Everything I need to know about accessibility I learned from Star Wars by Derek Featherstone.
Small band of rebels versus the unfeeling evil empire :)
A good motivational, conceptual overview of Accessibility. Not much by way of example or technique, but still good. Check out my notes below.
#### “I don’t think the Empire had Wookies in mind when they build her, Chewie.” ####
– People in the rebel alliance are all shapes and sizes, imperial storm troopers are all identical.
– Uniformity vs. diversity.
#### Jar Jar Binks ####
– Seemed like a good idea at the time. If we were going to do it again, we wouldn’t include Jar Jar
– tabindex. seems like a good idea but you have to do it really really well or you will create more problems than you solve.
#### Luke and Leia ####
– Seems to imply something at the time, but as son as we find out more information, doesn’t make as much sense.
#### Star Wars Holiday Special ####
– What happens if Wookies work well? MORE WOOKIES! Right??
#### Early movie concepts ####
– Early concepts, pretty weak, and odd.
– Iterations are very important to make sure we are putting out a “right” product and won’t be putting out confusing products
#### Digital Enhancements ####
– Technology was added over time so more could be done.
– Some scenes (storm troopers in the desert) they enhanced the product, but did not change the content. Done well.
– Cantina scene however, Greedo shoots first. BOOO. Didn’t just change the presentation, they changed the content.
#### Luke dressed as storm trooper ####
– Luke doesn’t fit the uniform look of a storm trooper
– No matter what something looks like, it’s what’s under the costume (HTML) that actually matters.
#### These aren’t the droids you’re looking for…. ####
– Luke’s first experience with the jedi mind trick, and it doesn’t make sense to him.
– Power of suggestion used to make people who are looking for one thing think they are getting what they are looking for, but are given something else.
#### “Good against remotes is one thing, good against the living is another” ####
– At the end of the day it’s about the people, not the screen readers!
#### The Death Star ####
– Technical marvel! Unheard of in history
– Wide open to a small scale attacks from a very small group of people.
– Sites that are revolutionary and technical marvels are often fatally flawed for accessibility.
#### Yoda’s Last Words to Luke ####
– Accessibility people often feel like the last Jedi.
– We have to pass on what we learn.
– We have to use what we’ve learned on a new project on the next one and to pass it on to other “Jedi”.
#### Try not, do or do not, there is no try ####
– “Always with you it cannot be done.”
– No difference between the stones and the x-wing
– We can’t say that this is too big of a project, we just have to believe we can do it!
#### “I don’t believe it!” “That is why you fail.” ####
– Never give up!
– We need to help make believers out of other people.
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