Oct 2014 Siteimprove Stockholm Accessibility Conference

Getting Started With Web Accessibility


Web accessibility refers to “the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility


Jeffrey Zeldman

“…accessibility remains the least-taught, least-understood, least-cared-about of all our new and classic best practices.”


Why Accessibility?

Accessibility is about people.

Up to 20% of internet users experience accessibility problems when browsing websites.



Visual, auditory, physical, cognitive, vestibular

Older persons, low literacy

Technology limitations or incompatibility: browsers, platforms, devices, mobile web

Environmental factors: place, illumination, noise, slow connection

http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/standards/accessibility/index_en.htm


10% to 15% of the total population

50 to 75 million people in EU27

There is a strong correlation between disability and aging: the numbers increase with demographic change.

Source: Labour Force Survey (European Commission-Eurostat, 2002) http://ec.europa.eu/ipg/standards/accessibility/index_en.htm


Who is responsible for Website Accessibility?


• Webmaster • Marketing Staff • Web Developers • Web Designers • Content Managers • IT Staff • Non-technical Stakeholders


Websites are inaccessible due to their owners being unaware and uneducated.


We need to educate website owners.


• 36.6% Lack of Skills and Knowledge

• 36.2% Lack of Awareness

• 13.2% Affect the look, feel, or functionality

• 13.9% Lack of Budget or Resources

http://www.headstar.com/eablive/?p=1057

Why is your Website not Accessible?


We need to offer realistic solutions.


• Programs may err in their interpretation of the guidelines • A genuine text equivalent for a photograph in context • Lose the spirit of the law

There is no such thing as fully automated accessibility testing.

• Good tools inspect the page for problems • Produce a list of things they judge to be errors • List of things they judge worth human inspection


Example: • alt=“” needs review to determine if “decorative”

• alt=“picture” needs review to determine if adequate

• alt=“toy retro robot” needs review to determine if adequate

There is no such thing as fully automated accessibility testing.


Getting Started

Accessibility Usability

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Findability


Coding for accessibility sucks.

There’s no such thing as a fully accessible website.

Just because you have an (mostly) accessible site, doesn’t mean you have a usable site.



Accessibility is a process and not a project and it is relevant throughout the lifetime of a website.


Include accessibility requirements in the organization’s design and communications style guides.


Ensure testing, especially design and templates

Carry out training

Have a plan for ongoing site monitoring


Utilize persons with disabilities in your testing plan.


Know the Rules • SE regulations and dates

• WCAG 2.0

• Semantic markup

• Style guides


Practical Training Plans • Designers

• Developers

• Content Creators

• Document Creators

• Proper CMS training


• Webmaster • Marketing Staff • Web Developers • Web Designers • Content Managers • IT Staff • Non-technical Stakeholders

Remember These Guys?


Web Designers

• Consistent design & navigation

• Contrast ratios

• White space!


Web Developers

• Pay attention to forms and scripts

• Structure headings correctly

• Keyboard navigation

• Avoid programming text like “Click Here” or “Read More”


Content Managers

• Use comprehensive “alt” tags

• Structure writing with headings

• The Web is not a Word document!

• Follow the company style guides

• Accessible documents


Webmaster

• Proper training for teams

• Use CMS to enforce accessibility

• Ensure templates are accessible

• Test early, test often


Low-hanging Fruit (Quick Fixes) • Templates

• Style Sheets

• Divide and conquer


High Traffic Pages • Site Structure

• Analytics


A-level Errors • Images

• Headings

• Forms


Report Success!

Track Progress



Accessible Documents • Online documents are a huge part of online

communication across many industries.

• Organizations sometimes rely on their website as the only way of providing these documents.

• Accessibility of online documents exposes website owners to the same risks as inaccessible web pages.


What Defines an Accessible Document? • Understand the document’s structure

• Read and understand a document’s content, including text and images

• Understand and navigate within the document

• Interact with any forms on the document


Questions?


Kevin Rydberg • Senior eAccessibility Consultant, Siteimprove

• [email protected]

• @rydbergk

• linkedin.com/in/KevinRydberg

krysiteimprove.com


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Internet

Oct 2014 Siteimprove Stockholm Accessibility Conference