Microsoft has launched a super easy-to-use new feature for Word, I hope WeChat can also “copy homework” | Feel Good Weekly
Feel Good Introduction
- IKEA UK made a bunch of 'broken houses' in store
- Microsoft wants to make creating accessible documents as easy as checking for typos
- The Netherlands has built two massive parking lots under water, just for bikes
Kengo Kuma: We Can Live Well Without More Architecture- Moonshot: What about climate-friendly snacks?
IKEA UK made a bunch of 'broken houses' in store
For a long time, the model rooms in the IKEA store have been "excellent cases" that many people love to refer to when decorating or renovating themselves.
However, some IKEA UK stores have recently seen a batch of dirty-looking showrooms.
It turns out that this is a showroom "Real Life Roomsets" created in collaboration with the charity Shelter in the UK, so that more people can intuitively feel the feelings of some people in the UK when they were forced to move to temporary shelters. harsh living environment.
Take Kate, a nurse and teacher who suddenly became homeless after losing her job during the pandemic. Later, Kate and her 24-year-old daughter had to move to a dirty and unsafe room.
It was like a nightmare from which one could not wake up.
Because of the lack of social housing in the UK, many families are forced to live in "temporary" housing, such as shelters or very small apartments, and may be asked to move out at any time.
IKEA found in a survey that one in five people in the UK feared losing their place to live. In order to keep their current residence, 18% of respondents will work more in the past year, and 17% will eat less to save money.
In addition to demonstrations, IKEA and Shelter are also joining forces to call on the British government to build social rental housing, and are also working together to create tools that will allow affected families to transform their homes into more livable homes.
Microsoft wants to make creating accessible documents as easy as checking for typos
I remember when I went to school to write English papers or do PPT, I was especially grateful for the spell check function in Microsoft Office software – native, write and check.
The good news is that this convenience is now being applied to the realm of accessibility as well.
Recently, Microsoft announced that it will launch the "Accessibility Assistant" feature for Microsoft 365.
With this new feature, when users write a document in Word, they may see a human symbol appear on the left side of the document-this means that the content here may cause barriers to use for some people.
Just like changing the spelling, after clicking the human-shaped logo, the user can follow the prompts to adjust the content:
It may be to improve the color contrast of the text and improve the readability of the text 
It can also be to adjust the text description for the picture, so that the screen readers of visually impaired users can also read the "picture"
In addition, the "Accessibility Assistant" will also prompt problems such as the form of the document title and the lack of chart titles. The checking logic is basically based on the rules of Microsoft's original "Accessibility Checker".
If you don't want to write and check, users can also call up the "Accessibility Assistant" panel that integrates all accessibility issues after editing the entire document to correct it at once.
In addition, the Accessibility Assistant will also bring new "default settings" that can reduce obstacles.
When choosing a font color, Word will have a new switch "Only look at high-contrast (High-contrast only)". After opening, only the colors that meet the specific requirements will be left in the color picker. If you choose here, there will be no problem that the font color makes the content difficult to distinguish.
Even if this switch is not turned on, when selecting a color, the user can also read the contrast of each color, and whether there is a problem of insufficient contrast.
This function, which is highly integrated into the writing and editing workflow, can greatly reduce the learning and operation costs of creators for barrier-free content requirements, and learn by hand.
In the next few weeks, Microsoft will launch the "Accessibility Assistant" one after another, and work with members of the Microsoft 365 Insiders community to debug the experience of new features in Word. In the future, Microsoft will integrate the "Accessibility Assistant" into other office software.
After seeing this news, my biggest feeling is that I hope that the WeChat official account editor can also add similar functions.
Considering the number of users of the WeChat official account, even adding the small function of font color contrast prompt can greatly reduce the chances of color-blind users encountering difficult-to-read text, and ordinary users can also encounter less confusing text. Color matching "blinding" or the experience of being unable to see clearly.
To make network information barrier-free, on the one hand, enterprises can create barrier-free functions for users who consume content and provide more options for obtaining information.
On the other hand, enterprises can also start from the creator side, provide content creators with more useful accessibility content creation assistance functions, and use tools to convey and popularize the concept of accessibility, so that every byte can be read from the point where it is typed. Accessibility needs have been considered from the very beginning.
