James is a freelance web developer based in the UK, specialising in JavaScript application development and building accessible websites. With more than a decade's professional experience, he is a published author, a frequent blogger and speaker, and an outspoken advocate of standards-based development.
James's articles
Instant Form Validation Using JavaScript
By James Edwards,
This article teaches readers how they can perform instant form validation using JavaScript. The article also explains how a validation polyfill can be made.
Lessons from a Failed Experiment in JavaScript Accessibility
By James Edwards,
When you tick the 'show password' box on a site you expect to be able to see your password. But what happens for users with screenreaders? James knows.
Accessible Drag and Drop with Multiple Items
By James Edwards,
James Edwards shows you how to extend the capabilities of the HTML5 drag and drop API, so it can handle multiple elements, and support keyboard interaction.
Good Users and Bad Passwords
By James Edwards,
It's getting more common for sign-up forms to enforce a specific password format. But is this good password UX? And is it even good security?
When JavaScript Feature Detection Fails
By James Edwards,
This article is about when JavaScript feature detection fails, by the author James Edwards.
We Can’t Rely on Color
By James Edwards,
Read We Can't Rely on Color and learn with SitePoint. Our web development and design tutorials, courses, and books will teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and more.
The Dark Shadow of The DOM
By James Edwards,
Read The Dark Shadow of The DOM and learn with SitePoint. Our web development and design tutorials, courses, and books will teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and more.
Best Practice for Code Examples
By James Edwards,
James takes a hard look at code examples and the common problems they have, to try to establish some best practice for how they should be done.
When Do Elements Take the Focus?
By James Edwards,
James discovers how focus behavior is not as simple as he thought, and that modern browsers have been changing the rules.
Essential Audio and Video Events for HTML5
By James Edwards,
James looks at some of the most important media events, examining what they mean and how they behave in current browsers.
Improving Usability With Extra Navigation Keys
By James Edwards,
When handling keyboard events, most scripts stick to a core accessible set, but there are other keystrokes you might consider to improve usability.
Is Generated Content Actually Content?
By James Edwards,
James looks at examples of how CSS generated content is used, as well as practical details of how it's implemented in browsers and assistive technologies, to draw the broad conclusion that generated content isn't content at all.
Accessible Audio Descriptions for HTML5 Video
By James Edwards,
James describes a simple but surprisingly effective technique, for synchronising multiple media sources, in order to add accessible audio descriptions to an existing video.
3 Neat Tricks with Regular Expressions
By James Edwards,
James looks at three cunning things you can do with regular expressions, that provide neat solutions to some very sticky problems.
Children of The DOM
By James Edwards,
James Edwards looks at some DOM3 properties that simplify node relationships, by focusing only on element nodes and ignoring other types.
Evolving a New Mutation
By James Edwards,
James Edwards gets excited about the new MutationObserver API, and talks about how and why it's come to replace Mutation Events.
Automatic Type Conversion In The Real World
By James Edwards,
Looking at two JavaScript shorthand expressions that rely on automatic type conversion, and discusses when they are - and are not - a good idea.
Finding an Ancestor DOM Node
By James Edwards,
This article introduces a short function which, given a DOM node as input, finds an ancestor node in the DOM tree.
A Study in Experimental Game Development
By James Edwards,
This article explores the concept of an entire game based on CSS animations.
Intelligent String Abbreviation
By James Edwards,
This article introduces a function for string abbreviation.
Using Web Storage
By James Edwards,
This article presents a function that creates a layer of abstraction on top of the Web Storage API.
Fixing the details Element
By James Edwards,
This article focuses on improving the accessibility of the HTML details element.
Parsing an ISO datestamp
By James Edwards,
This article presents a function that parses an ISO datestamp into a Unix timestamp.
Accessibility in Modern Interfaces
By James Edwards,
This article explores techniques for introducing accessibility in modern interfaces.
Creating an ISO datestamp
By James Edwards,
This article introduces a function named datestamp, which translates dates into the ISO 8601 format.
Practical JavaScript Accessibility
By James Edwards,
This article explores the practical side of JavaScript accessibility.
Removing Useless Nodes From the DOM
By James Edwards,
This article presents a simple, but powerful function which cleans up the DOM. The cleaning process removes extraneous DOM nodes such as comments.
JavaScript Accessibility 101
By James Edwards,
This article introduces the theory behind JavaScript accessibility.
Why Would You Write Your Own CMS?
By James Edwards,
Read Why Would You Write Your Own CMS? and learn with SitePoint. Our web development and design tutorials, courses, and books will teach you HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, and more.
Test for Empty Values in Javascript
By James Edwards,
This article covers a simple function which detects empty values. Example empty values include null, undefined, the empty string, and empty arrays.