It’s a huge project and we’re looking for as many volunteers as possible. If you’d like to help translate or help with localizing content for your local education system email the ILG leads and we’ll put you in touch with other volunteers.

Full details abut how to get involved can be found in the Internationalizing and Translating InterAct forum.

Thank you to everyone who’s involved so far!

All to often we see great articles in English which get lost in translation for non-English speakers. This can be a real hindrance when trying to keep up to date with web standards not to mention a huge barrier to overcome when you’re trying to convince others to follow web standards. We appreciate how hard it can be sometimes so we thought it was time to do something about it.

Over the last few weeks we’ve been compiling a list of translations of quality articles in our web standards translations page. At the moment we just list articles but over time hope to add a section that references websites and blogs from around the world. To build up this resource we need your help however as we are looking for:

• Translators
• People to help spread the word and find translators
• New articles to add to the resource
• Suggestions or requests for translations

Ideally articles should be hosted on a website that is not only faithful to web standards and accessible, but also what you consider to be a really good quality translation. If you’d like to get involved then either leave us a comment or email the International Liaison group. The more the better!

Castellano (Spanish)

Existen muchos recursos y blogs de gran utilidad en todo el mundo, escritos en diversos idiomas acerca de los estándares web. Sin embargo, de vez en cuando encuentro un escrito en inglés y pienso “Qué fantástico artículo, pero me gustaría que todo mundo pudiera leerlo”.

Muy frecuentemente vemos muy buenos artículos en inglés que se desvirtúan al ser traducidos para personas que no hablan inglés. Esto puede ser un verdadero obstáculo cuando se trata de mantenerse al día con los estándares web, sin mencionar la enorme barrera que debe pasarse cuando tratas de convencer a otros de seguirlos. Como vemos lo difícil que esto puede ser a veces, pensamos que era tiempo de hacer algo al respecto.

Desde hace algunas semanas, hemos estado compilando una lista de traducciones de artículos de calidad en nuestra página de traducciones de estándares web. Actualmente sólo enlistamos artículos, pero con el tiempo esperamos añadir una sección que haga referencia a sitios web y blogs de todo el mundo. Para construir este recurso necesitamos tu ayuda, pues estamos buscando:

• Traductores;
• Personas que nos ayuden a difundir este proyecto y encontrar traductores;
• Nuevos artículos para añadir a la página de recursos;
• Sugerencias o peticiones de traducciones;

Idealmente, los artículos deben estar hospedados en un sitio web que no sólo sea fiel a los estándares web y sea accesible, sino que también consideres que sea una traducción realmente de buena calidad. Si quisieras participar, por favor envía un correo al Grupo Internacional de Enlace (ILG). ¡Entre más seamos, mejor!

Take it away Bruce!

I was recently lucky enough to travel around some universities in Indonesia, lecturing on emerging web standards as part of an Opera University Tour. In Indonesia, web standards are not widespread although interest is growing. One group who are really on the ball are the team behind the website of Institut Teknologi Bandung, a technology institute who hosted a lecture. I spoke to one of the team, Widianto Nugroho about his work, and standards in the world’s third most populous country.

How big is the ITB web team?

Our team consists of five people, two web designers, and three programmers. We are responsible for development of web application of the ITB website as well as maintaining its day-to-day operation. Websites of other sub-units (faculties, schools, programs, offices, etc.) are run by each unit’s webmasters/admins. We work with other teams, such as the reporter team that is responsible for the content, and sys admin team that responsible for running the servers.

When and why did you decide to use web standards?

Tableless layout was implemented in 2004. Before that, we still used tables for layout purposes due to the lack of browser support before that time, but used valid tags and a proper doctype. We use web standards because:

• we want our web site to be accessible with any browser. During the browser wars, we decided that this was the right direction for developing our site.
• we need interoperability in our information system. There are many applications developed by many teams. The ITB main website is just one of those applications.

Did you meet your goals by using the standards?

Yes. standards make our web works better in any browser, and they give us a good foundation for developing our website in the future.

What is the hardest part about trying to use standards?

It is hard, trying to use standards in the beginning. After that, our job became a lot more easier with standards; we can make any improvement more easily.

Do you have any connection with the W3C?

No, not yet, but my team has proposed ITB to join W3C in the next year. I hope ITB can participate in the development of standards, especially for web technologies for developing countries.

Looking more broadly, how wide-spread are standards in Indonesia? Why? What could be done to encourage use of standards?

