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Accessibility, Totally Tooling Tips (S3, E8)

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Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.

Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. The document "How People with Disabilities Use the Web" describes how different disabilities affect Web use and includes scenarios of people with disabilities using the Web.

Millions of people have disabilities that affect their use of the Web. Currently most Web sites and Web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web. As more accessible Web sites and software become available, people with disabilities are able to use and contribute to the Web more effectively.

Web accessibility also benefits people without disabilities. For example, a key principle of Web accessibility is designing Web sites and software that are flexible to meet different user needs, preferences, and situations. This flexibility also benefits people without disabilities in certain situations, such as people using a slow Internet connection, people with "temporary disabilities" such as a broken arm, and people with changing abilities due to aging. The document " Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization" describes many different benefits of Web accessibility, including benefits for organizations.

The Web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life: education, employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, and more. It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society.

The Web offers the possibility of unprecedented access to information and interaction for many people with disabilities. That is, the accessibility barriers to print, audio, and visual media can be much more easily overcome through Web technologies.

The document " Social Factors in Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization" discusses how the Web impacts the lives of people with disabilities, the overlap with digital divide issues, and Web accessibility as an aspect of corporate social responsibility.

Another important consideration for organizations is that Web accessibility is required by laws and policies in some cases. WAI Web Accessibility Policy Resources links to resources for addressing legal and policy factors within organizations, including a list of relevant laws and policies around the world.

Much of the focus on Web accessibility has been on the responsibilities of Web developers. However, Web software also has a vital role in Web accessibility. Software needs to help developers produce and evaluate accessible Web sites, and be usable by people with disabilities.

One of the roles of the Web Accessibility Initiative ( WAI) is to develop guidelines and techniques that describe accessibility solutions for Web software and Web developers. These WAI guidelines are considered the international standard for Web accessibility.

The document "Essential Components of Web Accessibility" describes the different Web accessibility roles, and how specific improvements could substantially advance Web accessibility.

Making a Web site accessible can be simple or complex, depending on many factors such as the type of content, the size and complexity of the site, and the development tools and environment.

Many accessibility features are easily implemented if they are planned from the beginning of Web site development or redesign. Fixing inaccessible Web sites can require significant effort, especially sites that were not originally "coded" properly with standard XHTML markup, and sites with certain types of content such as multimedia.

The document " Implementation Plan for Web Accessibility" lists basic steps for addressing accessibility in Web projects. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and techniques documents provide detailed information for developers.

When developing or redesigning a site, evaluating accessibility early and throughout the development process can identify accessibility problems early when it is easier to address them. Simple techniques such as changing settings in a browser can determine if a Web page meets some accessibility guidelines. A comprehensive evaluation to determine if a site meets all accessibility guidelines is much more complex.

There are evaluation tools that help with evaluation. However, no tool alone can determine if a site meets accessibility guidelines. Knowledgeable human evaluation is required to determine if a site is accessible.

The document " Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility" provides guidance on preliminary reviews using techniques to quickly assess some of the accessibility problems on a site. It also provides general procedures and tips for evaluating conformance to accessibility guidelines.

The WAI Web site provides guidelines and resources to help make the Web accessible. These range from very short summaries, such as " Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites," to resources on managing accessibility, to detailed technical references.

Related resources for making the Web accessible are also available from other organizations, and many can be found on the Web.

Web "content" generally refers to the information in a Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such. More specific definitions are available in the WCAG documents, which are linked from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview.

Web software includes:

People with disabilities sometimes use other software, called assistive technologies, to interact with the Web.

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Introduction to Web Accessibility ◦ Web Accessibility Initiative ◦ W3C

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Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.

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Historical Quote

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Landmarks

ARIA Landmark roles can help assistive technology users to quickly navigate to and past blocks of content in a web interface.

Note: When you validate HTML that utilizes most landmark roles, you'll receive a warning stating these roles are redundant.

