A new, lightweight datepicker widget, Pickadate.js, was released recently, and caused a few people to contact its creator, @Amsul, regarding a lack of accessibility features in the code. His reply was quite depressing:

Our target market doesn’t need it [accessibility], so its safe for us to use.

Most of us, I’m sure, would admit that we could do a better job of making our websites accessible, but to actively state that a11y isn’t required seems wilfully stupid. I don’t know how you get to serve pages only to your target market. I mean, this is the web; it’s public; stuff gets everywhere.

Through sheer serendipity I read an article by Karl Groves about an hour later, which states clearly why a11y should be something you concern yourself with: Yes, actually, it may be you one day. He sums it up perfectly:

If you market or develop ICT products and services and you’re still ignoring accessibility, you’re ignoring the coming reality. One day it will be you, or someone you know and love.

I’m very proud to have been asked to present at the first Future of Web Design in Prague, Czech Republic, later this month. I’ll be giving a one-day workshop, called CSS3 Master Class, then presenting a talk with the title CSS3 Layouts for the Multi-screen World in the Design track the following day.

If you fancy seeing a great line-up of local and international speakers in the beautiful city of Prague you can get a 10% discount by using the code SPEAKER10 when you register; that’s almost €50 off a one-day ticket, €90 off a two-day ticket, and over €100 off the full workshop and conference ticket. That should help convince your boss to pay for it. Hope to see some of you there.