All About Access

A recent press release announces an effort by IBM to make Mozilla’s Firefox web browser more accessible. Firefox, long praised for its security, speed and extensibility has been condemned for its failure to work with access technology. IBM announces that it has added support for Microsoft Active Accessibility to version 1.5 of the Firefox browser. Theoretically, this should make Firefox as accessible as Internet Explorer. (more…)

According to Jeff Bishop, the iPodder development team rules. That goes without saying: iPodder is a great product. But the reason Jeff says they rule is their efforts to eliminate the access issues in their product. And now there is a beta out. Want to test some of the fixes?

-jd

Today I have been playing with iPodder 2.0 (using JAWS 6.1). There have been some minor access quirks such as focus occasionally going into Never Never Land. But given that I’m running it without the benefit of any customized JAWS scripts, I must say that things are lookin’ good. You can download iPodder at [iPodder.org](http://www.ipodder.org/ “iPodder.org”).

So what’s your favorite Podcast?
—jd

Those of you who use the Duxbury braille translator are undoubtedly familiar with that age old question, a question far more weighty than such trivial matters as the meaning of life and what not: Will my keyboard let me six-key?

There’s been quite a bit of discussion in the blogosphere regarding the [latest version of Google’s toolbar](http://toolbar.google.com/T3/index “Visit the Google Toolbar 3 beta site”), currently in public beta. At the center of the controversy is AutoLink, a feature which may be useful, harmless, or the end of civilization as we know it. It depends on whom you ask. A few samplings from the anti-AutoLink camp include [Dave Winer](http://www.thetwowayweb.com/2005/02/22#a272 “Google’s Toolbar and Content Modification”), [GeekNews](http://www.geeknewscentral.com/archives/003879.html “Open Letter to Google”), and [Dave’s Ramblings](http://blog.captivereefing.com/2005/02/17/googles-world-domination/ “Google’s Word Domination”). In the pro-AutoLink camp, you’ll find sentiments such as those of [Fred von Lohmann](http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/003377.php “Who Owns Your Desktop? You Do!”), [Yoz Grahame](http://cheerleader.yoz.com/archives/001928.html “A response to Dave Winer about Google AutoLink”), and [Anil Dash](http://www.dashes.com/anil/2005/02/17/free_the_user_a “Free the User Agents!”).

As is often the case, I find myself in yet another camp: the Just Make It Talk Camp. (more…)

A couple of months ago, I had heard from several very reliable sources that [Duxbury Systems, Inc.](http://www.duxburysystems.com/ “Visit the home page of Duxbury Systems, makers of the Duxbury braille translation software”) would be taking over the development and support of TGD Pro. I just went to the home page for [Tactile Graphic Designer](http://www.tactileaudio.com/ “Visit tactileaudio.com for more information about TGD Pro”) and it seems to be official:

On Friday my boss, Brian Charlson, suggested that I needed to do something fun this weekend. I have no idea how Brian could have sensed that I was feeling a little bit stressed. Unless, of course, it was my response to his asking how things were going. In retrospect, the answer should have been something like, “Fine, thank you, how are things going with you?” Instead, I provided him with a list of all the negative words that can be formed by rearranging the letters in the name of a particular software product we use. I love anagram servers!

Brian, you will be pleased to know that I rented a movie on Saturday, went snowshoeing today, and am about to go make mole—pronounced mo lay—enchiladas. For those of you not familiar with mole—mo lay—it’s a sauce made with Mexican chocolate and chile, completely devoid of burrowing animals and tasting far better than one might expect from a chocolate chile sauce. But I foolishly checked my email before heading off to the kitchen. The response from Microsoft was sitting there in my Inbox. (more…)