Hawk Software

I was a programmer first, then a web developer, and I think it might give others like myself an advantage at times.  In this day of WYSIWYG web page editors, templates, and content management systems (CMS), many web developers never get intimate with the actual HTML/XHTML code anymore.  Sure, they might look in the code window from time to time, but many totally rely on their editor/CMS to take care of the details.  That is, until things suddenly go wrong or they need to perform a site-wide change that cannot be easily implemented by altering the style sheet or the include files.  It is times like these that don’t phase me, because I always have diff and search-and-replace tools at the ready. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been sting back quietly taking all this  so far, but no more!  Whether you are for the free open source WebM (VP8) video codec the the free (for now) H.264 video codec, you SHOULD be worried about the outcome.  An extended war could delay the advancement of video on the web, just like to extended war over Blu-ray and HD-DVD has left the Blu-ray camp with and empty victory; Disney is finally boosting its Blu-ray sales with combo packs which include a DVD “for portable use”. Read the rest of this entry »

No, I am not rotting in some ditch; I am very much alive!  Life has been, shall we say, challenging over the last few months.  I will not go into detail, but let me just say that when children become adults the challenges of being a parent do not go away, they just change.  And all three of my children are adults…

On other notes: I am still still architecting some new projects.  Which really means I am still reading, researching, and taking notes so that as soon as I can sit down and program things should move quickly.  At least that is my plan Read the rest of this entry »

The #1 reason I browse the Internet is to look for information and news.  The #2 reason is to look at all the cool things web designers come up with.  Cool layouts, color schemes, navigation, etc.  However, all the while in the back of my mind I always wonder about accessibility: are these cool pages still accessible to those using alternative browsers or screen readers?  The sad thing is many times the answer is ‘no’, but they could have been.  Menus (and links in general) are the worst offenders, and usually JavaScript or Flash is an accomplice. Read the rest of this entry »

This was originally going to be a VERY short post; I mean, how tough is this subject?  It is really just common sense that if you are using properly formed, standards compliant HTML or XHTML you are assured any compliant browser will be able to properly parse the page and present it in whatever form the user needs.  For example, many visually impaired users need a browser that incorporates text-to-speech technology, or they may just need to override the style to increase the font size and/or change the background and text colors for higher contrast.

For these reasons I always validate my pages as they are being developed, and occasionally I perform spot checks later.  So I was VERY surprised when I validated my last blog entry and discovered it was no longer valid XHTML Strict due to an attribute I had never heard of:  ‘aria-required’. Read the rest of this entry »