Web Standards, Accessibility & More

So Ross Johnson and I recently did another big interview for the Web Axe podcast. We spoke with Andrew Kirkpatrick, a leader at Adobe in product development and accessibility. And a nice guy.

Podcast #53: Interview with Andrew Kirkpatrick

We used Skype to record the podcast, again, and it sure makes it easy when folks are separately geographically–I’m in the Bay area, Ross is in Ann Arbor, and Andrew is in the Boston area. Scheduling is a bit tricky because of the time zone differences and everyone’s busy schedule, but that went fine since I planned a few weeks out. It’s still a bit difficult to get the audio levels right, though, and unfortunately we experienced this problem a bit on this podcast…check it out and let me know what you think…

So, I’ve decided to take a major step and pursue a great job opportunity in California. It’ll be tough leaving family, but all in all, I believe it’s the best decision. My freelance web company, CheckEngine USA, will continue as normal.

The company I’ll be working for is Yodlee, in Redwood City. My title will be “Senior UI Developer”. In addition, I’ve been doing some freelance for Google, so it’ll be neat to be in the neighborhood (Google’s HQ “campus” is in nearby Mountain View).

As my story goes, I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, moved to Orlando for 7 years, and then moved back. I’ve been home now for nearly 3 years, and have got a lot accomplished in relatively little time, so it’s kind of a bummer to leave. In September 2005, I started Web Axe, a podcast on web accessibility, shortly after joining the Detroit Podcasters Network. Less than a year later, I co-founded Refresh-Detroit, an organization of web professionals, with Ross Johnson.

On a personal note, my wife and I have had two children since arriving back home, Carson and Justin. Also, my parents moved out of the home in which my brother and I were raised (in Dearborn, Michigan). They bought a nice condo in Northville where my mom has opened a shop nearby, Petite Maison.

My podcast Web Axe now has a new, custom design! My co-host Ross Johnson sent me a Photoshop mockup thru You Send It, and I ran with it. Working with Blogger‘s template was a little quirky, but not too bad overall. Web Axe is a podcast and blog featuring practical web design accessibility tips.

Yesterday, Ross Johnson and I attended the Fourth Annual Usability and Accessibility Event on World Usability Day, (November 14) at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

We each got a late start to the day as I slept through my alarm and Ross got stuck in traffic. It was dark and rainy morning, but we arrived at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center in Lansing just in time. The morning was spit into two sessions and the afternoon was a string of several diverse topics. The break was excellent as pumpkin pie was provided! It also a good opportunity to meet few more usability professionals.

I had an iRiver MP3 device with me, and did some short interviews with folks (funny how a couple people did not want to be recorded). A podcast following the day’s events will be released on Web Axe next week. I suspect it will be very entertaining!

Update 11/21:
The Web Axe podcast on the Usability Event is now posted.

Check out the Declaration of Standards Compliance from ptvGuy. It’s a very unique, entertaining, and valid perspective on using web standards. Play the audio right off the page, and/or read the content. (The humor is more evident if you’re familiar with the verbiage of the U.S. Declaration of Independence.) Also, Ross Johnson and I will be interviewing ptvGuy sometime soon for the Web Axe podcast.

Ross Johnson and I recently interviewed Patrick H. Lauke, the webmaster at University of Salford (UK). He is a vital member of Accessify.com and a member of the Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force (ATF). He is also a co-author of the book Web Accessibility: Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance.

The interview was scheduled for 11am, but with the change of daylight savings time and time zones, there was a slight mix-up. So we ended up starting early, at about 10:30am, which was fortunate since we ended up speaking longer than planned. Every minute was valuable as Patrick is very knowledgeable in the web standards and accessibility world, and has a very pleasant demeanor. (It seems most of these guys live and work in the UK!)

The Patrick H. Lauke Interview on Web Axe

If you follow the web design industry, you are probably familiar web celebrity Paul Boag. He is co-founder of a British company Headscape, and runs a very popular site boagworld.com. So, Ross Johnson and I interviewed him at 8am last week, but didn’t actually start until 8:30 because of technical difficulties. I was late for my day job, but it was worth it. Paul is a very fun and knowledgeable guy, it was great speaking with him.

Listen to the Paul Boag Interview in Web Axe podcast 31 (practical web design accessibility tips).