Reconnect with the MoTaverse through chapters, celebrate what’s changed while Deanna was away, and learn how local events help you grow your network and your craft.

All thing MoT in Leeds

Victoria Chan lead a workshop on embracing self promotion called I am remarkable. It was great to see everyone joining in and sharing their thoughts. Lots of ways to relate to the tech world. I’ll ...

Happy to be going to Leeds for the Chapter meeting, but the weather is terrible.

If 404 is not found, is 1404 mostly not found?

A variable is a named place in software where a value can be a range, rather than a fixed value. It represents something that can vary over time or between situations, such as a user’s input, a system state, a configuration setting, or the result of a calculation. Unlike constants, variables exist specifically to model change, uncertainty, and choice within a system. In software development, variables are fundamental to how logic is expressed. They let software respond to different conditions, handle multiple scenarios, and avoid hard-coded assumptions. In testing and Quality Engineering, variables are often where the most interesting risks hide. A variable can hold an unexpected value, something that can be updated in the wrong order, or be shared when it shouldn’t be. Even something that can move out of sync. Many bugs aren't caused by complex algorithms but by simple misunderstandings about what a variable can contain, when it changes, or who controls it. Variables are powerful test design levers. By deliberately varying inputs, states, and conditions, testers can explore boundaries, uncover hidden assumptions, and observe how the system behaves under change. Thinking in terms of variables encourages techniques like equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis, etc. Examples of test cases using variables as inputs could be applying different discount percentages. Or a set of boundary values. Seen this way, variables are not just programming constructs. They represent where behaviour can change, where assumptions can break, and where good testing can provide the most value.

.Assistive technology, in the context of digital accessibility, refers to the tools people use to access and interact with software in ways that work for them. These tools don’t change the user. They adapt the technology. And they’re used by far more people, in more situations, than most teams realise.Common examples of assistive technology include screen readers that turn text and content into audio. Screen magnifiers. Speech recognition software that lets users control a computer with their voice. Switch devices that let users interact with a single button or alternative input, such as a blow tube. There are also built-in browser tools, such as zoom and high-contrast modes, as well as operating system settings that change font size and spacing. Many people rely on a combination of these every day.Keyboard navigation is vital for much of this to work. Screen readers, switch devices, and many voice tools all depend on predictable keyboard behaviour. If you can’t reach an element using the keyboard, it might as well not exist. If focus jumps around the page, disappears, or gets trapped, users get stuck. Buttons, links, forms, menus, and dialogues all need to work without a mouse, in a clear, logical order.Testing with a keyboard, checking focus order, and understanding how assistive tools interact with your product helps teams design and build software that works for real people, in real conditions. Making sure your software is usable when people interact with it in different ways is literally the definition of digital accessibility.

The Starvalance continues as lots of people are completing STEC and SQEC lessons. I earned over 300 stars in November, 400 in December and started 2026 with a big bang of over 500 stars!!! Amazing.

Discover how diverse perspectives in testing help reveal hidden bugs and build software that works for more users.

It’s travel day at the end of a lovely holiday. Mostly switched off but couldn’t resist an odd peak at the MoTaverse.

We wrapped up our first year of Ambassadoring, reflected on it, explored some ideas on how we can improve it. As time came to the end, I was saying thank you and wasn't sure how to say goodbye,...