Dispatches From The Internets

Opening Standards

This is exciting news:

For the first time, all of W3C’s active Working Groups now operate in public.

Open Source Style Guide

A fantastic overview of best practices for running an open source project on Github from the folks at 18F. Covers everything to naming your project to writing READMEs to reporting issues.

Ramblings on New Browser Features, Interop­erability, Craft, and the Future of the Web

Last week Peter-Paul Koch (PPK) posted a lengthy treatise on why browsers should stop “pushing the web forward”. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and agree with him on a number of points. I also agreed with the well-articulated responses from Jake Archibald (of Google) and Bruce Lawson (of Opera). I guess I’m saying I see both sides. Like Chris Coyier, I live in a world filled with varying shades of grey rather than stark black & white.

Text justification and accessibility

Worth noting:

Justifying text can present problems for people with Dyslexia, where the extended spaces between words and sometimes letters within words can create what’s been termed “rivers of white”, referring to the spaces of white that can visually dominate the text.

Google+: A case study on App Download Interstitials

No big surprise: The app-promoting interstitial drove users away to the tune of 69%. And so…

Based on these results, we decided to permanently retire the interstitial. We believe that the increase in users on our product makes this a net positive change, and we are sharing this with the hope that you will reconsider the use of promotional interstitials. Let’s remove friction and make the mobile web more useful and usable!

How Google designs for the blind

While not hugely in-depth, this is a good piece for a broad audience on why accessibility matters. It also talks about some of the ways Google is working to make accessibility part of their culture.