Open source accessibility testing library

Website testing and accessibility have been interests of mine for a while and over the last couple of months I have been supporting the web accessibility testing project: I helped develop a core rule set of automate-able accessibility issues based on the WCAG standards and Open-Ajax in Java.

One of the key criteria for the library was for it to be used in a number of different environments like WebDriver based automated tests to inspect dynamic page content or static analysis of crawled pages running inside a map reduce job.

If you're interested in getting involved or using the library please contact us via the project page.

Back at the yoke

Last weekend I finally got around to taking a flying lesson that I was given for my birthday last year. It was actually Friday and I think everyone in the south of England was thinking about being outside. It was a very good day for the time of year: I think the next day set a new record high temperature.

I haven't flown for a while so was pretty excited. The flight took us south east over the Thames estuary. The visibility was great and the feeling of being back in the air was awesome. I have always thought flying was as close as you can get to a state of divinity.

It didn't take me long to remember my turning skills, the glider lessons really helped. In no time at all I was pushing further over, going for the 60° turn which is 2G. I was having way too much fun to take pictures unfortunately so these few are all I managed.

In such a small plane the turbulence was quite noticeable but meant I had to learn to let go of the controls and let the plane find it's way.

The school was really helpful at giving me all the information I need to understand what's next: the sky's the limit

Learning to turn with the California Superbike School

A couple of weeks ago I took a training course with the California Superbike School. Before arriving I had some apprehensions but they were quickly dismissed.

The level 1 course which I took covered throttle control, turn in points, fast turning rider input and riding lines. I have to admit that before the course I thought my riding was pretty good but during the interaction with my coach 'Hollywood' I was able to unlock a totally different level of riding. The overall effect was that I was more controlled and confident mid corner; the changes in turn in speed and turn in point also made a huge difference by increasing my confidence in the bike's ability to turn in fast.

I would seriously recommend the course to anyone who like me lives in the saddle. I haven't had any track time before but I think that might also be about to change.