Jon Gibbins

Appt News (Accessible Mobile Apps) - Issue #75 Hey y'all, In this edition, we have a special guest bringing you the latest in accessibility news! Daniel Devesa Derksen-Staats is an iOS engineer and native accessibility expert. You may know him fr...

The latest Appt Mobile Accessibility Newsletter is out! This time written by
@dadederk.bsky.social
appt.news/appt-news-ac... #iOS #Android #Accessibility #A11y

Dinosaurs. In case anyone hasn’t noticed, the world is not white, and we live in an international society. DEI is a reflection of our humanity.

You had a good week last week.

You’re pumped, and ready to have another productive week.

But it’s Monday lunch time, and all you’ve really managed so far is calming your child from an anxiety attack and dealing with the fact that some fucker has stolen the catalytic converter from your vehicle.

Some days, it only takes one ill-timed comment from someone to throw your whole day out of whack. I think today is going to be one of those days.

I like it when numbers serendipitously run in order.

A glance at my wrist watch: 12:34.

Unread inbox items hitting 12,345!

A follower count hitting 321.

A bank balance hitting… well, best not go there at the moment! 😆

Wrote a song for my wife about her smile and when we first met, but it wasn’t very good.

Maybe just stick to covers, eh?

I used to write songs. I miss it sometimes. Not sure I’m very good at it, though.

Tried to write a song or two about my mum passing, but could never get it quite right.

A song fell out of me once, about a girl, but I was only ever brave enough to play it to a songwriting buddy.

Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership We’re Bristol Climate and Nature Partnership, a unique network united by one vision: a zero-carbon, nature-rich, socially just future for our city.

Wonderful to witness yesterday the launch of big bunch of resources from the Bristol Climate & Nature Partnership for people working at the intersection of climate and disability.

More here:
bristolclimatenature.org/news/creatin...

#IntersectionalEnvironmentalism

Web Sustainability Guidelines (WSG) becomes a first public Draft Note This specification defines guidelines that use planetary, people, and prosperity principles (the PPP approach) throughout the decision-making process, allowing users to minimize their environmental im...

An updated version of the Web Sustainability Guidelines has just been published as a First Public Draft Note.

(This is not a specification yet; it is subject to formal review.)

www.w3.org/news/2025/we...

Interestingly, the station switcher on the Home Screen is not experienced, but there is one under “Stations & schedules” that demonstrates an Adjustable control.

Sad to note that the BBC Sounds iOS app no longer supports Adjustable for the station switcher control on its Home screen. In fact, it isn’t VoiceOver accessible at all any more. I used to use it as a good example in training…

#MobileAccessibility

Jim and Jon smiling to camera, with the dull remains of a pedestrian crossing painted in the transgender flag colours behind them.

So good to see this guy earlier this week! It’s been too long, @eatyourgreens.org.uk!

I’ve bumped into a few long-time web geek friends recently, which has made me want more informal geek meets like Geek in the Park back in the day.

Inclusive Design 24 (#id24) A free 24-hour online community event on accessibility and inclusion

Inclusive Design 24 is this week! We go live on 25 September, with twenty four hours of live talks about accessibility and inclusive design. All streamed for free, no registration required. Here's our schedule for this year: inclusivedesign24.org/2025/schedule/ #id24 #accessibility #InclusiveDesign

Screenshot of a slide titled "BBC Sounds navigation". There are three rows, each containing a bottom app navigation bar. The first shows a row of labeled icons with clear contrast for both the active navigation section and inactive navigation sections. The second row shows a variant of the navigation bar where the inactive navigation sections have a low-contrast color treatment. The third row shows a liquid glass treatment for the navigation, where the contrast between the background and the foreground is difficult to discern.

My main takeaway so far from this @inclusivedesign24.bsky.social talk about BBC app design is that Apple's liquid glass is absolute dogshit when it comes to accessibility 😬

Presentation slide stating: Starting from where we are, not from where we should be

An inspiring Green IO conference in London with passionate technologists from NGOs, startups, gov teams, academia—united in making our digital world better for the planet. A reminder to start where we are, and that we're stronger together when working on big issues.

Is it too much to ask for a web browser that reliably remembers state? One that doesn’t crash and lose the open tabs. One that reopens with its windows in the virtual desktops they were on when it quit?

Chrome? Nope!
Firefox? ‘Fraid not!
Brave? Nearly!
Vivaldi? Not looking good…

Would be great to see you! I’ll message

Jon standing against a leafy wallpaper holding a few copies of Sustainable Web Design by Tom Greenwood.

Looking forward to Green IO London next week, and meeting some people formerly only known as pixels! Come and say hi 👋

Oh, and I’ll have copies of Tom Greenwood’s book, Sustainable Web Design, to give away!

How do we fix this mess?

Some days I think my days in accessibility are done. Then I find another ounce of arsedness to fight the battle. Because that’s what it’s always been. A fucking battle for equity, fairness, justice. With what’s going on in the world right now, those things can seem far away. But if not us, then who?

Front cover and CD of Jon Gomm’s Hypertension album (2003)

Hah! I found my copy of this last weekend, too! Picked up at open mic at The Red Lion in York in 2003/4. Sadly, not a signed copy, but in very good condition!

Selfie wearing a purple t-shirt that says perceivable & operable & understandable & robust & punch Nazis.

Yesterday I was teaching people the POUR principles of accessible software at #RSECon25 so I got to wear the “POUR & Punch Nazis” shirt (thanks @aardrian!)

The latest trend in AI!!!

“Hey, check out this latest AI innovation!!!”

Me: “That’s just normal software, mate?”

“Wow! 😮 Check out this AI robotic ice cream machine! AI seamlessly integrated into our everyday lives!”

Me: ”That’s a hacked coffee machine; they’ve been around for decades.”

…feels perpetually overwhelmed. Anybody else?

Feeling a bit “TOFU” this week…

Tired, Old, and Fucking Useless

I love little moments of serendipity. Over the weekend, I walked past somebody and thought I recognised them. I’m so glad I stopped to say hello as I’ve not seen Denis for 20 years, and the finding ourselves in the same place away from home was quite incredible.

When a video from Apple about their latest accessibility features can’t be arsed to get colour contrast right, you have to wonder if the battle for basic access for all will ever be won.

Did you know that there’s an English word for schadenfreude?

Got to love articles about specific dates that don’t have obvious publish dates. But yes, loved my Amiga!

What’s one thing you wish was more widely known about digital accessibility?

I’ll go first.

I wish more developers knew how to check elements for accessible names, roles and values.

#accessibility #a11y