Sarah Fossheim

I will have freelance availability again from January onwards, focusing on web/dataviz accessibility: - Reviews (high-level or full audit) - Consulting, advice, documentation - Training, talks, workshops - Front-end dev 🫶🏻 Interested? DM or collab@fossheim.io #accessibility #datavizA11Y

Speaker applications for Access:Given 2027 in Newcastle are open. You can apply to give a lightning talk, deliver a longer talk, or join a panel. Applications close on 11 November. accessgiven.co.uk/speaker-guid... #accessibility

Some availability coming up again ⬇️

Rarely active here anymore, but dropping by to say that I will have availability for freelance web/dataviz accessibility work again soon: - Reviews, audits - Consulting, advice - Training, talks, workshops - Front-end dev 🫶🏻 Interested? DM or collab@fossheim.io #accessibility #datavizA11Y

Color contrast affects readability on the web and in print. It is especially important for users who are low vision or for users who are colorblind. Good color contrast means all users can see your content no matter the device they’re using or the lighting of their surroundings.

How broken is today's frontend culture? A friend points out that the median *mobile* page is now larger than a copy of DOOM (2.6 MiB vs. 2.48 MiB), the 75th percentile page is more than 2 DOOMs, and the P90 mobile page is 4.5x the size of DOOM: httparchive.org/reports/page...

up to 31m/s wind today and tomorrow 🚀💨

also if anyone's wondering why I've been real quiet on socials lately... been in bird banding training all summer/autumn in my spare time 🐦‍⬛💍 feels good to be contributing to science and be in research-oriented circles again 😌 pictured is a dunnock I ringed last week in Porsanger 🫶🏻

Starting my online workshop series on dataviz accessibility with @smashingconf.com next week ✨ We'll have interactive sessions, with theory, hands-on exercises, plenty of practical examples, and hopefully a lot of fun 🫶🏻 Want to join? smashingconf.com/online-works... #dataviz #accessibility

enrolled in bird banding training this summer, already got to band a fierce great grey shrike and a critically endangered rustic bunting. This is along a river between Norway and Russia, so our group also got 45 Russian birds in our nets.

Excited to announce that I’m hosting a Smashing Workshop on dataviz accessibility this autumn! Spread over 5 sessions, we’ll cover #DatavizA11Y fundamentals, and how to test, document, design, and develop accessible charts 📈 #accessibility #dataviz Info & tickets: smashingconf.com/online-works...

If your government is setting up concentration camps then you're the bad guys. It's remarkable that even needs saying in the 21st century.

went out for a dog walk around town, met a cute small birdy

Microsoft is asking managers to consider usage of AI tools in performance reviews and is considering formal metrics around AI tool usage. I don’t think usage of any tool, no matter how useful, has ever been a requirement to get a good performance review during my career. This is weird.

New paper reviewing the world's 10,443 Critically Endangered species: their status, distribution threats and the actions needed for their recovery www.nature.com/articles/s44...

Back under the midnight sun ☀️

If you’re looking for actionable dataviz/web accessibility reviews, consulting or training, I have some availability opening up from October onwards 💪🏻 And! The work will be done from an island at 70°N, surrounded by whales, 100.000s of birds, and a lot of weather 💨🌊 Interested? DM or fossheim.io

This is how fights start. Stop using divs to make buttons and links. If it changes the URL in any way, use an <a>. If a fuction is called that doesn't change the URL, use a <button>

Our drive up north has started 😱

moving out: done ✅ tomorrow the (looong) drive to our new place starts, and then from next week onwards we'll be living in the northernmost part of Norway 🐋☀️

Don't mess with zooming on a website. Don't mess with scrolling on a website. Don't mess with default cursors on a website. Don't mess with the default Tab order. Don't mess with the back button in the browser. Thank you.

I cannot stress to you enough how genuinely important this part of our care and feeding instructions is.

One response to my critique of Figma (and Figma Sites): “Any good designer would look into the accessibility and wait to use it.” I asked why they felt comfy holding individuals to that standard, but not a large company with infinitely more resources. Didn’t get an answer.

in 2014 after I started working in tech designers started saying that one day in the next few years design tools would publish websites and front-end devs would become obsolete. 11 years later, code by figma sites:

Currently in the south of the country taking a course in something that will hopefully let me combine bird and data nerding: bird ringing 🐦‍⬛💍 First class starts before 6am tomorrow 😵‍💫

Some people may be unable to use a mouse, and instead rely exclusively on keyboards, or use assistive technologies such as speech recognition, head pointers, mouth sticks, or eye-gaze tracking systems. If a website is accessible only to mouse users, these people will be excluded.

we’re moving to the other side of the country in two months, so we’re selling our home in center Grünerløkka. If you’re in #Oslo and looking to buy (or think you know someone who is), let me know and I’ll forward the link 💪🏻 2 bedroom, balcony, separate kitchen, large bathroom, 70sqm floorspace.

Woahh!! @ashleemboyer.com just let me know that an accessibility and visualization fireside chat (below, 2021) I was a participant in (with the legends @amycesal.com, Øystein Moseng, @fossheim.bsky.social, and @tink.uk) was cited and quoted in @merbroussard.bsky.social's book "More than a Glitch."

haven't been very active on social media lately because I've been busy with another project: our upcoming move to the arctic 🩵 last week we finally found a house, which we'll take over in May, and move into in June. This is so exciting 🤩

URGENT request for help: I need to build a case (soon) that justifies the "broader impact" of my research (yes, this is related to recent events in the US). If you have ever used Chartability or Data Navigator in your work in any capacity, I would love to know! Please email (fje@cmu.edu) or dm me.

This looks like a fantastic (and FREE!) #a11y workshop organized by the lovely folks at @smashingmagazine.com and featuring some *amazing* experts: @stephaniewalter.bsky.social @fossheim.bsky.social Kardo Ayoub Sadly, I'm not able to attend, but you should! smashingconf.com/meets-access... #ux

"Disabled users don't use my website" is a cop-out and a lie. There's no way to know how many assistive technology users are using your site. You can't confidently exclude a large portion of the world's population that has a disability by claiming none of them use your site.

Don't forget to register for your free ticket to Smashing Meets Accessibility, streaming on Thursday February 20th at 8AM PT (4PM GMT). @geoffgraham.me will be hosting talks from @fossheim.bsky.social, @stephaniewalter.bsky.social, and Kardo Ayoub. smashingconf.com/meets-access... #Accessibility

Make sure that interactive elements that can be accessed by using a mouse, pen, trackpad or touch are at least 24 by 24 CSS pixels. This helps people with low vision and/or limited motor control select the intended element without accidentally selecting nearby elements.