Archive for November 2002

The CSS List has reached 900 and I still have a mailbox full of entries waiting their turn to be added. 1000 shan’t be too far. Mucho thanks to all for submitting and to those who will submit in the future.

CSS Resources is available and will continue to grow since I have many resources waiting for me to add them to the list. As much as I want to get this up for you, little me is forcing me to go to bed.

The first thing I learned about streamlining CSS is taking six-digited repeated colors and turning them into three digits such as #000000 (black) becomes #000, #ffffff (white) is #fff, #6699cc (bluish something) is #69c, and #ffcccc (link) is #fcc. However, it won’t work on #e07d80, #ffffc6, or #e8e8e8.

There are more ways to shorten CSS coding as demonstrated in CSS shorthand properties.

CSS is definitely spreading as non-Web design focused resources are reporting on the advantages of CSS of table layouts. Weaving your own Web site: Table-like layouts using CSS.

In the US, it’s Google Directory – Society > Holidays >Veterans Day. Thank you to all the men and women who serve and have served for our country. Prayers to all the soliders stationed in the Persian Gulf.

101 things you can do in Mozilla browser that IE cannot. Little weekend smile. Love reason #101.

Why haven’t I seen Llamasery.com till now? It’s a co-operative Web development site with people who aren’t newbies to Web-related business. It’s this line that states how they distinguish themselves from other communities: “In short, you will find everything here other developer communities are – by their nature – unable to provide focus toward, yet need so desperately.”

It offers idea management, marketing advice, career advice, site critiquing, and Web help from experts.

Just recently learned from E-Zine Tips about a new practice called Habeas, a Sender Warranted Email program that uses haiku to reassure recipients that the sender isn’t a spammer. Before jumping in, it does have a drawback of making the email headers longer. The article has an example using Chris Pirillo‘s Lockergnome tech newsletter.

Lockergnome’s Chris and Jake shared their thoughts on Habeas.

Some email hosts have adopted Habeas for their users to use. If you run a newsletter, it’d be worth checking with the email host.

Spam has gotten so bad that my spam program is kicking out perfectly legitimate emails simply because they use phrases like “Remove me ” and “Unsubscribe,” two phrases that I would want to see in a newsletter to ensure I can unsubscribe without complications. Maybe it’s my software, you think? Well, it does catch the bad guys with the same phrases and keeps them out of my mailbox. This is a war we’re not going to win and it’s unjust for those with excellent newsletters.

Digital Web Magazine‘s November topic is usability and the feature is Accountability of Accessibility and Usability. The article references Southwest Airline’s being sued by a user who is blind because the site is inaccessible. Since then, several more lawsuits have popped up.

I support accessible sites, of course. After all, I’m deaf. However, in the tone of these lawsuits, does this mean I can sue every company that requires me to deal with their inaccessible telephone recording systems? Here’s how it works:

Using my TTY, I call the relay operator and request a call to 800-XXX-XXXX to report a problem with a product since its Web site offered no online contact form. Operator dials and recording greets us. The operator types the recording, word for word followed by the choices. By the time the operator finishes, the recording has hung up. We waited too long.

So, operator redials, gets recording, enters my choice, more recording, and another choice. Hung up. Redial. Repeat until we painfully get to where we want to go. Yes, I try to shortcut it by telling the operator to do what is necessary to reach tech support or customer service. It’s not always possible to do that.

Time to sue, right? Yes, it’s the right thing to do to offer customers multiple ways to contact a business. Southwest Airlines has phone call-in system for ordering tickets. The person who is blind can use that and I can’t. Yet, I can use the online ordering system and he can’t. What’s fair?

The company will pay for its inaccessibility by losing customers. I understand the person who is blind wants to use Southwest Airlines because they have an excellent reputation and good prices. But, he can make the call. He does have another option.

Where does ADA start? End?

Update: I must clarify this is all hypothetical. SWA actually has a TTY line. The point is this: many companies have recording systems and no TTY alternative. I can’t tell you which sites are inaccessible to people with sight challenges, so I use this as an example. Not trying to slander SWA. I should’ve put this note up in the first place. But I think the point came across — someone who can’t see can’t access a company’s site where someone who can’t hear can’t access that company’s phone line.

Shirley has written her perspective on this topic.

News Sites Need To Go On Diets by Steve Outing. About time someone spoke up about the overwhelming information on news sites. Ironically, the URL to this article is gosh darn long. [Link Webreference]

While I have your attention, Americans… do your patriotic duty and go vote. Yes, I did.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the group that sets technical standards for the Internet, has given the go-ahead to a group that will work on XMPP (Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol), instant messaging standards to allow people to send messages across the Net no matter the platform. More in IM compatibility closer to reality. [Link Webreference]