I had a great time at FOSDEM in February 2024! Decided to write three proposals for the 2025 conference, as there are a few topics I’d really like to cover in front of a different audience.
ATAG accessibility audits: worth your while
Have you heard about ATAG? The Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines are very relevant for content creation tools, and yet few people are aware of its existence and how to approach it. We’ll have a look at a real-world example, sharing practical tips and examples on the theme of getting up to speed with ATAG.
Private notes:
This will be based from my experience producing two ATAG audits for the Wagtail Content Management System. It took us a while to get up to speed with the standard, because there are so few examples of audits out there.
Accessible alt text: AI ❤️ humans
Do you struggle with the implications of the Large Language Models craze? Alternative text is a specific use case where LLMs can greatly improve the work of content editors. We’ve reviewed hundreds of real-world images to compare AI-generated alt text vs. the one written by human, and are ready to share our findings. We’ll look at the good sides, the bad ones, and how to have AIs and humans work together for the best results.
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Private notes:
The accessibility team for the Wagtail CMS has been working on integrating AI-driven alt text features, based on extensive research about the different options and their expected real-world performance. We’re ready to share this research, which will be valuable for people regardless of whether they use a CMS or not.
Shifting DX expectations: keeping Django relevant 😬
Django is a big, slow-moving object. Lots of people worry about how much traction the framework still has, and its long-term outlook. Today, together, we get to review its existential threats – and opportunities 🌈!
We’ll start with a data-driven review of emerging trends in the web development ecosystem, with a particular focus on Python. We’ll look at specific Python considerations (types, tooling, package discovery) that are relevant for all projects, and specific indicators of the project health for contributors, and underlying usage trends.
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Private notes:
I’m coming to this topic as a director of the Django Software Foundation, in charge of safeguarding the framework’s long-term success. In this role, we consider a lot of different qualitative and quantitative aspects of the project’s health. For this talk, we’ll focus on the ones that are relevant for a wide range of Python projects.