News
Do You Smell That? It's Freedom!
Hey there!
Well. A lot has been going on behind the scenes. Lots of change, lots of growth, lots of moving forward to bigger and better things. I am (and have been for some time) done with the last place of employment, I am looking for my next role somewhere. Until then, I'm looking to spread those proverbial wings and move to greener pastures.
I recently succeeded in finding a television show that I watched as a little kid after forty years of the theme music being stuck in my head. "All About You" is the name of the show and wow, I am free of the burden of wondering what that show was when I thought about it or the music just popped into my head. Thanks to some stumbling my way through YouTube, I found it here!
As of this newsletter I will have had surgery for an ongoing problem with my sinuses so I am going to be laid up for a short time. So many great conferences going on, but it is good to get the personal stuff out of the way so that later this year will be packed with conference speaking fun hopefully.
Enough of all that... pitter patter!
Accessibility
Meryl Evans has a terrific article on her blog about accessibility advocacy. As Meryl puts it:
Progress over perfection in accessibility and disability inclusion applies to everyone. It can help with accessibility advocacy as well as people getting started in accessibility.
It has always been progress over perfection for me and a constant learning experience. Still to this day it is whenever I uncover or learn about something I did not know or could not understand as far as accessibility goes. It's always a learning process.
Go read her article today!
Vitaly Friedman has written a terrific article over at Smashing Magazine on target sizes and the accessibility of target sizes.
So how big should our interactive elements be these days? What would be a reliable size for icons, links and buttons — in navigation and on mobile? How do we make it more difficult for our users to make mistakes?
Those are some great questions. Go see how Vitaly goes about solving them!
I have an article I am in the beginning stages of writing coming out soon on the usage of div elements and the usage of the section element, and how the section element is the new div titled, "Section is the new div". You'll see why when I publish the article on my site.
Conferences
I'll be in the following cities speaking at a venue near you!
- KCDC, Kansas City, MO. June 21-23
- MagnoliaJS, Jackson, MS. October 17 & 18
Conferences I have submitted talks to but have not heard back from yet:
- Ioniconf
- Momentum
- Monktoberfest
- Web Directions
Plugs
The podcast, the stream are the two of mine I will plug. I will also plug the Learning Angular course from the Angular team, taught by Mark "Mayor" Thompson.
It's been out for awhile, but if you're building mobile and native apps with Ionic, then checkout if you haven't already, the Ionic CLI V7. Some features are now gone, such as Ionic Lab and more, but support for Vite projects is now available for React and Vue! Check out the blog post on the Ionic blog!
Lobsters! 🦞
Now that I am out in Arizona, and lobsters aren't as plentiful in the desert as they were in Maine where I used to live, if you order from any reputable place that ships them to you fresh overnight (which is possible!) then you too can make what I have been making. Lobster street tacos!
Lobster Tacos with Avocado & Lime Crema
- Preparation Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Serves: 4 people
Turn your meal into a lobster fiesta with these street-style tacos! Street-style tacos were traditionally prepared and are still served at little road-side stands or carts around Mexico. They are assembled using small freshly-made flour tortillas topped with flavorful marinated fish or meats, pickles, peppers, fresh herbs, and garnishes.
They are meant to be portable; eaten casually, standing up and usually are served three to a plate. Fresh tasting and full of flavor, you can whip up your own in a snap. Pan toasted flour tortillas are topped with a lime and avocado crèma, our fresh pre-cooked lobster meat sautéed in garlic, quick pickled cabbage, radishes, and fresh cilantro sprigs, making each bite a flavor sensation!
Ingredients
- 2 ripe avocado, pitted, peeled, and sliced
- 1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp fresh lime juice
- 6 oz. sour cream
- A pinch sea salt
- 2 cups shredded cabbage or slaw mix
- 1 Stick Kate's Sea Salted Butter (or any salted butter)
- 1 cup cilantro sprigs (optional)
- 1 bulb garlic, thinly sliced
- 1 lb. cooked fresh lobster meat, claws and knuckles, coarsely chopped
- A pinch Freshly ground black pepper
- 12 flour tortillas
- ¾ cup thinly sliced radishes (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200F. In a high-powered blender or food processor, combine the avocado, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and sour cream and pulse until smooth. Season to taste with salt and set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix well the cabbage with the remaining 1 teaspoon lime juice and ½ teaspoon salt and set aside.
- Place 1 tablespoon oil and garlic in a medium cast-iron or heavy –bottom skillet. Heat over medium-high heat while stirring occasionally, until garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the lobster and cook, stirring constantly, until heated through, about 3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
- If using a gas burner, place each tortilla directly on the burner to toast use tongs to flip once, halfway through cooking until pliable and slightly charred around the rim, about one minute per side. Alternatively, place tortillas, in batches, in a lightly oiled cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Flip once, halfway through cooking about 1 to 2 minutes per batch. Keep warm on a baking sheet in the oven.
- Divide the tortillas between 4 plates, spread some of the avocado and lime creme onto each of the tortillas. Top each with some of the lobster meat, cabbage, radishes, and cilantro. Serve immediately. (optional): Warm up 1 stick of Kate's Sea Salted Butter (or salted butter of your choice) until melted. This will be used to lightly drizzle on top of the lobster meat on your tacos.
Shoutout
To the subscribers and all the folks, including my speaker/conference family who have supported me and continue to do so. I am grateful to have you all in my life, you're all awesome.
Finally...
I have a regular schedule going, Monday, Wednesday, Fridays, 10am MST (1pm EST) you can find me on Twitch streaming as well. Hope to see you there.
Follow me on Mastodon: @todd@a11y.info or on Twitter @toddlibby or @lobstahtodd and now Bluesky (I'm @toddl.dev). The Front End Nerdery Podcast that I co-host with my good friend, Homer Gaines, is on your podcast app of choice and on YouTube! Go check out the previous two seasons and the two episodes in season three now!
Have a great June, make accessible things, and see you in July!