Easy! Reader

As opposed to just adding it to the comments in my original post, I decided to post the continuation of my email conversation with the unnamed executive at my former employer about the Target.com lawsuit as a new entry. This is mostly for Derek’s amusement, but I thought of a few other things to say on the subject as well.

We’ll start with his response. This is copied directly from his email; I take no credit for the spelling, grammar, etc.:

I understand all that you are saying. The difference I see is a “public” building like a Target store is an impediment of it doesn’t have a ramp, etc. and it does matter. It is a physical, public places that discriminates if they don’t have the ramps, etc.

I just see the web as slightly different. While ‘public’ in a sense, it is just as easy for a disabled person to find a web accessible site as it is to find a non-accessible one. You don’t have to drive or walk anywhere. Just click on a different URL. If Target discriminates against people with disabilities it is their problem, not mine.

So if Target doesn’t make their site accessible, they lose for all the reasons you state. And why do I care if Target loses out on all the things you mention? It is just as easy to click on walmart.com or wherever to find the accessibility you need.

And my response to his:

I agree that it is not your problem as a citizen of the USA/world/universe/whatever. And, personally, I could care less if most major corporations blipped out of existence. But we (as marketers and people responsible for our clients’ online marketing/branding/presence/etc.) need to be aware of this and know that overcoming this “obstacle” does not take much and that the benefits far outweigh the time and money involved. We need to be able to work with our clients in their best interests, guiding them down the right path from a business standpoint, even if the benefits are not immediately apparent to them.

Now I’m not condoning the lawsuit, but it also helps from a PR standpoint not to get sued by a group of citizens with disabilities. After all, who’s going to look like the asshole there?

After hitting send, I (of course) thought of a bunch of other stuff to say. I will spare you the entirety of my thoughts save this one:

It is not just as easy for a disabled person to find a web accessible site as it is to find a non-accessible one. There is a real dearth of e-commerce sites on the web that are accessible. That is a major part of the problem. Perhaps if more e-commerce software companies took a page from Karova, users surfing the web with disabilities or (shock) JavaScript turned off might be able to choose to shop somewhere other than a Target or a Wal-Mart or any other store which does not meet their accessibility (or availability) requirements.

Anyway, he hasn’t responded to that last email and perhaps he never will. After all, I gave my notice the next day. And, no, this exchange was not responsible for that in any way.

While working on a new site, I started playing around a little more with 8-bit PNG files, comparing them to GIFs. In a few cases the PNG was smaller (it didn’t used to be that way, but perhaps Photoshop CS2 does a better job of compressing PNG files or something), so used it. All was good until I started testing the design in IE, where the colors were all off. Here’s a breakdown of how the same graphic (placed as a CSS background image against a background color equal to its own background color) rendered between the two browsers:

I am well-aware of the issues regarding IE’s handling of alpha transparency in 24-bit PNGs, but had not heard of any color-related issues with 8-bit PNGs in IE6. I did a test in IE7B2 to see if the error was there too and it was.

I did some searching on Google and couldn’t seem to find any documentation on this bug, but it’s certainly something I’d recommend they fix for the final release of IE7. For now, however, the only solutions appear to be adding color-correction to your CSS for IE (if you are dead-set on using an 8-bit PNG) or using a GIF.

Well, after much debate and deep deliberation, I did it. I quit my job.

Why? Well, it was the confluence of a number of factors, some having to do with the work environment at Cronin and Company, others stemming from my desire to be my own boss, do more training/speaking engagements, and to write more. Mostly, though, I think I needed a change.

I had been working at Cronin for just over three years, both as a contractor and on staff. I was the lead developer in the Digital department and oversaw/had a hand in most of the work we put out. I’m proud of what we accomplished and I am happy to have set the tone for coding there (web standards, accessibility and all that jazz), but I had pretty much gone as far as I could there. I don’t have any interest in project management (I’m nowhere near that organized) and I had no interest in trying to unseat my boss to take over running the department (I find most meetings a waste of time… hallway discussions are much more productive).

I’m not much of a gambler, so shifting to full-time contracting was/is a little scarey for me. Luckily, the good folks at Bolt | Peters were gracious enough to offer me a soft landing. Starting Friday, I joined their staff, part-time, as Senior Web Developer and will be working on ethnio.com and the Ethnio application itself. I’m really excited about working with Nate, Mike, Julian and the rest of the B|P crew. I’m also a huge believer in Ethnio. I think it’s going to revolutionize the usability field.

In addition to my work with B|P, I’ll also be taking a lot more time to focus on my work through Easy Designs. We have a lot of interesting projects coming up—both client work and some stuff of our own—which we will be unveiling over the coming months. In fact, since the word started getting around on Friday, I’ve been swamped with phonecalls about doing new stuff. It’s great to have a lot of people interested in hiring me, but I wish they had projects which started a little later in the year.

I really got the teaching bug in 2005. Maybe it was spending so much time working with Molly on the WOW Web Design Tour and doing training sessions for the EPA and Gartner. I had such a blast spreading the gospel of web standards and seeing the lightbulbs go off above the heads of attendees. I suppose it’s not surprising given that I come from a family of teachers. My hope is that I will be able to do more speaking/training/etc. without the constraints of a day job.

Then there’s the writing end of things. Looking back at the past year, I’m amazed at how much I ended up getting out there. Articles just kept flowing out of me for some reason. Some were self-published, others ended up gracing the pages of Digital Web Magazine and A List Apart, the latter being where I also took the graciously offered position of Production Editor.

Book work was also in the cards for me as I offered my informal assistance/opinions to Jeremy on early drafts of his fantastic DOM Scripting tome and worked side-by-side with Jen Robbins and Derek Featherstone to completely revamp the 3rd Edition of Web Design in a Nutshell to bring it in-line with web standards and current best practices. The timeline was pretty tight, but I managed to bang out three chapters on CSS hacks, JavaScript, AJAX and the DOM in about 2 weeks of evenings and weekends. It’ll be coming out later this month and it’s been really exciting to have been a part of it. It was such a great experience, in fact, that I’m in the process of brainstorming a few titles of my own… but more on that later.

So here I am, making the move to the uncertain/exhilerating/terrifying/fantastic world of freelancing. I am glad I’m doing it and I really appreciate all of the words of encouragement I’ve gotten from friends and colleagues. The web community is truly that… a community. They are a close social safety net who look out for one another and I couldn’t hope to be a part of a better group of people. Many thanks to all of you and I hope I can be as much help if any of you ever decide to consider this leap yourselves.

PS - If you want my old job, it’s available.