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"fixing alt" alt twitter

Fixing Alt – Mr. Twitter

The next in our “Fixing Alt” series is the Mr. Twitter comic on Agent-X Comics. Here’s the alternative text for yet another comic which lacks it. The alt and title attributes are both blank. Sad.

So here the text description:

Image: Two men standing by wall with poster of man with sunglasses, mustache and bow tie. The poster reads “Mr. Twitter, the master of impersonation. Tonight only.”

Man 1: Why do they call him Mr. Twitter?

Man 2: Because he only does 140 characters.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Mr. Twitter poster
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conference google html5 mobile visual

Accessibility at Google IO 2011

So I attended the first day of Google I/O 2011, my first time at a Google event. I was glad to hear a fair amount of talk about accessibility. There were at least 3 sessions focusing on the topic (see below) and a breakout area where you can talk with developers.

There was even an accessibility “Developer Sandbox” area which was great. I tried out the ChromeVox screen reader on a Chromebook with help from Google’s Rachel Shearer. I got a quick demo of the built-in TalkBack screen reader on an Android mobile device. Mika Pyyhkala and I were shown the LevelStar braille device running Android. The University of Washington showed off their mobile ASL Android project which used video chat technology.

Some tips for Android development from the sessions are:

  • In Android code, ensure images, especially ImageButtons, are labeled with contentDescription.
  • Use standard controls.
  • Stick with standard or modified views; custom very complex to make accessible.
  • Ensure all controls reachable with D-pad and Trackball.
  • Test with screen reader using D-Pad. To turn on, enable accessibility under Settings/Accessibility, then enable Talkback.
  • Take advantage of device’s “many eyes and ears” for alternative input/output (microphone, speaker, touch screen, camera, GPS)

The sessions specific to accessibility were:

More resources:


Tim Credo, Charles Chen, and T.V. Raman on stage at Google I/O.

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twitter

Accessibility Twitter Lists

A list of lists! Here are some great Twitter lists relating to accessibility.

Know any others?

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alt roundup writing

Resources for Writing for Web Accessibility

UPDATED MARCH 2017

A large part of web accessibility is creating content which can be easily understood, and writing is often times an overlooked factor. Like coding a website, writing must account for a variety of user conditions and abilities. It’s tricky! Here are some great articles to help.

From 4 syllables

Some great advice from @Writing4Web. This was originally a 7-part series; the articles were restructured since.

More great resources

Techniques from WCAG 2.0

The word "inaccessible" with "in" crossed out by a pen