Chromebooks aren't accessible - a five-year-old bug

by @edent | # # # # | 3 comments | Read ~2,946 times.

I was in need of a new laptop, so I bought a cheap ChromeBook - mostly because Amazon could deliver it the same day. Sadly, the trackpad was broken. Before I sent it back, I thought I'd try using a mouse with it. That's when I discovered that accessibility is very much a second thought… Continue reading →

Co-Op Bank - Making Banking Inaccessible

by @edent | # # # # # # | 2 comments | Read ~370 times.
Screenshot of the scope website showing a donation of £25

I've blogged before about how backward the Co-op bank is - sadly, they've not improved in the last few years. I needed to close down my business bank account. I hopped on to online banking, provided all my details, went through 2FA with a physical token, remembered my mother's maiden name and began searching the… Continue reading →

Noli scribere Latine imaginem describere

by @edent | # # # | 3 comments | Read ~209 times.
Screenshot of the Post Office website showing lots of seemingly unrelated pages

When I'm bored, I like to search websites for the "Lorem Ipsum" placeholder text. It's a quick way to find discarded pages and test content. I was particularly confused that the UK's Post Office had a dozen pages containing that little Latin phrase. A quick dive into one of the pages, found this enlightening snippet… Continue reading →

Review: Accessibility for Everyone

by @edent | # # # # | Read ~382 times.
Accessibility for Everyone book cover

Accessibility for Everyone (ISBN: 978-1-937557-61-4) by Laura Kalbag. Published by A Book Apart A brilliant look at why accessibility is so important - and the practical steps everyone can take to ensure it is at the centre of web design. Rating:5/5 Reviewed by Terence Eden My mate Laura has written a book! She has very… Continue reading →

Where do these arrows point?

by @edent | # # # # # | 7 comments | Read ~241 times.

This is a blog post about user interfaces. I was wandering along the beach one day, when I noticed some clever chap had drawn some arrows in the sand. Can you guess where they led? The more astute of you will have realised that these are not human drawn arrows. They are, of course, footprints… Continue reading →

Accessibility - you can't search Twitter for Alt-Text

by @edent | # # # # | 1 comment

Twitter has recently improved the accessibility of its site. When uploading an image, a user can add alt text - a short description of the image for people with visual impairments. Here's an example: This is a test to see if alt-text in images is searchable on Twitter.alpaca omnithorp pic.twitter.com/JHgCSaXpKd — Terence Eden (@edent) February… Continue reading →

I don't have an email address - so what?

by @edent | # # # | 2 comments | Read ~1,483 times.

Is email dead? I don't think so - but I know lots of people who either don't have an email account or deliberately don't check it. And why should they? Is email a requirement for modern life? All the major chat apps - WhatsApp, Line, Signal, Wire, Skype - only require a mobile phone number.… Continue reading →

PDFs are the Cheques of the 21st Century

by @edent | # # # | 1 comment | Read ~433 times.

Cheques (checks if you're American) are an amazing legacy technology. Invented in the 17th Century, they immediately transformed the financial landscape. They allowed anyone to transfer both vast and trivial sums of wealth with ease. Whole industries grew up around them - one of my first jobs was programming binary loadlifters repairing computerised cheque-readers -… Continue reading →

The best damn Bluetooth Keyboard in the world!

by @edent | # # # # # | 2 comments | Read ~2,505 times.

I love my keyboards. I mean, I have an unhealthy obsession with them. I spend a lot of time typing and the cramped keyboards which come with most laptops and MacBooks just don't cut it for me. Their poor ergonomics leave my wrists in pain. For years I was a devotee of the Microsoft 4000… Continue reading →