I don’t know exactly, but some of web designers/developers and blogger activists that I know are very concerned about web standards. What could be done is through education and workshops about why web standards are important.

What are the biggest challenges facing the web in Indonesia today?

The biggest challenges in my opinion are:

• the habit of developers, especially those who come from pre-tableless era.
• there are no government regulations relating to the technical implementation of the web, such as regulation for governmental websites. The government policy that relates to the IT area is legislation called Undang-undang tentang Informasi dan Transaksi Elektronik or the Law Information and Electronic Transactions, which does not cover web standards, browser compatibility or accessibility issues.

Are web standards taught in schools, universities and other places of education?

No. In secondary school level, there is a vocational type of school that specializes in Informatics/Computer Science (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan Informatika/SMK Informatika) where web design and development are taught. However, the content of the curriculum in this level is more concentrated on the Web in general, how to build it, and make use of the available tools/software.

The educational system currently employed in primary and secondary schools in Indonesia is decentralized in nature. With this system each educational unit (school) can tailor their own curriculum based on their localities, needs, etc. Hence, the implementation of the web design/development curriculum can be different from one school to another. It is similar to the higher education system; for example, in the Informatics Program here at ITB there is no course about web standards, neither is there in our Visual Communication Design Program.

In other places, most of the courses relate to the tools/software, programming languages and databases such as PHP/MySQL, or to particular platform such as .NET.

How aware is the average web designer about web standards and, if not, why not?

I believe that awareness of web standards is growing among web designers in Indonesia. However, I can’t yet say that all of the designers are using web standards properly. Some designers are submitting their work to CSS showcase such us the CSSmania.com, etc. This situation is supported by significant contributions by some individuals who promote web standards through blogs, mailing lists and forums.

Are there many resources in Bahasa Indonesian?

There are some resources:

Mailing list/Forums:

• Massive Lab Forum massivelab.com (design in general)
• Teknologia @googlegroups (information technology in general)
• WebPM @yahoogroups (practicing web designers/developers)
• WordPress Indonesia @googlegroups
• Drupal Indonesia @drupal.org

Blogs:

• Boy Avianto
• Thomas Arie Setiawan
• Dani Iswara

Who are the influential bloggers?

Influential bloggers that I know:

• Enda Nasution
• Priyadi Iman Nurcahyo
• Ikhlasul Amal
• Budi Rahardo

A huge thank you from WaSP and for taking the time to be interviewed, and for carrying the web standards torch in Indonesia!

The curriculum, which will work in parallel with the upcoming Web Standards Framework from WaSP, is a set of fifty-five articles covering everything from the history of web standards and why they matter through to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, accessibility and much more.

One of the most important things for us in the International Liaison Group is to support the translation of good resources in multiple languages. If you’re interested in either reading translations or helping with the translations themselves check out the list of Web Standards Curriculum translations.

Disclaimer: I work for Opera as a Web Evangelist but am posting this as I truly think the Web Standards Curriculum is a great resource drawing on the expertise of some great people across the industry.

Enjoy!

The article is now available in both Spanish and French.

• An Introduction to WAI ARIA, original article in English
• Introducción a WAI-ARIA, Spanish version translated by David Martin
• Introduction à WAI ARIA, French version translate by Pierre Bertet

Interested in translating it? Then contact Gez, he’d be happy to hear from you.

This free online book, written by Shawn Lawton Henry from W3C in her spare time, looks at all you need to know about user testing with people with disabilities. In it she covers theory rather than code focusing on accessibility in the user-centered design process, how to recruit people with disabilities, user groups and persona’s, evaluation and much more.

This is not a book about accessibility techniques, be that HTML, CSS or scripting advice. And despite working for the W3C, Shawn has not created another W3C-style document. This book will find most use, I think, with people who already do testing of some nature but to whom accessibility is still a black art. It will also appeal to people running small business – perhaps developers who know their HTML/CSS trade inside and out but want to be able to expand their horizons and go beyond simply saying “we create accessible web sites” and really mean it – and I would also recommend that some of the accessibility gurus take a leaf through this and not assume that they know it already.

Read the full review on Accessify.

What’s really good about Just Ask is that not only is it a free online book it’s also available in Japanese and Spanish. Alternatively, for a small donation, you can get a hard copy of the English version.

