Laura Kalbag @laura@mastodon.laurakalbag.com

Desk buddy taking the term literally.

If you want to read or watch the whole talk, it’s up at If you want to read or watch the whole talk, it’s up at https://noti.st/laurakalbag/firuh2

Now of course I see the typo in the slides transcript/screenshot. 😞

For those who won’t follow the link:
IAB Europe’s ad tracking consent framework found to fail GDPR standard

It’s not that I told you so but… no actually I told you so.

https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/16/iab-europes-ad-tracking-consent-framework-found-to-fail-gdpr-standard/

Keeping my office like this forever.

Managed to have a stretched-out birthday week thanks to @aral spoiling me rotten, making up for being separated from my family by covid restrictions, 500km and the Irish sea.

Topped the week off with a stinking cold. Just got to get through today to make it to new Discovery!

As a tracking nerd (as in I hate it, but know a fair bit about it), the subtitle on this article made me chuckle. This is a really great explainer about first party vs third-party tracking, focusing on Facebook:

https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup/2020/10/01/i-scanned-my-favorite-social-media-site-on-blacklight-and-it-came-up-pretty-clean-whats-going-on

I think any person building stuff for the web should be subscribed to The Markup. They’re publishing really useful explainers, and giving us a lot of insight into the impact of “our” common practices.

Or should that be…

Tech boys… websites as fragile as their javascript-riddled egos.

This toot brought to you by my work this afternoon:

Q: “Why does the content not load on this site?”
A: Third-party JS!
Q: “Why are all the links on this site broken?”
A: Third-party JS!

Text and links should not require another person’s JavaScript to work.

Tech boys… egos as fragile as their javascript-riddled websites.

Does selecting “Whatever” constitute consent? 🤔

Pretty immense lineup for Inclusive Design 24, and it’s free with no registration required! Know what I’ll be doing this THURSDAY…

(Corrected because I am bad at timezones)

https://inclusivedesign24.org/2020/schedule/

Turns out that I still get nervous before an online conference talk! But I’m set up and ready to go for SmashingConf! (Thanks @aral for the photo.)

https://smashingconf.com/freiburg-2020/

Lots of me talking about “data transparency” and how I don’t think transparency is enough:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/digitaliberties/designing-data-transparency-ideas-from-the-community/

Making myself a little web tool and using a whole range of stuff that @ChrisFerdinandi’s Vanilla JS Academy taught me.

I struggled with JavaScript for a decade so I really would recommend it for anyone who needs a big friendly confidence-booster.

The projects also have a focus on accessibility and writing great HTML. All the good stuff!

It’s also a really friendly, inclusive and supportive community (and I don’t say any of those words lightly!)

https://vanillajsacademy.com

These two ❤️

A few weeks ago I recorded a short video for the NYC School’s Tech Summit and the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Hackathon about accessibility in 2020. A lot of work went into it, so I thought I may as well share it with everyone!

https://laurakalbag.com/accessibility-in-2020/

Sometimes lineups aren’t finalised when you’re asked to speak. This is a poor excuse. Specify that you will pull out of an event if you find yourself on an all-white lineup.

Not got an event rider? Write one! It’s a really easy way to set expectations. Use it (and your privilege) to make events more inclusive. You can also use it for accessibility requirements (ask for captioning!) You can use a rider for online events too.