In HTML5, several of the landmark roles are implicit via the native structural elements which are supported by modern desktop browsers. With that said, if you need to support older browsers, you'll want to check their support for landmark roles. If you find support to be lacking, then use the landmark roles regardless of the validation warnings. For more information, read Quick Tip: ARIA Landmark Roles and HTML5 Implicit Mapping.
header role="banner"
A region of the page that is site focused. Typically your global page header.
nav role="navigation"main role="main"
Wraps the focal content of document. Use only once.
article role="article"
Represents an independent item of content. There may be many articles in a single document. articles are not considered landmarks, but screen readers may still surface article s when navigating by regions or landmarks in a document.
aside role="complementary"
Supporting section related to the main content even when separated.
footer role="contentinfo"
Contains information about the document (meta info, copyright, company info, etc).
form role="search"
Add a `search` role to your primary search ( how to implement).

Language Attribute

Declaring a language attribute on the HTML element enables a screen reader to read out the text with correct pronunciation.
html lang="en"
Specify a language with the lang attribute on the html element.

JavaScript
Unobtrusive JavaScript
Use unobtrusive JavaScript (never use in line scripting).
No-JS Alternatives
Provide alternatives for users who do not have JavaScript enabled and for environments where JavaScript is unavailable.

Forms
Logical layout
Tab order of the form follows a logical pattern.
Associated label for all form controls (e.g. input, select etc.)Make sure placeholder attributes are not being used in place of label tags. WHATWG
An exception to this rule would be smaller forms with one or two fields (eg. search or log in forms)
Group related form elements with fieldset and describe the group with legend
Important for input type="radio" and input type="checkbox"

Media (Audio and Video)

Providing text alternatives makes the audio information accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. This also goes for search engines who are deaf and hard of hearing as well.
Provide text transcripts Synchronized subtitles for videos

Color and Contrast
Test color contrast
Best done early in the process, by ensuring that the foreground and background colors of your site have sufficient contrast you will help make your site more readable for everyone. Contrast Ratio is one tool for checking the contrast of your colors for both standard vision and color deficient user.

Test for different types of color blindness.
Deuteranopia Protanopia Tritanopia
Test against different types of color blindness with a tool like http://colorfilter.wickline.org. If you are on a Mac, another option is Michel Fortin's, Sim Daltonism color blindness simulator.

Testing

Navigate your site or application using a range of tools. For instance, using only a keyboard or a screen reader will help you understand how a blind, low-vision, or limited-mobility user will experience it.
Test using a screen reader Test using keyboard only

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In the past, fantastic web design was a simple business. All you had to do was ensure that the design looked good in Internet Explorer or Netscape, and your job was pretty much done. Some designers even took it upon themselves to mandate which browser the user should be operating. And for many designers, the visual design was not only a primary concern, but the only concern.

That approach created a terrible legacy which is still sometimes experienced today, where the site content often is given secondary importance to eye candy and window dressing.

Things have now changed a great deal. Users have a multitude of different devices and browsers to choose from, so there is a real challenge to create a design that will work consistently on any device and browser combination. Unfortunately the challenge involved in meeting the task of ensuring total browser compatibility often leads to designers forgetting to ensure total user compatibility. In other words, where accessibility should be given utmost importance, it is often forgotten entirely or merely added in as an afterthought.

Such an approach can be costly for a number of reasons, not all of which are immediately obvious...

1) If your design is not accessible, you are robbing your client

According to data sourced from CDC, almost one-in-five American adults have trouble with their hearing and almost one-in-ten adults have trouble with vision. The hard numbers just for these disability categories alone is more than 58 million individuals.

How many business owners do you think would be pleased at the prospect of losing up to 20% of the potential market for their products and services for no valid reason? That is exactly the scenario you provide them with if your website is not accessible.

