Sarah L. Fossheim

Independent web and dataviz accessibility specialist, front-end engineer, inclusive designer and educator. Based in Norway, soon in the arctic.

💼 Open for freelance projects, consulting, and training.

Personal account: @lomvia
Photography: @fosstography

Non-binary, pronouns: they/them :100_gay:

Public Key

npub17cey7fegq79uu7ljc0hmsc2hv3sedrqr4j0h98a6tysk8vg49xdsdsx33s

NIP-05 Address

fossheim@front--end-social.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0vvj0yu5q0z7w00ev8macv9tkgcvk3sp6e8mjn7a9jgtrky2jnxcn6ml72

Author Public Key

npub17cey7fegq79uu7ljc0hmsc2hv3sedrqr4j0h98a6tysk8vg49xdsdsx33s

Show more details

Last Notes

2025-02-22 09:59:34

I keep coming across people who use ChatGPT as their therapist :oh_no_bubble:

2025-02-22 00:55:53

- reply

And one frustrating example of that is... on my website!
On my photo/birding site I have an observations table, which turns into a list on mobile:
https://fossheim.photography/observations/
I thought it was a good idea, but I'm on the page a lot (because I'm still working on updates) and the switch is becoming so annoying to deal with.
Sometimes it's a list, other times it's a table :elmo_fire:

2025-02-22 00:40:51

- reply

To add to this, this also means I browse the same websites in both basic format and very zoomed in.
So something that absolutely frustrates me is when the behavior or layout on both versions is wildly different.
I'm zoomed in because my brain hurts. I don't want to rediscover how to interact with the layout in this state.

2025-02-22 00:32:36

- reply

If anyone knows a medical/scientific explanation as to why wearing glasses makes migraines/headaches/cognitive issues worse sometimes, I'd love to know.
(I recently got my eyes checked so I know I'm wearing the correct strength)

2025-02-22 00:29:10

- reply

I see fine with glasses on, and I don't *need* 200% zoom because of vision-reasons as long as I wear my glasses.
However, even when wearing glasses, I often end up browsing the web zoomed in, because of unrelated *cognitive* reasons, or because it's a preference (eg. sitting far away from my screen).
But keeping them on all day isn't always possible, and the moment I take them off I can't read text, icons, or outlined items anymore, and I *need* zoom to work or I can't use the page.

2025-02-22 00:23:23

Did an evening conference yesterday, so today the brain was/is fried, resulting in browsing the web without glasses and at around 200% zoom level.
First of all, a lot of websites are horrible when zoomed in.
But also: disability and accessibility considerations aren't a binary, and I'd say even more nuanced than the "permanent, temporary, situational" model that's often shared within the accessibility world (even though it's a useful and accessible way of talking about it)

2025-02-20 17:08:44

- reply

I said tits on stage :blobcatgiggle: :blobcatgiggle:

2025-02-20 17:08:08

talking about great tits and shags during an accessibility talk :blobcatgiggle:
https://cdn.masto.host/frontendsocial/media_attachments/files/114/037/299/768/435/807/original/3f36ef19f150521c.png
https://cdn.masto.host/frontendsocial/media_attachments/files/114/037/299/776/290/936/original/3a1e302a32007154.png

2025-02-19 15:35:42

- reply

the same website "we value your privacy" and "we care about ethics"
no you don't.

2025-02-19 15:35:07

Cookie dialog:
"Do you consent to the use of cookies?"
Available options: "Accept cookies"
It's not really giving consent if consenting is my only option (besides leaving the page).

