Meryl's Notes Blog

As usual, Zeldman provided a wealth of material in responding to my ibizinterview questions. After reviewing it, I realized it was longer than we normally publish and I just didn’t have the heart to shorten it. Talked with my editor and she is working on it.

Zeldman gives good interview. He was terrific in answering my questions for my first webreview.com article on WaSP. In return, you can leave here and go check out his latest fight for WaSP. This is a clearly written article explaining the whole deal. It’s a must read for anyone who cares about Web design.

He has rubbed off on me after two interviews. I actually used the W3C.org validator on four of my Web pages. It only took about 2 hours minutes to fix them. They are certified 100% Kosher – wow, I thought I’d never be completely Kosher in my life! I’ll keep working on it and make an effort to be compliant going forward.

Molly also wrote an editorial on the latest for Web standards. It’s definitely worth checking out.

I’ve been researching Sean Carton and his background in prep for an interview. He regularly contributes to ClickZ. His latest articles say that we’re moving further away from the desktop and toward Internet portability. I am not happy about some of this because one of the growing areas of the Vortal (Voice Portal). Why does this bother me? (P.S. Nothing against Sean, he is just reporting the facts. In fact, I respect him!)

Because I can’t @(#*$ hear! I can’t use a telephone. OK, yeah I can use it by using Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS). Have you ever received or made a phone call through them? Trust me… Internet = better than TRS. This is not to say I want the TRS to go away… because I still need to use it since not everything can be done via the Net. Want to know how it works? Gladly. Warning: this is not perfect, but close enough to give you the idea.

Meryl: < uses TTY aka TDD to dial TRS>

TRS Operator: (on TTY screen) TRS Operator 1234. Number to dial. GA (GO AHEAD).

Meryl: 555-555-1234 GA (like I am gonna give you real phone numbers.)

TRS Operator: Dialing 555-555-1234. Ringing 1… 2… answered (F) Hello? (Explaining relay)… No thank you, I am not interested (caller hung up). Relay TRS 1234. Number to dial or SK (STOP KEYING).

Meryl: 555-555-1235 GA (notice a different number)

TRS Operator: Dialing 555-555-1235. Ringing 1… 2… answered (M) Hello? (Explaining relay)… Yes, I have. Hello. GA

Meryl: Hi, Paul. I HATE relay services. Not the operator’s fault, but our bud just hung up on me because she thought the relay was a sales person. Now, you’ll have to call her and explain the whole deal. GA

TRS Operator: Not again. I am sorry. Sure, I’ll take care of it for you… (you know the rest).

The Internet was my way of finally connecting people if they were not in my face. Now, here comes another barrier. It’s bad enough dealing with online video and not understanding what is being said.

Sure, I can become an advocate. Actually, I’ve done plenty of letter writing asking for more closed-captioning… or improved captioning like I mentioned in my Survivor frustration letter on February 15. No, thanks. I’ve done it and I am burned out. I’d rather be an advocate of something more global like the Web Standards Project since it impacts everyone, everywhere. How many people give a (@#)* about the deaf and captions?

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