In celebration of its 5th anniversary, Dennis and Ross discuss the history of Web Axe and several memorable moments. Then, nine special guests provide excellent insight and information relating to web accessibility including Paul Boag and Bruce Lawson. It’s great stuff, don’t miss it!
Download Web Axe Episode 84 (Web Axe 5-Year Anniversary)
Some History
- Dennis Lembree launched Web Axe in September 2005 with a boost from the Detroit Podcasters Network.
- Co-host Ross Johnson joined September of 2006 in Lists and Accessibility — How and Why? (podcast #26).
- Readership continues to grow; over 5,400 Web Axe RSS subscribers (85% of my RSS subscribers are using Google Reader or iGoogle). Number of Twitter followers continues to grow (@WebAxe).
- Interesting topics for web accessibility: business reasons, bandwidth and loadtime, and screen resolution.
Memorable Moments
- Nominated three years in a row in the .net magazine Best of the Web awards.
- Web Axe featured in BBC Podcast, segment on accessibility in Pods & Blogs show.
- First interview: Jared Smith of WebAIM, Podcast #27 (September 2006).
- Podcast #74: Awards, Events & Back to Basics recorded from Santa Cruz, California (September 2009).
- Podcast #35: Usability and Accessibility Conference recorded from event in Lansing, Michigan (November 2006).
- Visit to Yahoo! Accessibility Testing Lab (July 2009).
- NFB vs. Target Lawsuit is Settled!
- Critiques invoke responses: Recovery.gov, ca.gov, section508.gov
Special Episode Podcast Contributors
- Bruce Lawson (Opera, HTML5Doctor) – great HTML5 info.
- Denis Boudreau (A11Y_MTL) – French Canadian up very late recording.
- Jennison Asuncion – Accessibility tester, researcher, and all-around nice guy.
- Karen Mardahl (STCAccess) – Wicked good technical communicator.
- Mike Gifford (OpenConcept) – Drupal expert.
- Paul Boag (Boagworld) – Well, everyone knows this guy!
- Steve Grobschmidt – User Experience Lead and blogger.
- Terrill Thompson – A cool musician, basketball fan, and Technology Accessibility Specialist.
- Tom Babinszki (Even Grounds) – Accessibility consultant and blogger.
Addendum: Podcast Corrections
- Steve Grobschmidt’s last name was announced incorrectly (it’s not “Aquinas”, that’s part of his Twitter handle).
- We state that there are 8 guest speakers; there’s actually 9!
- We mentioned that Boagworld is no longer podcasting, but failed to mention that they plan on returning in January 2011. (Paul mentions this in his commentary.)