The Idea Place Posts

With apologies to anyone who’s already read this on my Webwatch e-mail list, I wanted to mention that beta 1 of Internet Explorer 8 is available. This is the product I work on at Microsoft so it is always nice when something I work on is available publicly.   I know blog readers sometimes try beta releases from different companies.  I wanted to give folks an alert about IE8 beta 1 should you opt to…

Just a short blog update to let folks know that Microsoft has started a new Accessibility Blog. Subscribe to it in your RSS reader of choice at http://blogs.msdn.com/accessibility/rss.xml.

On January 16, 2008 my youngest brother Joel unexpectedly passed away. If accessibility in the web world means we have access to more information, then I guess it means we have access to more sadness because reading my baby brother’s obituary for myself has been part of the most profoundly sad experience of my life.   These words were read at Joel’s funeral and I share them here knowing that Joel is and always will…

I’m not a big television watcher but on occasion do enjoy an episode or two of some of the older classics. Typically that has come in the form of a DVD from Netflix or my cable television’s on demand service.   While both of these solutions do satisfy my need to watch the occasional show they are not without problems. In the case of Netflix, there’s the obvious that you need to have requested the…

Several years ago friends of mine had the creative idea of producing an audio Christmas card for family and friends. I had the privilege of serving as audio engineer for the project, as much as a day’s recording in a home computer room turned recording studio can be called a project. I’m sharing the music from that CD with permission and hope blog readers will enjoy the talents of these folks as much as I…

Surfing with a screen reader can occasionally yield humorous browsing experiences. As anyone who does this knows, you are frequently exposed to names of objects that I suspect web designers do not expect anyone will ever actually read.   These challenging names are typically exposed in situations where alternative text has not been provided for graphical links and as the names for frames on web pages.   Today I was using a web site and…

I suppose because to some degree blogging has now reached the masses, at least those who have the time and desire to read blogs, this article qualifies as news. The basic point of the article is that bloggers are fighting electronically in various wars of words.   I have to ask if this is anything new? Anyone who’s been around the online world knows that the debates in the blogging community making news today have…

Sitting here watching the Washington thermometer drop closer and closer to 40 degrees I’m struck by what a difference one can be experiencing in one week. I suppose with today’s ability to travel the fact is that you can experience what I’m talking about in the same day but last week was vacation and so my mind’s reflecting back a bit.   Last Thursday Aimee and I along with three of my brothers and their…

Seattle’s in yet another endless discussion around what the area’s transit future will be. As the fall election gets closer, there’s another transit package being offered to voters to try and resolve the area’s persistent transit congestion.   Then there’s Portland. As this column illustrates, Seattle has a long way to go before it catches up to what Portland’s already doing with respect to public transit.   I’ve mentioned Portland’s MAX light rail system a…