Web forms rock

They are easily accessible, can feed information directly to a database and replace tree-killing paper versions.

Web forms suck

They are difficult to style, require massive validation and and the elements look drastically different on each browser.

And don’t get me started on accessibility.

OK, get me started…

It takes a lot of work to make forms accessible to those using assistance devices.

Yet, it is worth it – people with differing levels of sight and mobility deserve to be able to use your form. And sometimes, your form becomes the only option when they can’t interact with the paper version.

So webmonkeys, please think about:

• Proper fieldset nesting.
• Labels and titles that make sense.
• TabIndex when appropriate.
• Validation that works with screen readers.

But, even with all that – some users will be frustrated by the computers lack of cooperation. For instance…

On a Mac (OSX), using tab to navigate FAILS

You see, buried deep in the system preferences (the computer’s, not the browser’s) is a setting for “Full Keyboard Access” that is set, by standard, to skip select, and radio button inputs.

FireFox seems to respect this and skips those elements. Good for FireFox. Bad for users.

The funny thing is that Safari partially ignores it and allows you to tab to select inputs. However, radio buttons are still out.

So, let your users know where to chance this setting:

Computer System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Keyboard Shortcuts > Look to the bottom at “Full Keyboard Access” and select “All Controls”

… but of course the setting to recognize radio buttons IS A RADIO BUTTON!

So, good luck navigating to it via the keyboard.

Finding that path less traveled. One blustery afternoon while on a camping trip in the Washington backcountry, I had the idea for www.TrailB.com, a hiker community site. I envisioned a place where I could photo blog all of my adventures for others to see and also search for new adventures by reading the logs of other outdoor travelers. During the summer of 2005, I thru-hiked the 2600 mile Pacific Crest Trail, uploading my daily journals to the site as I went along.

I am currently working to update the site. Check out the in-progress development version.

Freelance Project, www.AlyssaAndRobert.com. I was contracted to design and build an informational web site for a large upcoming wedding. The site provided an introduction to the Portland area, as well as contact information for services regarding the event. The domain has expired, but an archive of the site is still available.

www.Nagmay.com is the growing portfolio of Samantha Nagmay, a local Portland sculptor. The site contains biographical information and images of her many, many works. As of summer 2005, several of the section are still waiting for content to be provided.

The final project for CS465, this CGI web application is a full featured and customizable message board written in Perl. It allows for end users to create topics, reply with infinite levels of sub-topics, post links, share files and much more. It also tracks statistics and allows for a high level of administration. The link leads to a version where can create your own username/password, but to gain access to that page try: grader/gradenice

After the distance orientation, PCC asked me back to work on a complete re-design of the Portland Community Collage Distance Education website during the summer of 2002. This site is primarily programmed in ColdFusion, contains numerous dynamically generated pages, and serves hundreds of PCC students each year. The process incorporated closely working with many of the DE faculty and staff to ensure that the site would adequately serve the PCC distance students and community. This included a focus on ADA compliance and end-user testing.

Prior to the construction of the Distance Education site, I participated on a team of developers hired to design the extensive Online Orientation. This orientation is required for all perspective students, and makes sure that they gain the skills necessary to take an online course. While my time was mostly spent on constructing the structure and interface of the cite, I also participated in creating Flash tutorials and other interactive elements, including a schedule tool written in JavaScript.

DynamicPhoto is a little web application written that I created while teaching myself PHP. It uses object-oriented techniques and the GD library, allowing a user to easily manage an online photo album. Once photos are uploaded, the server dynamically creates all of the borders, text and icons.

GlassRoots Innovations contracted me to construct their e-commerce site. The final product allowed the owners to upload a continually changing catalog of hand-blown glass items. It also featured an admin section that allowed them to track orders and overall web-cite traffic. Once, located at glassrootsinnovaions.com, the company has since shut down.