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Michael "Spell" Spellacy Front-end developer, designer and accessibility specialist in Allentown, PA

Thursday, January 4, 2024

A11y.Info Update

Hi all! I am faced with having to make a hard decision about a11y.info. The costs for it are rising and I am currently paying $30 dollars a month to keep it going. I was...

Friday, October 30, 2020

Re: Anchors

I never realized that about anchors. You learn something new everyday. Thanks Adrian!

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

This is a note, not an article. Notes are like Facebook wall posts…or something.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

HTMSpell on HTMHell

Some bad HTML I discovered on Disney Plus' web app is featured here. This is a fun site, too. Lots to learn.

Tuesday, February 4, 2020

Pushing Buttons

Buttons vs. Links Understanding Roles Keyboard Benefits Hyperlink Suppression Solutions Example Support Buttons vs. Links Hopefully by now, most of us understand when we should be using button and a elements in our work. If...

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Monday, January 20, 2020

This is great, Nic! Can you cite an example of disclosure menu that uses hover and click? Remarkably, I still have trouble with these! Thanks!

Oh, I like this. WCAG for the non-techs in the audience.

Tuesday, December 3, 2019

Saturday, November 23, 2019

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Wonderful overview of implmenting escape key functionality in your work. By Sarah Higley

Friday, November 8, 2019

Accessibility Testing Statistic

This is an amazing statistic: When testing a website for WCAG compliance, only 18% of criteria can be tested automatically, 31% auto+manual verification, and 47% manual only. via @KarlGroves #a11y #wcag #testing – @webaxe

Wasn't Aria the name of a character in Game of Thrones? Should have went with "Aria Bark". Oh well. #missedopportunities

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

Great job, Spell!

Sunday, November 3, 2019

Well, I think that is very interesting. Yes sir.

Just testing to see if webmentions are working properly on the site now. I’d listen to Spell. He is a smart fellow. :-)

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Cool. Trying to figure out webmentions myself. Lots to learn!

Testing webmentions. I think they are cool.

Hi! Came across your site in the IndieWeb ring. Just trying replies. Could you please reply back? Thanks! Glad you fixed your disposal!

Thursday, June 27, 2019

“QA testers: you are incredibly important. You are the last stop before a product lands in front of the user. All users are different. As with dev and design, as the web evolves, so must...

Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Nice post here about “sticky” navigations and prefers-reduced-motion, which I have also been using more and more often. In addition to CSS, don’t forget that you can do it in JavaScript, too. const mediaQuery =...

Wednesday, May 1, 2019

The Last Word (Maybe) on Opening New Windows

From time to time, the question surrounding the opening of new windows (tabs) to external sites...pops up. (Sorry.) I thought I would share a few thoughts as to why we may want to think real...

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Building A Better Video Banner

So I made this thing. Clients and colleagues often ask me for "video hero banners". I guess they are really sexy and engaging or something. While desktop is never usually an issue, I have often...

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

How To Host An Infographic

I have seen colleagues get a little confused while attempting to create infographics, so this is an effort to clear things up and also improve upon the accessibility of them, which is almost always forgotten....

How To Host An Infographic (HTML Fallback)

This is the text based fallback version of our infographic. Some infographics can be very design heavy, so fallbacks are meant to simply convey the same information locked within them, to assistive technology users and...

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Linktravaganza: Cloaking Without the Cloak

Linktravaganza: The process of adding unnecessary links to your web page or application for the sole purpose of pleaseing search engines. Often also refred to as "Link Farms", these steps are often taken to legitimize...

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Rethinking Social Media Plugins

In our endeavors on the web, it is easy, for those who have a hand in contributing to it, to reach for the low hanging fruit. Social plugins are a popular example of this. They...

Friday, September 5, 2014

Accessibility is a Constant

Congratulations on the launch of your awesome new site! Hearty handshakes and back slaps all around! You launched on time (and under budget) and have met all of your client's business requirements, one of which...

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Pushing It Forward: The Web Turns 25

The World Wide Web turns 25 today. That is a long time, and yet, relatively speaking, it is but a drop in the bucket. The web is still in its infancy and yet it has...