• Just ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design – free online version (English)
• Just ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design – hard copy (English)
• Simplemente pregunta: Integración de la accesibilidad en el diseño – online (Español)
• Simplemente pregunta: Integración de la accesibilidad en el diseño – imprimir libro (Español)
• Just Ask: デザインプロセスを通じて取り組むアクセシビリティ (日本語)

Getting books and articles published in languages other than English is one of the main goals of ILG. If interested in helping out you could always approach authors directly or contact us at ILG Co-leads.

If you’re looking for some other good books about web standards, accessibility and usability check out our recommended books page.

Web Standards Cafés have been held all over the world bringing together people passionate about the web and making it work for everyone. They’ve always been a great place for web professionals to share, learn and network while being local and free of charge.

Recently people have been asking what is involved in running a Web Standards Café so we thought we’d document what we know to help you get started and give you some ideas of what they’re about if you want to run your own meetup.

The kit includes information about who events are for (everyone!), venue’s, sponsorship, promotion and sharing photo’s, slides, video and so on. It’s really just a few ideas to help you get started and is for you to take and use in a way that works for you in your region.

The kit is a work in progress so if you have any questions or tips you want to share we’d love to hear them. If you already run a Web Standards Café or meetup and would like to be listed in our soon to be published list of global meetups then leave a link below with any comments and we’ll add you to our list. We’ll also be adding content to it over time based on any feedback.

It’s currently available in English and Spanish but we’re always on the look out for more translation. If you’re interested then email the ILG Co-leads and let us know.

Finally, a huge thank you to Chris Bush for all his editing and Francisco Aguirre for the Spanish translation.

Update: The Web Standards Cafe Kit is now available in the following languages:

• Kit pour les réunions sur les Standards Web – Français (French)
• Web Standards Cafés και συναντήσεις – Ελληνικά (Greek)
• Cafés y reuniones sobre Estándares – Español (Spanish)
• Web Standards Kaféer – Svenska (Swedish)

In early October I was lucky enough to spend some time in China talking to web professionals and students alike about web standards and their current status. It was an interesting couple of weeks that really opened my eyes to what the challenges are when following best practices. What hit me most is that those who support standards are a small and often isolated voice with little or no resources in Chinese to help back up or explain why we need standards and what the benefits are. Here I give a broad overview of what I learnt, challenges and hopefully some ideas of how we can help improve things.

Please do leave a comment if you have any suggestions, thought or insights. I’d also like to expand on the list of resources below so if you have any then post links and I will update the list.

Market forces

In the main those drivers that we see supporting web standards in some European countries, Australia and the States almost act as the opposite in China. There is no legal requirement to make your website accessible and market forces don’t seem to provide a significant enough push. Market forces is an interesting one. I’ve long held that the business case around web standards is essential even in a country that has a legal requirement for sites to be, for example, made accessible. The reasoning for this is that a site owner may be aware they legally have to make a site accessible but unless they see the direct benefit to them they may not implement accessibility properly and instead merely opt to do the bare minimum that needs to be done to comply with the law.

Currently in China there is a weak business case for web standards for a number of reasons. For one Internet Explorer 6 is still the dominant browser with a 95% market share. In general people are tied into using IE6 as most e-commence sites rely on ActiveX to work. This means that there is a trend towards building web pages that only work in IE6 with other browsers given less focus. This is gradually changing however with the rise of alternative browsers such as Opera, Safari and Firefox and Google Chrome. In fact the arrival of Google Chrome did a lot to raise awareness of alternative browsers in the web design community. Developers I spoke to however were very quick to point out that while they may use an alternative browser to IE when building and testing sites they still made heavy use of IE in day to day browsing simply because so many sites depend on it.

This lack of demand for compliant websites is a problem as without the demand there is little incentive for individual developers as well as companies. This may change however, especially as more and more multinationals outsource and base their development work there. With this increasing hopefully the trickle down theory will hold true and multinationals will have an impact on raising knowledge and awareness. When I asked one developer from Microsoft how he got into web standards he said that it was because the company sent over someone especially to train employees in standards based development. This was great to hear and certainly a key channel for advocating web standards. Opera, a long time champion of web standards (disclaimer, I work for Opera but all opinions are my own) are also playing an active role in advocating web standards. It’s at the heart of the development cycle in the Chinese office and the team are also very active in taking part in meet-ups and conferences.

