience. From a design perspective, I was just shocked…
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