Google WAVE logo
What can I say besides I’m just plain disappointed in Google WAVE. There was so much hype, so much excitement about it, and now it’s evaporated.
No HTML5
I understood that WAVE was to be done in HTML5, but it has a doc type of HTML 4.01. And actually, I found that it has a very serious case of “Divitis” (too many DIV tags). Can’t find any type of HTML5 tag at all, not even a section tag, header tag, nuthin’. Just a ton of DIVs and SPANs.
If you’re curious, here’s a look at the top of the source:
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <html><head><meta name="gwt:property" content="locale=en">
And the generated source:
<html><head><meta name="gwt:property" content="locale=en">
Not Accessible
Google WAVE is not web accessible. Period. Simplistically, this means that people with disabilities cannot use it, or it’s very difficult. For more on this, check out my Web Axe entry Podcast #75: Jeremy Keith Interview, Google Wave and Google Wave Preview Accessibility Review by WebAIM’s Jared Smith.
To further frustrate us web accessibility professionals, Google has stolen the name of WebAIM’s free tool WAVE (web accessibility evaluation tool).
No Usage
No one’s using Google WAVE. Most people I know now who want a WAVE invite (and that’s a lot of folks), has received one by now. And I haven’t seen much activity at all. As a matter of fact, I haven’t seen any new messages for a month now.
If you’re on WAVE, please send me a message; that may help me feel better! (smiley) My address is dlembree [AT] googlewave [DOT] NOSPAM com
Addendum
How ironic. I just noticed that I received some WAVE invites, so if you don’t have an account and still want one after reading this (smiley), please feel free to leave a comment.
I overheard something that made me think of this funny line:
Today’s Google WAVE invites are becoming yesterday’s AOL invite CD ROM disks.
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As someone somewhere on Twitter wrote, I, too, am “underwhelmed”. I had the impression that it would be akin to mail. I feel it is much more a collaboration too, which means you need a plan before using it. Just hanging out at the water cooler gets boring after a while. If we were working together on, say, a webdesign project, I could see the point. However, I have been perfectly happy to use (many existing) wikis for that.
In principle, I am mad that there is no accessibility. Google, how could you?? It’s an insult to the supertalented employees at Google who happen to be deaf or blind.
Even though I don’t need assistive technology, I find it hard on my arm when using the mouse. That scroll bar is bouncy – contrary to normal scroll bar behavior. What’s wrong with normal scroll bar behavior?
While typing, I experience delays akin to good old 56K modems. Right. Just what I wanted in 2009. The bigger the wave, the worse it gets. I get the real-time stuff, but getting messages through red stars in Star Trek Voyager was faster!
I’ll stop my rant for now. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I love technology – I am not a Luddite. I just cannot believe a corporation the size of Google doesn’t include accessibility on their planning specs from Day 1. It should be welded into the specs template….
I agree Karen. The savvy tech company understands that an accessible business is a successful business. More here …
http://martincahill.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/a-social-twist-in-the-modern-day-gold-rush/
Hoping to look into the WAVE accessibility story as the week unfolds.
martin.
Ironically, you complained about accessibility of Google WAVE in your podcast that is not accessible to those who cannot hear. :0( Can you please post a transcript? I would like to read what you have said. Thank you.
To “deaf”: This is true, but wondering how you can compare Google, possibly the most successful company in history who has billions and billions of dollars, to me. I’m working on acquiring volunteers to help with transcripts, and a couple have been done already. [Here's the podcast we're referring to: Podcast #75: Jeremy Keith Interview, Google Wave]