Legal support

While there is a lack of concrete law to support accessible websites it was interesting to see how the Olympics had affected awareness. Public spaces, streets and buildings were much more accommodating and accessible as a result of the games and had done much to make people more aware. This is a start at least and links in well with the UN Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities which China ratified in July of 2008. The Convention is the first international legally-binding convention designed to protect and promote the rights of persons with a disability. As China has ratified the Convention they now have to legally support access to information, recreation, employment and education. As Article 9 states:

“State Parties shall also take appropriate measures to…promote access for persons with disabilities to new information and communications technologies and systems, including the Internet”.

It remains to be seen the direction this will take but at least China is signed up.

Grass roots advocacy

Most exciting of all was the passion and commitment shown by many web professionals I spoke to. There are some influential bloggers in China who are doing great things to promote standards. Notable bloggers include Jun Chen Wu and Xian An AKA Real Lazy. When talking with Xian An he mentioned that back in 2005, when he first started blogging about standards, he was getting around 1000 hits per day. This seemed to prove that there was a desire for people to learn more or, even if they were not researching for information about standards directly, they are landing on his site which was able to introduce standards.

This seemed to make sense as all the developers I spoke to said they they were more or less self taught. As with many countries web development and standards aren’t always covered in university courses so designers and developers have to self teach. One big drawback here however is the lack of resources in Chinese. This is compounded by the fact that while some ebooks exist they can be too expensive to buy for many people.

Probably most exciting while I was there however was the opportunity to take part in the first ever Web Standards Cafe in Beijing sponsored by Opera. The subject was Web Standards and Web 2.0 and focused largely on how we can support web standards in China. Combining grass roots advocacy such as this with BarCamps I think is a positive way forward.

Supporting web standards in China

There a few things that we can start doing now to help promote web standards and accessible web design in China. It may seem like a daunting task but if this is tackled bit by bit there is no reason why standards can’t become more popular. As the old Chinese saying goes “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand”. It’s not long ago that in Europe, Australia and the States that we were fighting for basic adherence of web standards, it’s worth while to look back and learn from that experience. For now I see the following as being instrumental to enabling web standards.

• Translated resources – top of the list has to be the availability of translated and free resources for people to use. Currently many individuals have contributed their time to translating (see the resources section below) but I can’t help thinking that larger organisations should contribute to these efforts. Check out instructions and guidance on translating W3C resources for more information.
• Multinational responsibility – large international organisations who actively promote and support web standards internationally should do what they can to help support web standards locally in China. This could be done via training in-house, sponsoring free or affordable courses or helping translate resources into Chinese. This should not be restricted to China only.
• Grass root advocacy – developers understand the challenges and problems developers face better than anyone else. Advocacy through blogs, forums, BarCamps and Web Standards Cafe are always a useful way to go. This may take a different shape in China to suit cultural norms but communication and sharing have to be at the root.

So if you are a blogger, a developer, someone in a position to translate or communicate knowledge within your organisation then share what you have. As I mentioned above please do leave a comment if you have any suggestions, thought or insights. I’d also like to expand on the list of resources below so if you have any then post links and I will update the list.

Resources

• Information Accessibility for People With Physical Disabilities Technical Requirements for Web Accessibility (Simplified Chinese), Ministry of Information Industry Telecom Research Institute, the Internet Society of China, Harbin
• Web Content Accessibility Guidlines 1.0, translated by Jun Chen Wu (simplified Chinese)
• Dive into Accessibility, Taiwan, (traditional Chinese)
• Dive into Accessibility, Taiwan (simplified Chinese)
• Realazy, blog about Chinese web standards (simplified Chinese)
• Web Accessibility Toolbar Chinese language version developed by WAT-C and Jun translated by Jedi (Chinese)
• Getting started, making a website accessible, translated by Eagle Liang (simplified Chinese)
• Don’t use “Click here” as link text, translated by Eagle Liang, (simplified Chinese)
• Why tables for layout is stupid: problems defined, solutions offered (simplified Chinese)
• Why tables for layout is stupid: problems defined, solutions offered (traditional Chinese)
• Web Standards switch, translated by Yammie Yuen (simplified Chinese)
• Government web standards usage, People’s Republic of China (English)
• W3C China office (simplified Chinese)
• BarCamp Beijing (English)
• BarCamp Shanghai (English)
• CSS Zen Garden (Simplified Chinese)
• Opera, W3C and Web standards by Zi Bin Cheah (Simplified Chinese)
• Opera Web Standards Curriculum (English)

For a full list of translated standards in Chinese visit the W3C translation page.

