The Idea Place Posts

As some blog readers know, Aimee is embarking on a five-week journey throughout Southeast Asia. I’ll post her travel dispatches on the blog as they are available.   This trip involves tours from two travel companies. She’s touring with Intrepid Travel and Myths & Mountains. Intrepid will take Aimee through Cambodia and Vietnam while Myths will take her through Nepal.   Photos and any audio/video will have to wait until Aimee’s return. Maybe I’ll convince…

The Associated Press ran a story talking about a librarian in Utah trying to catalog many of the animal sounds found in the western U.S. At first browse, The Western Soundscape Archive seems quite intriguing and as a nice touch, the Flash used on the site seems to be of the accessible variety.   SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Rattlesnakes aren’t to be trifled with, but if you’re trying to collect the sound of every…

Obviously this is not, in the grand scheme of things, a huge deal. That said, for the curious try the following:   Navigate to http://www.house.gov. Enter the zip 98052 in the box for locating a representative by zip. Note the resulting page which indicates that 98052 is not enough info.   The 5 digit ZIP code 98052 was not enough information to determine your Representative. There are muiltiple Representatives who share this 5 digit ZIP…

Today’s Seattle times has an article talking about how Amazon has created a map illustrating the political leaning of a state based on book book purchases from this state. I mention this heare because after trying the page, it could serve as a model of how to make an inaccessible web page. It seems like every rule about basic web accessibility was ignored.   Unable to see pictures, well you are out of luck. Need…

Anyone who’s a football fan knows all to well the saga that’s played out over these past many months with Brett Favre and his retirement/unretirement. With the 2008 NFL season now underway, it definitely feels strange to see Favre playing for the Jets and tossing his 443rd touchdown for a team other than the Packers. Only time will tell how it all works out for everyone involved and I guess it keeps things interesting.

According to multiple news sources and the Google blog, Google is going to be releasing a web browser called Chrome on 9/2. Here’s the full Google blog posting.

Aaron Leventhal, someone for whom I have immense respect and who has been instrumental in Firefox and ARIA accessibility among other things, has an interesting blog post talking about how to improve Firefox access on the Macintosh. The article is worth a read, even if you have no interest in Mac accessibility for some of the experiences and insights Aaron shares on how accessibility happens. You can read the article at http://accessgarage.wordpress.com/2008/08/21/firefox-and-os-xs-voiceover-reading-the-magic-8-ball.

Earlier today I sent the below message to Saddleback Church.  Rick Warren and the church have been in the news of late due to Warren’s hosting of interviews with the two men running for U.S. President.     From: Kelly Ford [mailto:kelly@kellford.com] Sent: Saturday, August 16, 2008 5:03 PMTo: ‘info@saddleback.com’Subject: Please Add Alternative Text   Hello,   I happen to be blind and browse the web with what’s known as a screen reader.  I was…

The American Foundation for the Blind has an important and thoughtful alert talking about the need for the public to comment on proposed updates to the regulations for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As you would expect, the alert highlights issues of interest to people who are blind or have low vision. The deadline for comments is August 18. Take a read of the alert and follow the instructions for commenting.