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The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

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181–190 of 271 posts

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#181
post #52
post #43

I'm still looking for "just use links". So many frontends I see use fancy onclicks to emulate links (including updating window.location). However they are either not links or are void links. This breaks all sorts of useful things (copy link location, open in new tab &c.).

So that's why that happens. Why on earth would you break one of the most foundational aspects of HTML that way?

So that's why that happens. Why on earth would you break one of the most foundational aspects of HTML that way?

To track clicks.

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#182
post #145
post #43

I'm still looking for "just use links". So many frontends I see use fancy onclicks to emulate links (including updating window.location). However they are either not links or are void links. This breaks all sorts of useful things (copy link location, open in new tab &c.).

This. LinkedIn is particularly terrible. I cannot believe such a huge, successful website can have so horrendous UX.

Proof that users don't care how the service works or is made as long as it provides value?

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#183
post #52
post #43

I'm still looking for "just use links". So many frontends I see use fancy onclicks to emulate links (including updating window.location). However they are either not links or are void links. This breaks all sorts of useful things (copy link location, open in new tab &c.).

So that's why that happens. Why on earth would you break one of the most foundational aspects of HTML that way?

Because nobody hires sysadmins anymore, they don't know how to parse plain webserver logs.

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#184
post #60
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So that's why that happens. Why on earth would you break one of the most foundational aspects of HTML that way?

Breaking it is completely unnecessary too, even with single page apps. It's not all that hard to build a React or Angular apps that use proper links along with the browser history API. Designed properly, the apps should be able to load their state and render correctly even when deep-linked to somewhere other than the app's top level. This isn't a new concern - I remember paying attention to this back in the old days…

Unfortunately, many web apps choose to ignore this

I wouldn't be surprised if most if not all tutorials ignore it as well.

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#186
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, people can abuse anything. Maybe they want their CSS all in-line at the top of the dynamic HTML. So they run the preprocessor during page generation on the server. Use a separate CSS via link tag? Oh no, I heard that was slow. Set expires cache header for 1 day? Oh no, that makes testing hard for me and what if the CSS changes? Web developers sometimes use the dumbest reasons to avoid doing good things.

CSS generated in the server still means it’s not pegging user CPU for 50ms like they said. I think these meandering rants are a tad silly.

I read it as using 50ms of CPU and it didn't say where. Using an extra 50 ms of server CPU happens all the time in my experience and no one seems to think this is a problem.

At least not until they try to solve the C10K problem or survive the "Slashdot Effect." That's when people discover that static pages are king.

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#187
post #155

Ironically, this article was posted on Medium, whose apps are notoriously inaccessible. Despite being a reading-focused app, it does not let you change the text size or spacing in any way. And on iOS, it also ignores the user's systemwide dynamic text setting.

Why does Medium need an app in the first place? Is a web browser not a good enough app for reading content on the internet?

Apps often are a solution for business problems rather than users. In mediums case, the app solves the ad blocking and retention problem.

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I especially love when these not-links can't be clicked (for God knows what reason) using a stylus, rendering them unusable unless I hook up a mouse.

16 pixel click targets on mobile...

AKA every soft-paywall popup.

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#189
> You use ALT text by adding the alt attribute with a value of the text equivalent of your image, like so:

> https://example.com/image.png” alt=“developer in an office working feverishly to hit a deadline on a software project” />

Is this actually a good idea?

This sounds like a typical "hero" or "teaser" image, to capture the reader's attention or interest. I don't think the alt tag does that in a comparable way, for a screen reader for example. So I'd just leave it blank.

It's really frustrating: all articles on accessibility mention the alt attribute, and that you should use them. But few give guidelines on how to write a good alt attribute that is actually well thought out.

When I write a website that explains things, and uses images, I (nearly) never use only images, but usually images + text. If I put an alt description in the images, I basically duplicate the text, and I guess that will confuse screen reader users more than a blank alt text.

Am I totally off base here?

Re: The easiest way to keep your web apps accessible: Just use text

#190

> You use ALT text by adding the alt attribute with a value of the text equivalent of your image, like so: > https://example.com/image.png” alt=“developer in an office working feverishly to hit a deadline on a software project” /> Is this actually a good idea? This sounds like a typical "hero" or "teaser" image, to capture the reader's attention or interest. I don't think the alt tag does that in a comparable way, fo…

> Am I totally off base here?

https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20-TECHS/H37.html

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