marcus.io

2018 in review, outlook to 2019

Caution! This article was published over a year ago, and hasn't been updated since. Situation, software and support of the topic below could have changed in the meantime.

Well, that year went by fast. It feels like I blogged about my resolutions for 2018 just short time ago. And to start things off, let's have a look how much of the proclaimed goals I have met:

2018 Resolution #1: Publish at least one article a month (and this one doesn't count.)

Not counting translations of articles and mirror text of newsletters, I succeeded (at least statistically). I still have to improve on a proper, monthly intervall - but managed to get 15 articles published in total.

Succeeded.

2018 Resolution #2: Concentrate on modern content editing

Aside from my bread-and-butter projects with quite a normal use of Content Management System editors, I only managed to concentrate on one additional topic, and that was web (app) accessibility (more on that bewlow).

I observed the start of Drupal 8.6's Layout Builder from the sidelines, and of course noticed all the accessibility-related trouble around the start of WordPress's Gutenberg editor - but after all: No concentration on these topics detectable, therefore: Failed.

2018 Resolution #3: Help organise @a11yberlin

Although I did not really find the time to support Radimir in a proper way, the Accessibility Meetup Berlin managed to organise five meetups in 2018. And each and every one of them had great speakers providing valuable insights and an interested and awesome audience. If you are interested, check out the slides and videos on our archive page, or, if you happen to be in Berlin and interested in web accessibility and web performance - subscribe to @a11yberlin on Twitter (or colloq.io, or meetup.com) and join us.

So, verdict: Succeeded, but should have been more.

2018 Resolution #4: Finally, refresh my website

This one is easy, because I just have to link to the - finally - relaunched marcus-herrmann.com (English version coming soon-ish).

Succeeded.

So, 3 out of 4, not that bad. But that set aside, 2018 was a also very interesting year for my freelance business. And that had actually to do with this very blog. The focus on (web app) accessibility started with the article Building accessible web apps - where to start?, which actually was triggered by a twitter conversation. Not long after, I had the idea of starting accessible-app.com, a place where I plan to collect inclusive strategies and ready-made components for Vue, React, and Angular. I received very positive feedback to this idea and started building it (to my frustration, way slower than I initially planned). This article series in turn provided for very interesting customer projects in 2018, and - by the looks of it - also in 2019.

Other highlights

And here are the six new resolutions for 2019:

1. Relaunch marcus.io

This site needs an update, and I will deal with it in 2019.

2. Finish building version 1 of the accessible-app.com demo app

And accessible-app.com itself.

3. Freelance-wise: Specialize more in web accessibility, put focus on inclusive web apps.

Maybe even reach a certificate.

4. Help make VueJS more accessible

By publishing inclusive Vue components and write about accessibility strategies

5. If the European Union manages to finalize the European Accessibility Act in 2019, build an "in a nutshell" microsite

(Just like I did in 2018 for Directive 2016/2102).

6. Start sending out newsletters again

As soon as I started the #accessibleapp project, I stopped sending out newsletter@marcus.io - and I don't know why, because an article series like this is perfect material for a periodic newsletter. Anyway - I plan to re-start the tiny letter again.