I hope that in the future, eliminating "obstacles to information access" will become as common and basic as eliminating "typos".
The Netherlands has built two massive parking lots under water, just for bikes
Cycling to the train station is a phenomenon that the government has encouraged for many years. Its appearance is not accidental, but is caused by special policies to promote the design of related infrastructure.
Chris Bruntlett of the independent Dutch Cycling Embassy explains.
Now, on both sides of Amsterdam Central Station, you will see a dedicated underground bicycle parking lot on each side, and it is still built underwater.
The larger parking lot, which took more than a decade to plan and four years to build, has room for 7,000 bicycles.
In this parking lot, all users can enjoy free parking for the first 24 hours; there are indicator lights to guide users to vacant parking spaces; there are also bicycle maintenance stations, security services, and direct access to underground subway stations and trains stand.
It's not just a garage, it's more like a museum. This means that the citizens of Amsterdam value cycling.
The parking facility on the other side adds more public space and uses marine life-friendly construction materials.
At the same time, building a parking lot underwater also means that the ground will no longer be cluttered with bicycles, and the space vacated can be reserved for other purposes, such as greening or resting benches.
Bruntlett emphasized that it is important to think more holistically to consider the support of transportation modes other than cars.
Like in the Netherlands, many people can ride bicycles, but they cannot take their bicycles on the train.
But if enough parking space is provided at the station, or shared bicycles are used to connect, then both bicycles and trains will become more accessible tools for more people.
When given more systematic and thoughtful planning, we can provide a car-like experience for cycling over longer and longer distances.
Kengo Kuma: We Can Live Well Without More Architecture
We can build life without more buildings.
The famous Japanese designer Kengo Kuma said in a recent interview.
What he's referring to, however, is not that we don't need buildings, but that we don't need to rush to build more and more new buildings.
I am very interested in renovations and renovations of buildings.
Sometimes, refurbished buildings can bring unexpected added value.
"Bloomberg" pointed out that in the past few decades, Japan has strongly encouraged the construction of highways, bullet trains and high-rise buildings to show the country's post-war recovery.
Most of these projects are based on the "demolition-new construction" model. Kengo Kuma believes that this mentality urgently needs to be changed in the current context of climate change.
At the same time, he believes that "renovation" can also create a large market space for the industry.
Kengo Kuma has long practiced the concept of "natural architecture", advocating that buildings become part of the local landscape, and he likes to use wood.
In the construction industry, a large part of carbon emissions comes from the production of materials such as concrete and steel, which are mostly used in building structures and foundations.
Kengo Kuma pointed out that more and more people are beginning to use wood on foundations to replace the original materials with higher carbon emissions.
In this experiment of replacing "new construction" with "renovation", some offices also reused the original building materials as much as possible during the renovation process to reduce the need for new materials.
According to the review, in the next ten years, the construction industry needs to face a major challenge – to reduce carbon in buildings, whether it is new buildings or old buildings.
The research report noted that the industry is still lagging in some key areas, such as updating and installing more efficient energy technologies for buildings.
Moonshot: What about climate-friendly snacks?
Most recently, Patagonia announced the acquisition of snack brand Moonshot as part of its drive to promote climate-friendly food.
Moonshot, a company that has only been established for less than three years, why did it attract Patagonia?
From its inception, Moonshot's goals have been clear:
We want to create a new food category called climate friendly food.
Moonshot's first product is a biscuit, backed by wheat and sunflower seeds (oil) grown using regenerative farming methods.
Different from the general company's product concept, when Moonshot made this biscuit, it did not first think about making biscuits and then find a supplier, but found a good agricultural supplier, and then developed the most suitable products for these materials.
Although it has not been fully verified, there are claims that regenerative agricultural planting can lock up more carbon in the soil, but it has been confirmed that this planting method is more friendly to biodiversity and prevents water pollution.
When the crops are ready, they are transported to mills several kilometers away for processing, reducing the need for long-distance transportation.
Then, the processed flour is processed into different snacks in a factory powered by clean energy.
For Patagonia, this kind of brand that considers carbon emissions throughout the production chain helps to convey to consumers the impact of food on the climate, and it is also an opportunity that the industry should seize:
I have no doubts myself that consumers have now changed and they did not understand the role of food in the climate crisis.
I think this could create one of the biggest market demand opportunities for food companies.
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