It may be trite, but this is a season of thanksgiving and of reflection. While many of us experienced our yearly turkey-laden thanks this past week with family and friends, WebAIM is celebrating 10 years of thankfulness for our work, and for your participation in the web accessibility community.
Few know that this past year marked WebAIM’s 10th birthday. Frankly, we have been so busy we almost missed it ourselves. What began in 1999 as a small federal grant (Department of Education — FIPSE) to provide awareness of the need for web accessibility and a few resources has grown to become one of the most trusted names in web accessibility.
I chuckle when I use the Internet Archive to look at where we began (please — do it, it is hysterical), and I am amazed at the traffic our current web resources receive. I continue to be humbled that we are consistently listed in the top few Google results for “web accessibility” and many other web accessibility related terms. The WAVE evaluation tool is used to evaluate nearly a million web pages per year. We hope to continue providing excellent resources.
While I want to point to the excellence and constancy of the staff here at WebAIM, you of course have made our articles and resources popular. Moreover, you also provided translations of many of these into other languages, broadening our impact. A number of our best ideas for resources have come from your suggestions. So please keep those ideas coming!
WebAIM’s discussion forum was started in 1999. In the beginning, we had to respond to ourselves to get any semblance of discussion going. Now, in the last year, over two million distinct e-mails were sent to the over 1000 list subscribers. In 2004, we expanded our WebAIM community and began our monthly newsletter. Then in June of 2006 we began this blog as a way to keep short ideas and opinions flowing. A runaway and unforeseen hit was Aaron’s “History of the browser user-agent string”. If you have never read it, you owe yourself this chuckle.
In the past 10 years we have had the privilege of providing training and technical assistance to thousands of individuals; many of them during site-based workshops at college campuses, governmental agencies, and businesses across the nation. And beginning in 2007, many right in our own backyard as we began to offer 2-day workshops here in Logan, Utah three times a year.
We are also thankful for the businesses, including several fortune 500 corporations, that contract with us for web accessibility evaluation and design work. This keeps us busy and on our toes in the most current technical dialogues.
We have seen shifts in the field over the past decade – web accessibility guidelines and standards refreshed (WCAG 1 to 2; 508 soon to refresh), legal consequences ignored and upheld, and an international climate welcoming and desirous of web accessibility. We continue to focus on our original goal of increasing awareness and knowledge so we all can make the web a better place for everyone. We recognize that you are the reason that we continue to thrive. We are thankful for what you do, and thankful that we are part of your journey. While we reflect over the past decade and on the accomplishments of WebAIM and those we serve, we also look forward to the next 10 years.
Huge congratulations! WebAIM has been our beloved leader in providing information and techniques in the development of web accessibility.
Congrats to everyone at webAim. Your rational, reasonable approach to web accessibility is the reason why so many of us turn to you and your resources for timely and balanced answers.
Congrats and best wishes for another ten years!
You are doing a fantastic job. Keep up the good work.
Yay for WebAIM – a vital resource for everyone who wants to build well on the web.
Congratulations for your 10 years! You’re a great resource of information which has been especially important for me since I’m doing my first steps in web accessibility. I’m also in the process of translating several of your articles into Spanish since there aren’t many accessibility-related articles in our language. Anyway, thanks again for your work and we also look forward to the next 10 years! 🙂
Hearty congratulations.
Webaim has always been a great resource of accessibility knowledge.
I sincerely appreciate your commitment towards “Expanding the web’s potential for people with disabilities”
Thanks and all the best.
Congratulations on 10 years of fantastic work. Here’s to another ten. Web accessibility becomes increasingly challenging in this world of rapid development. We have come to rely on your sound knowledge and judgement. We hope that the fantastic work will continue.
Congratulations WebAIM!–not because you have lasted 10 years, but because of what you have accomplished during that time. Thanks to everyone who is or has been affiliated with WebAIM!
Contratulations on the first ten years. As technology evolves on the web the next ten will be even more important, and I look forward to learning with the rest of the WebAIM community. Keep on truckin’
Happy Anniversary. I very much appreciate you all — what a great resource. Thanks and all the best!
Thank you WebAIM for your expertise – we (Oklahoma ABLE Tech) have relied on you throughout the years and appreciate the consistent message, resources, and techniques you provide.
Heartful congrajulations web aim and its staff.
I am very much touched with web aim due to its timely and straighthold response for web accessibility related problems.
Keep up the great work.
All the very best for the coming years.
Thanks, WebAIM, for giving me ten years of excellent info and resources. Every government agency I’ve worked at has benefitted immensely from your work. And where would many of us be without WAVE?
Congratulations and thank you for the excellent resource! I often lean towards your material for tips, tricks and advice. Keep up the good work!
Congratulations on the milestone and the much-deserved accolades. I too often come here for insight, information and tools. Your blog posts and Twitter presence are among the best in the accessibility social media arena.
Congratulations, Cyndi. You all do such phenomenal work.
I look forward to the 20th…
Congrats and super great job! This is my go-to site for accessibility information. Wonderful information; fantastic people!
Congrats on ten wonderful years in the biz! I only recently discovered WebAIM, but I have benefited greatly from all the excellent information contained herein. Recently I helped present at a few conferences, and your info about section 508 compatibility was put to good use. Here’s to a bright and productive feature for WebAIM!
Oops sorry about that. I meant here’s to a bright and productive future for WebAIM.
I’m fairly new to the world of accessibility and frequently turn to WebAIM for advice – and usually find what I’m looking for!
Congratulations on the first 10 years and I hope to be here for the next 20!
There is so much talk about the steamy scenes between Hrithik and Barbara Mori .. ;P caught a glimpse of the same in the trailer http://bit.ly/cxENHR ..can’t even call it a glimpse ;p
Why the name kites? You wonder and I wonder too? Well its all the brainchild of of Rakesh Roshan who got mesmerized by the two kites flying high in the sky. It looked romantic, intriguing – the way it came close.. know more about hrithik and barbara mori http://tinyurl.com/KitesFilm
Congratulations on 10 years of fantastic work.
And best wishes for another ten years!
Congratulations and keep it going.
Speaking of anniversaries, my wife and I recently were having a discussion over lunch about how odd it was all of our friends were turning 50. It’s like when did THEY all get so old. So time does go by and we do get better with time. Webaim has, for sure.
Сайт представляет софт, гениратор сканкопий, rf screater 2.3 .
Congratulations on ten years of greate work.
Thank you WebAIM for your expertise.
I hope to be here for the next 20.
Congrats on 10 years of outstanding success. My web business is only 2 years old. You are a great model for everyone else out there.
10 years is a huge accomplishment. It shows that you have learned a lot from your time in the industry and it’s nice to see the dedication to training others. All the best.
Congrats on your achievement. Here’s to another 10 years.
Congratulations on 10 years of fantastic work.
And best wishes….
Congratulations on 10 years of really good work.
And best wishes for next ten years