While casually searching for some domain names in March 2018, I found out that co.in and .com extensions of my blog name “abitlikeme” are available. After giving it a thought for a couple of days and evaluating hosting services of BigRock and GoDaddy, I registered the domain names with GoDaddy.
Start
My initially plans were: Write regularly. Invite guest contributors. Share learning videos. Build a portfolio. And many more.
But this was like all my other plans. Didn’t take off. But I continued to renew the domain name every year.
Restart
Fast forward 2 years.
In July-August this year, I was learning and talking about accessibility, UX, etc., and decided that it is high time I follow what I preach and of course share what I learn. I already had the platform, my website, for that.
My first task was to make my website accessible. I had the basic knowledge about accessible colors, alt text, etc., but did not have any hands-on experience on the challenges. Once I decided on the theme, layout, etc., (which itself was a tedious task), I started my trial-and-errors.
What I thought
- Migrate my existing blog.
- Add menu and sub-menu for each category. Have a separate section for guest entries, videos, etc.
- Get the website approved by some organization that specializes in certifying websites for accessibility.
Challenges
Lack of coding knowledge made it impossible for me to create accessible sub-menus and migrate Kannada blog posts.
Realized that getting my website accessibility-certified is an expensive affair.
What I did
- Migrated only English blog posts.
- Managed with single-level menu of categories.
- Ran every post/ page of my website through Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool of WebAim and ensured ZERO errors or alerts.
Finishing touch
The last thing I changed on look-and-feel of my website was site icon.
Some of my Wipro colleagues know me as Whatever. When I had to decide on a site icon, it was an obvious choice.
Today, though my website is not everything I wanted it to be, I am glad that I did not compromise on accessibility factor. As for the features I missed out on, they will happen as and when I learn to make them happen.