Participate in Hacktoberfest 2018 and get a free shirt

There's less than a week left in the month of October, but that's still enough time to participate in this year's Hacktoberfest celebration. What's Hacktoberfest, you ask? It's an opportunity to contribute to people's open source projects on Github by creating something called a pull request.

If you're new to creating pull requests, don't worry: we've all been a first-timer at something 😅 That's the beauty of Hacktoberfest; it's very newcomer-friendly. Start with this helpful guide to creating your first pull request, or find a local Hacktoberfest event to attend for in-person help.

In search of free swag? After creating at least five pull requests through your Github account, you're rewarded with a t-shirt and fun stickers. Be patient, though: the event organizers need time to get the sizes and shipping addresses of all 10,000+ participants worldwide.

Free swag, here I come. 

I'm relatively new to creating pull requests, but can use what I've learned so far to answer any questions that pop up along the way. Teamwork makes the dream work, and open source hacking is all about knowledge-sharing 😉

That said, happy hacking!

What is web accessibility?

In honor of October being Disability Awareness Month, I'm dedicating a post to something I spend a large part of my day on: making webpages accessible.

What is web accessibility? you may wonder. Accessibility refers to the experience of users who might access or interact with webpages differently than expected. Specifically, it concerns users with some sort of impairment or disability, including those that are non-physical (i.e., attention deficit disorder) or temporary (i.e., a broken wrist).

Impairments fall into four broad categories:
visual, motor, hearing, and cognitive.

Accessibility is essential for web developers and businesses that want to create high-quality webpages and not exclude people from using their products and services.