Calibre’s newsfeed tool is great at preserving webpages minus the pain.
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Ah. https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/ is not an example of accessible design, so I have no idea how that works.
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What’s wrong with htm2pdf.co.uk (among others) then? Most readers that do epub also take pdf. Or it’s easy enough to convert.
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What part of that page do you feel is not designed for accessibility?
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1st, my Story Hd has a small screen, so reading pdfs on it imposes much more eye-strain than reading epubs.
2nd, both my Story Hd and my Kindle fail with newer pdfs, so I have to reprocess pdfs to 1.4 before transferring them.
3rd, I’m not sure how different services handle this, but I’d like to be able to download multiple articles or chapters in one book, instead of having to download separate pdfs, splice them together, and reprocess them.
As for the site, the 2 parts don’t scroll together, so there’s painful sheer between the scrolling and non-scrolling part. I hate fixed and separately-scrolling sidebars.
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That behaviour doesn’t actually break any rules according to WCAG. And WCAG is the gold standard for usability. @RatMan 's question is a very good point. There’s a big difference between things that annoy us and breaking actual usability guidelines.
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Migraine triggers are a usability problem, and the more common they are, the more of a problem they are.
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That’s a non-sequitur. Migraine triggers are everywhere, highly individualised, and contradictory (some people find coffee can help their migraines; for others, it’s a trigger).
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For me, it’s one of my triggers.
But I just can’t buy that this is anything near adequate:
2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide: For moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating information, all of the following are true: (Level A)
- Moving, blinking, scrolling: For any moving, blinking or scrolling information that (1) starts automatically, (2) lasts more than five seconds, and (3) is presented in parallel with other content, there is a mechanism for the user to pause, stop, or hide it unless the movement, blinking, or scrolling is part of an activity where it is essential; and
Or this:
2.3.1 Three Flashes or Below Threshold: Web pages do not contain anything that flashes more than three times in any one second period, or the flash is below the general flash and red flash thresholds. (Level A)
Note: Since any content that does not meet this success criterion can interfere with a user’s ability to use the whole page, all content on the Web page (whether it is used to meet other success criteria or not) must meet this success criterion. See Conformance Requirement 5: Non-Interference.
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And while many users may benefit from fixed headers, can we agree that animated sticky headers can be a problem?
Or that non-scrolling elements should be well away from the center of the screen, and should avoid elements cutting at right angles to the direction of the scroll?
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Worl specific:
Why, oh why, is it only possible to reset work passwords using the US branch’s network?!?
Like, accounts can be added by technicians Canada-side but employees cannot reaet their own password without visiting an undocumented hidden site based on the company’s US servers.
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Have you tried converting to mobi and sending to your kindle.
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And then back to epub and sending to my Story Hd…? yes, but it doesn’t always work.
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I consider changing to an Apple phone because it’s supposed to be more secure, but I use a Mac at work and their desktop UI/UX is decades behind both Windows and Linux. They can’t even figure out basic things like scrolling, text editing, or managing windows. I can’t believe they would do better on a phone with its much more limited IO capability.
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THANK YOU. I know there are plenty of good reasons to use a Mac, but they’re not perfect in all ways.
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I hate editing on my iPad and iPhone. No up & down arrows. No delete key, just backspace. Etc etc etc. But otherwise they’re nice machines.
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I’m into Web page design and UI design in general, and people keep telling me I’m going to need to get a Mac for my career to advance.
So once in a while I think, “maybe when my annual bonus comes in” and go look at prices on-line.
And then, when I’m done hyperventilating, I go back to using my Dell that runs Ubuntu.
For hardware specs similar to what I’m using now (a six-year-old laptop), I would pay three times as much for a new Mac. I can’t afford anything higher than that.
For three times as much money, I want to be completely blown away by the specs and the user experience. And as much as I admire the hardware aesthetic design (the OS not so much), I just don’t feel blown away at all.
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The question is “Why?” There isn’t any area of endeavour where equally good tools don’t exist in the PC world (whether Wintel or Linux), usually in greater profusion and without the lock-in. I think the biggest barrier you might face is that prospective employers have drunk the Kool-Aid.
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Hardware certification…
Just because something is certified for Ubuntu doesn’t mean it’s going to be compatible with Ubuntu.
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I don’t think I’ve run Ubuntu on anything “certified for Ubuntu” or any other kind of Linux in my life – and I got into Linux around 1999-2000. As for compatibility – either it’s already in the app store, or it’s easy enough to find out what existing users are saying about it.
I haven’t had major hardware issues with Linux since… 2004-ish? when I used to have to tweak the sound settings after every update in Fedora.
@PatRx2 's point is especially relevant for UI design because more and more of those tools are cloud-only, which means it doesn’t matter what your local OS is so long as it can run a popular enough web browser to be supported – which generally means Chrome/Firefox/Safari.
I totally agree it’s about politics and tradition these days. Well, and personal preferences of course.
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