Finally, a huge thank you to Jun Chen Wu for the translation.

Was wird an diesem Tag so Besonderes sein? Mozilla möchte den Weltrekord aufstellen für die meisten Software-Downloads an einem einzigen Tag. Um teilzunehmen, musst Du nur die finale Version von Firefox 3 am festgelegten Tag herunterladen. Du kannst zusagen, Firefox am Download Day herunterzuladen, dann erhältst Du eine Erinnerung per E-Mail, falls Du nichts vom Starttermin mitbekommst.

Natürlich gibt es noch andere Wege, sich nützlich zu machen: Plane eine Firefox 3-Party, mach’ mit bei einer Gruppe in einem Social Network oder stelle ein Banner auf Deine Seite.

Selbst wenn Du kein Firefox-Fan bist — mal ernsthaft, wer von uns ist keiner? — ist es lustig, an einem Weltrekord teilzunehmen. Wenn Du mich fragst, ist das ganz großes Standardverbreitungs-Kino!

übersetzt von Martin Kliehm

English Translation
Polish Translation

Το πάθος και η ελπίδα που είχα κατά τη διάρκεια που ήμουν στην ηγεσία τoυ Web Standards Project οδήγησαν στη δημιουργία ενός δικτύου με συναδέλφους στον κόσμο. Έτσι κι αλλιώς μιλάμε για τον Παγκόσμιο Ιστό, σωστά; Για μένα ήταν λογικό το γεγονός ότι για να προχωρήσουμε στην αποστολή μας έπρεπε να είμαστε δεκτικοί, αντί για κλειστοί.

Στο σημείο αυτό άρχισα να σκέπτομαι για ένα νέο γκρουπ για τη WASP. To γκρουπ αυτό δε θα μπορούσε να είναι μια επιτροπή ή να φέρνει σε πέρας συγκεκριμένες αποστολές, αλλά αποκλειστικά να μοιράζεται τη γνώση. Το όραμά μου είχε να κάνει με ένα σημείο συνάντησης στο οποίο θα γίνονται μεταφράσεις, θα υπάρχει συνεργασία, ανταλλαγή πληροφοριών ή ακόμα και συνατήσεις από κοντά, όταν αυτό θα είναι εφικτό. Το γκρουπ αυτό θα είναι ανοιχτό σε ανθρώπους ή ομάδες ανθρώπων που θα συνδέουν τοπικούς οργανισμούς και θα παρέχουν πιο βαθιά γνώση σε web designers ή developers σε όλο τον κόσμο.

Γνωρίζοντας ότι πρόκειται να έρθουν αλλαγές στη ζωή μου, ήμουν διστακτική στο να προχωρήσω, γιατί φοβόμουν ότι θα άφηνα αυτή τη νέα ιδέα αν προέκυπτε μια παλιότερη πρόκληση στη WASP. Ομάδες ανθρώπων ή οργανισμοί εθελοντών είναι δύσκολο να διατηρηθούν, γιατί προφανώς οι ατομικές προτεραιότητες όπως η εργασία που πληρώνεται ή η οικογένεια προέχουν. Ωστόσο, πρότεινα την ιδέα μου και είμαι ευτυχής που το έκανα αυτό.

Μετά την πρότασή μου το γκρουπ όχι μόνο δημιουργήθηκε και μεγάλωσε, αλλά οργανώθηκε κιόλας με τρόπο δημοκρατικό. Αυτή τη στιγμή το ILG (Internation Liason Group) ηγείται από δύο απίστευτα αφοσιωμένες γυναίκες, τη Stephanie Troeth και τη Glenda Sims, των οποίων ο επαγγελματισμός και η ικανότητα στο χώρο είναι απλώς εκπληκτική. Ταυτόχρονα, υπάρχει μια ομάδα ανθρώπων απ’ όλο τον κόσμο που είναι διαφορετικοί μεταξύ τους, αλλά εξαιρετικά ταλαντούχοι και που προχωράει αυτό το όραμα μπροστά με πάθος και ικανότητα.

Με μεγάλη περηφάνεια και πραγματική χαρά σας παρουσιάζω το Web Standards Project International Liaison Group. (Διεθνές Γκρουπ Επικοινωνίας της WASP)

Πάντα με αγάπη
Molly

Molly E. Holzschlag
Πρώην Group Lead, Web Standards Project (WaSP)

— Yiannis Konstantakopoulos