2025-02-18 22:00:48

one of my wife's coworkers (nurses!!) apparently showed up to work sick and coughing and without a mask today, if we get covid again from this I'm gonna be pissed

2025-02-18 19:10:20

- reply

@nprofile…xn6z we didn’t get it and we’re in your area as well 🤷🏻

2025-02-18 17:14:25

excited for this – will be talking about common dataviz accessibility issues, this Thursday with @nprofile…pkw5 :blob_cat_aww:
https://cdn.masto.host/frontendsocial/media_attachments/files/114/025/999/633/987/469/original/b58b1fde54cb495c.png

2025-02-18 13:23:22

mycelial networks >>> neural networks

2025-02-18 09:49:18

- reply

the world is doomed :elmo_fire:

2025-02-18 09:47:28

A while ago I was talking to a researcher and he was like “a few years ago through field research I found out that __ and wrote about it, it was such an exciting find” and then added “and it’s amazing how smart ChatGPT is, recently I asked it the same thing, and it came to the same conclusion as I did in my research!”
My man, ChatGPT didn’t come to the same conclusion you did and it isn’t smart. It stole words from your article and didn’t give you credit.
That’s not amazing, that’s plagiarism.

2025-02-17 14:35:33

as usual, rewriting the conference talk right before the conference 🤪

2025-02-17 11:37:54

Been working on an article/series of articles about trauma, living with C-PTSD, the impact of it on day-to-day life, and what it means for accessibility and inclusive design.
But it’s moving slowly because it hits so close home and it’s hard not to get distracted by my own lived experience with it. And because it’s such a deeply personal and important topic to me, the perfectionism kicks in hard.

2025-02-17 10:46:04

- reply

@nprofile…7ze2 I know several people who are using ChatGPT as their “therapist”, incredible how much personal info people are willing to give out :blobcatfearful:

2025-02-13 23:05:30

- reply

bluetooth issues and printer issues are the absolute worst ones to debug. I think there are still five documents indefinitely stuck in the printing queue as well :blobcatfearful:

2025-02-13 23:03:16

to make a stressful week even more stressful: the bluetooth on my desktop computer has stopped detecting my bluetooth devices? :blobcatsadreach:

2025-02-12 16:43:13

- reply

and this is supposed to replace us?? :elmo_fire:

2025-02-12 16:41:13

Writing a blog post about the issue with links nested in buttons, and was wondering if ChatGPT would be able to come to the same conclusions as I did:
First time it only "fixed" my quotation marks around the href/click handler (changed them to double quotes).
Then it took the <a> out of the <button> and as a solution moved the <button> inside the <a>.
On third try it told me to go for either an <a> or a <button> but advised me to add an aria-label that's different from the visual label.
💩

2025-02-10 22:19:52

Monday = admin day :blobcatfearful:
- One video meeting and emails with a potential new client.
- E-mail follow up with three decided new clients.
- Preparing my machine for a project that’s starting this month.
- Planning with an ongoing project.
- Regular weekly planning and other small comms.
- Paying taxes and other bills.
The plan was to write code today as well but my brain is fried :blobcatsadreach:

2025-02-10 15:48:47

- reply

@nprofile…j4t7 :blobcatheart:

2025-02-10 10:40:24

Just a reminder that later this month I’ll be talking about common dataviz accessibility issues and how to avoid them, at Smashing Meets Accessibility 💪🏻
It’s digital and free to attend, 20th of February at 5 PM CET / 8 AM PT.
I’m excited for this!
https://smashingconf.com/meets-accessibility/

2025-02-07 14:34:17

- reply

halloween came early this year :blobcatcry:
https://cdn.masto.host/frontendsocial/media_attachments/files/113/963/086/947/667/681/original/39699687779a785c.png

2025-02-07 14:31:14

when it's a regular basic website with text and list of links and nothing that visually resembles a table, but you do a querySelectorAll('table') and find SEVEN of them :blobcatfearful:
https://cdn.masto.host/frontendsocial/media_attachments/files/113/963/079/520/859/214/original/3b35705f7d8a7cec.png

2025-01-16 13:36:40

today's standup:
- Writing code for a client project
- Writing code for one of my own projects
- Company admin
- Planning for a new client project
- Writing a new blog post
- Read at least one chapter
:blobcatfearful: