evolt.org - Workers of the Web, Evolt!

WebAIM Screen Reader User Survey Results

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:42:52 -0600

WebAIM conducted a survey of the preferences of screen reader users in October, gathering a lot of interesting data about how users utilize assistive technologies.

Internet Turns 40, Just Might Catch On

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:14:25 -0600

Media outlets seem to have settled on October 29, 2009 as the official birthday of the Internet. This date has been chosen because it's the day that Leonard Kleinrock at the University of California-Los Angeles sent a message over a two-computer network (the other end being a computer at Stanford Research Institute) with Charley Kline manning the UCLA keyboard and Bill Duvall on the Stanford site.

Firefox 3.6 to Support Web Open Font Format

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:35:45 -0500

Mozilla's developer blog yesterday posted that they have added support for the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) to Firefox 3.6.

Current CSS3, HTML5 Support

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:58:24 -0500

Last week saw the launch of FindMeByIp.com, a very handy web site that displays a user's current IP address, user agent string and support for CSS3 and HTML5. The site developers ran their own browsers through this tool and that collection of information has been gathered up and posted to provide information on current browser support for the latest standards.

Browser Performance Chart

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:40:06 -0500

Jacob Gube has posted a handy chart over at Six Revisions titled "Performance Comparison of Major Web Browsers." He tests the current versions of five browsers: Mozilla Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome 3.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0, Opera 10.0, Apple Safari 4.0.

List of URL Shorteners Grows Shortener

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:23:17 -0500

One of the many URL shorteners has announced that it is shutting down in just under three weeks. Cli.gs has announced, via its blog, that it will no longer accept new URLs to be shortened as of October 25. It will also stop logging analytics. Cli.gs will still forward URLs at through November, but no guarantees have been made beyond that. Since Cli.gs has been a one-man show serving tens of millions of forwards a month and the site owner is funding it from his own pocket, it's not too much of a surprise

Increase Conversions in Long Web Forms by Resolving the Accidental Back Button Activation Issue

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:27:31 -0500

The issue of accidentally activating the browser back button through the keyboard while interacting with a long web form is applicable to users across expertise levels. The time and effort wasted by the user can be said as proportional to the number of input fields filled by the user before accidentally exiting the page. Since no application feedback indicating cause of the error to the user is provided, depending upon user expertise, the user may or may not realize the cause of the error. Realizing what went wrong does not guarantee the possibility of reverting the error either.

This leads to unnecessary loss in form conversions despite favorable user intent. A solution to resolve this issue (that the author hopes becomes standard practice) to plug the hole for lost conversion that translates to big numbers in absolute terms for high traffic websites is also provided.

Facebook and Google Want to Translate Your Site

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:26:26 -0500

Google and Facebook each offer a method to translate your site, but which, if either, is the best choice?

Google Chrome for Internet Explorer

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:23:17 -0500

For years web developers have struggled with browsers that don't support standards or the latest innovations and that just won't go away, such as Internet Explorer. Google has taken an ingenious approach to deal with Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 and their general lack of standards support. It has found a way to embed Chrome right into IE.

Corporate Social Media Policies

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 04:23:22 -0500

Chris Boudreaux is the author of an upcoming book titled "Social Media Governance." Mr. Boudreaux has created an accompanying web site that contains a database of links to social media policies of over 80 organizations.

Verified: Google Ignores Meta Keywords

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:24:25 -0500

Google has clarified its policy on meta tags and page rank. Those of us trying to protect our clients from SEO/SEM snake-oil salesmen are happy to finally have an official statement from Google, even though we may have known the answer for years.

Google Chrome 3 Released

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:45:32 -0500

Google has announced the release of Chrome version 3 (stable release). Given that it just celebrated its first anniversary earlier this month, it may catch up to Internet Explorer versions in no time.

Twitter Updates ToS

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:00:44 -0500

On Thursday Twitter updated its Terms of Service. Much has already been said about how Twitter has confirmed that you as the author own your own tweets, but I was more taken with how Twitter made the new Terms easier to read for those of us who haven't gotten a law degree.

Facebook Doesn't Make You Smarter, Rigorous Research Does

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 17:25:41 -0500

Yesterday Mashable.com posted an article titled "Psychologist: Facebook Makes You Smarter, Twitter Makes You Dumber." It was originally from an article in the Telegraph titled "Facebook 'enhances intelligence' but Twitter 'diminishes it', claims psychologist." This morning I heard the story referenced on a couple morning news programs and I've seen it picked up one other news sites and blogs. It was also Mashable's most re-tweeted article yesterday. And it's also completely wrong.

Google Chrome Turns 1

Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:36:50 -0500

The Google Chrome blog has announced today that Chrome has officially turned 1 year old. In the regular world of software development, that might not be too long, but Google is quick to point out what they have done in just 1 year.