Author: admin

By using PivotChart, we were able to visualize the discrepancies between each of the fields that we were given, specifically with the comparison between male and female (whether it be for average age, occupation, etc.). We can also use PivotChart to compare different fields as well, such as the value of the real estate versus the total number of people in the household. While I did not generate any visualizations that were confusing or misleading, I feel like it would be meaningless to compare the occupations of male householders to female householders, since female householders all were “keeping the house”, and the male householders were primarily farmers.

For this week, we learned about web accessibility and its importance. From watching the videos provided, something that I learned from the people sharing their experiences is the importance of keyboard compatibility, as one person described how users who rely solely on their keyboards (whether because of permanent or temporary accessibility issues) experienced websites that either trap focus or require mouse interactions. This made me realize how common assumptions about mouse use can exclude many users, which reminds me to be thoughtful about tab order and keyboard operability when creating my own site. Another person shared how they had issues with low contrast text that blended into the background of the site, which made content effectively invisible, not due to the screen size or resolution, but simply because of poor color choice. Prior to watching these videos, I had not realized how much the color palette of a website could affect users, specifically those with color blindness.

Looking at the WCAG checklist, a technical feature that stood out to me was the all img tags having alt attributes. It could be directly implemented in editors or CMSs, which can help clarify the meanings of images for users. A conceptual design feature that I looked at was to properly structure headings, or deciding whether or not to use a table versus a list. This requires thoughtful content planning, rather than just randomly placing elements everywhere. Lastly, a feature that I had not considered before as a part of web accessibility was the point about non-text contrast, i.e. ensuring sufficient contrast for user interface components beyond plain text (such as form controls, icons, focus indicators). Previously, I looked at text legibility, but like I said before, I had not realized that contrast issues can also make interactive elements difficult to see.

When I put my site through the accessibility checker, I noticed that I had an empty heading, and a redundant link. To fix these things, I removed the unused heading to avoid confusion for screen reader users, and deleted the redundant link so that navigation is clearer, and less repetitive.

I am really excited to begin talking about the things that I will learn this semester. I am also excited to post about how the tools and technology that I learn how to use can be applied to my particular project, and what I will be able to use these tools for in the future. There is a lot of new information that I need to learn somewhat quickly, and I feel kind of overwhelmed and intimidated by the concept of learning all of these tools. I think I need to remind myself that sometimes, it is okay to not master everything right away, and it’s also okay for me to not know something initially, and ask for help.

I am really looking forward to sprucing up my website. I looked at the websites of past fellows, and I think they did a really good job with their website designs! Right now, my site isn’t too pretty, but like most things in life, it’s a work in progress, and that’s ok.