[Accessibility] New with Hermes

[Nolan Darilek]

Hey folks, don't have time to type up a full blog post, but I wanted to 
send out a quick update.

Hermes has been down quite a bit because I've been implementing features 
at a rapid pace. I'll be away for the weekend, meaning I won't be 
developing and bouncing the server, so it should be up and reliable. 
Here's some of what's new:

The lists of nearby points and search results are no longer that 
horrible hack of an onblur multiselect. Instead, they're lists of 
buttons. Search fields at the top of the lists let you narrow them down. 
If you're only interested in nearby points on a certain street, or 
intersections, just type the street name or "intersection" into this 
field. Note that this isn't a full database search, it just lets you 
trim down the lists, narrowing based on the contents of the point names.

Account creation seems to work well, though at the moment it isn't 
hooked up to an MTA, so you can't recover your password and aren't asked 
to verify an account. Play nice. :) I may wipe users and data at any 
time so don't rely on things sticking around.

You now need a user account to create beacons, but these plus your 
preference in measurement system are persisted. Eventually this will 
handle POIs that don't always appear on the map, but right now I need 
something like beacons so that's what I implemented.

You can also now delete beacons. There's a toolbar-type thing over the 
list of nearby points and the search field,    whose buttons change 
dynamically. To delete a point, click on it in the list of nearby points 
such that it is closest to you. When this happens, a "Delete" button 
will appear.

I don't really like this toolbar interface much, but I need some system 
for context-sensitive actions that will work almost everywhere. I'm open 
to suggestions if anyone has them. Mouseovers are an accessibility 
nightmare and don't work on touchscreen devices. I briefly tried a 
JQuery context menu plugin but could never get it to fire on clicks, and 
I'm not even sure it would have worked on mobile browsers anyway.

I also *think* that this should now work on mobile devices, though 
please don't test it extensively (I.e. while changing position rapidly.) 
The problem is that mobile browsers seem to generate a *lot* of position 
changes, and while I think I've rate limited updates, I'd rather be 
present to ensure that my box isn't being shredded. :) At some point in 
the near future, I'll have a sighted friend load it up on my Android 
phone and see how it handles. Alternatively, if anyone wants to test it 
before tomorrow at, say, 10 AM CDT or so, drop me an email to let me 
know that you're doing it, and prepare to have the plug pulled if the 
rate limiting isn't working.