Instagram Since Last Time
My auto updater broke sometime this past spring so here is one big update.
Accessibiity
Accessibility is a big part of my new job, I don’t often add alt text to my images but I guess it’s something I will have to start doing.
Social Media offers some great options but we (the public) don’t actually use many of them, mostly because of apathy and just general ignorance around the options.
Here’s a great overview:
General overview: https://usability.yale.edu/web-accessibility/articles/social-media
(In case you are wondering, this post is really just an excuse to play with alt text 🙂 )
CSS Magic
I haven’t been keeping up on my css learning but I saw a new one the other day that is so applicable to text design. One can only hope that ebook reading systems will eventually support it. From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGJvhpoE8b4
Often you want a different spacing between a H1 and H2 than you want between an H1 and paragraph. This is actually quite hard to do:
Title
Subtitle
This is the paragraph.
Title
This is the paragraph.
Using the :has selector you can say if the h1 class has (not) a subtitle them change the space after:
<h1 class="article-title">Title</h1>
<h2 class="article-title">subtitle</h2>
<p>Lorem ipsum baby.</p>
<h1 class="article-title">Title&</h1>
<p>Lorem ipsum baby.</p>
.article-title{
margin:0;
.article-subtitle{
margin:0;
margin-block-end: 3rem;
}
.article-title:not(:has(+ .article-subtitle)){
margin-block-end: 3rem;
}
It’s everywhere, and it’s glorious
It’s all over the internet but I can’t help it. What a glorious image.
The Pillars of Creation are set off in a kaleidoscope of color in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s near-infrared-light view. The pillars look like arches and spires rising out of a desert landscape, but are filled with semi-transparent gas and dust, and ever changing. This is a region where young stars are forming — or have barely burst from their dusty cocoons as they continue to form.
Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI; Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Anton M. Koekemoer (STScI), Alyssa Pagan (STScI).
Orca
Founded in 1984, Orca Book Publishers is an independently owned Canadian children’s book publisher of award-winning, bestselling books in a number of genres. With over 1,000 titles in print and more than 80 new titles a year, Orca prides itself on publishing Canadian authors and bringing them to a wider market.
So I mentioned I had news in the job realm. I’ve accepted a position at Orca Book Publishers as a Digital Publishing Specialist. In essence I am taking over most things digital-book from the various people who’s responsibility it currently is and trying to both consolidate the workflow and streamline the process so Orca can better leverage those assets in the future.
As I mentioned in the teaser post his job is a direct result of the the work I did at Standard and the ongoing attempts I’ve made to teach myself ebook production and accessibility over the years. Over the pst year or two I have really tried to focus on accessibility—it floors me how relatively “easy” it is and how many publishers continue to ignore it. Given the frustrations experienced in my family due to various disabilities, I don’t see why these more cost-effective changes are made more rapidly. It’s not like we are having to redesign entire buildings! Things are changing though.
Anyway, I have been trying to worm my way back into full-time book publishing for years and I am extra grateful for this amazing opportunity.
Onward and upward…always!
Oh, and I bought myself a present. (And yes, I know, I have some cable management to do…)
Teaser News
I haven’t signed on the dotted yet (actually it’s solid) but, barring unforeseen circumstances, I am once again gainfully employed in the publishing industry.
This is a direct result of my work with the Standard Ebooks project. Four years of volunteering for this terrific project both taught me the skills and gave me the will to learn even more about digital publishing and accessibility and that has resulted in this exciting opportunity. And did I mention it’s back in book publishing… living the dream man, living the dream.
More later when I actually sign.
The office. Yes, it is a remote position so I get to keep my cluttered desk cluttered just the way I like it.
Cleansers…
I haven’t posted a random picture in a while. This one is called “Why I haven’t done much glass work lately…”
Lol.
Because stupid is stupid
I post a lot of right-wing idiocy in the Stupid Human Tricks category but that doesn’t mean that dumb-f*ckery is limited to that end of the political spectrum.
Travis Toews, centre, makes a comment as Leela Aheer, left, and Brian Jean listen during the UCP leadership candidates’ debate in July. All three have been targeted during the campaign. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
Two candidates running to lead Alberta’s United Conservative Party say they’ve received death threats over the course of the campaign.
Travis Toews, the former finance minister, and Brian Jean, the MLA for Fort McMurray-Lac La Biche, told CBC News they’ve each been the subject of at least one death threat.
Both have also received additional threats online and via social media.
This is the state of politics in our province and I imagine in our country as a whole. To those who feel free to threaten anyone, of any political stripe or social viewpoint I refer you to a previous post and say:
Just fuck off.
I’m done now. I’ll reserve any further political commentary to things that don’t involve the dregs of our society.
Addendum: Going back and reading the comments the assumption being made is that the death threats are coming from the extreme right. I want to believe this is so, at least for the actual death threat parts but I know in my heart that the online abuse and threatening behaviour is not limited to that extreme end of the right. I see it every day. Threats, abuse and just general intolerance are all unacceptable.
I still can’t decide
Is this an “on purpose” or a “by accident”…
It’s gotta be an on purpose.
Some redemption
My last post was a bit negative about the world so… here’s how I think things should work.
The EPL has a thing called Over the Rainbow Storytime and decided to celebrate a bit of diversity by invite a drag queen to read to the kids. The “stick in the muds” decided to protest. The lgbtq camp decided to counter-protest. And a passerby with his family decided to to investigate the kafuffle.
Protests form outside Edmonton library over drag queen reading to children
…Justin Duval was walking nearby with his wife and two daughters, Anna and Evelin. They saw the crowd and eventually learned what people were doing on the corner, so they went inside for storytime, Duval said.
…
Anna and Evelin [the kids] told CBC News it was their first time attending an Over the Rainbow Storytime event, and they really enjoyed it.
—https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-protest-library-lgbt-drag-reading-1.6543883
So good on ya Justin. This is why a protest of any sort can be a good thing as long as everyone can refrain from being a dick about it… Educate yourselves people…