2) You may have a legal obligation to provide accessibility

In the United States, many websites exist within categories that are legally required to be accessible. Many other countries have similar laws. The main categories of websites in the US that must include accessibility as a compulsory design factor include:

sites designed for use and display by any agency of the US Government, or any state government eligible for Assistive Technology funding (covered by Section 508 of the Reauthorized Rehabilitation Act, 1998);

sites designed for use and display by any organization receiving federal financial assistance of any kind (covered by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, 1973);

sites designed for use in formal education settings, such as schools and colleges (covered by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act , 1997);

commercial websites - although the laws are not yet fully tested, various anti-discrimination laws may apply, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act , 1990. Retail giant Target was sued over accessibility, opting to settle the matter out of court, it is only a matter of time before more commercial website owners could find themselves in a similar situation.

Even if none of the other great reasons for including accessibility are enough to persuade you, the fact you may be legally required to do it should certainly be a consideration.

3) It is ethically and morally right to make your website inclusive

When your website does not include accessibility features, some people won't be able to use it, and that simply isn't fair. While some users with disabilities may just shrug it off as being exactly what they expected, many will be angry and feel that by not including accessibility you are not respecting them - and they'd be right!

4) People with disabilities are not a silent minority

Now, more than ever, the Internet has given a voice to people who previously may not have had much opportunity to speak their minds in public. In a very large way, access to communications through the Internet has leveled the playing field between disabled and non-disabled computer users. If there is a perception that a business or other organization doesn't support the disabled, then the PR consequences can be disastrous.

5) Being accessible can win loyalty and trust

If your competitor's website is not accessible and yours is, guess which one will get more repeat traffic? Remember, some 20% of the population have a disability, and in fact people with disabilities are more likely to engage in online shopping activity than the average citizen. Shopping in the offline world suffers from accessibility issues too, and the Internet provides a way for everybody to get equal treatment and service without any physical and social barriers.

6) It is not difficult to include accessibility features

One of the main reasons why many designers and developers don't include accessibility is because they think it will be too difficult. In fact, with semantic markup, and a small amount of planning, it is not necessarily difficult to make a website more accessible. All it really takes is an awareness of accessibility. In many case you'll find it harder to make a site that isn't accessible.

7) Accessibility is not just about "blind people"

The Internet is largely a visual environment, so it is no surprise that a lot of literature dealing with accessibility has focused heavily on the needs of visually impaired users. Obviously those users are important, but that monolithic focus has led many developers to believe that accessibility just means adding the alt attribute to images. There are many other disabilities that require equal attention.

True accessibility is about providing universal access. That means anyone who wants to access information on the website can do it, regardless of platform or physical ability.

8) Accessibility is about responsiveness

Accessibility is about enabling any user to access content, however they choose; rather than forcing users to engage with your site in a way you favor. Many people who would not be classed as disabled take advantage of accessible features. For example, a lot of people dislike trackpads on laptops and prefer to navigate webpages with the keyboard.

An obvious conclusion

Accessibility carries with it an economic benefit, it has social and PR benefits, it avoids potential litigation issues, and it will help you sleep that little bit better. Implementation is simple in a new site, which should be using semantic markup anyway.

Improving the accessibility of a website does not need to be a difficult process. Always use responsive design this enables access by the widest range of devices, and allows vision-impaired people to scale the site content to suit their needs. Ensure your content still has logical flow when CSS is turned off. Add closed captions and/or transcripts to all video and audio content. When writing transcripts, consider describing any significant actions in text form.

If you're upgrading a legacy website to be accessible, or building JavaScript-heavy sites, then take a look at Aria.

Don't make accessibility an afterthought, treat is as part of a responsive design process, and plan to work this way from the start of every project.
Featured image uses disability image via Shutterstock.

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8 reasons to embrace website accessibility | Webdesigner Depot

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In the past, fantastic web design was a simple business. All you had to do was ensure that the design looked good in Internet Explorer or Netscape, and your job was pretty much done. Some designers even took it upon themselves to mandate which browser the user should be operating.