Categories
articles review

Reponse to Journey to Universal Accessibility–Part 1

I got an error when trying to comment, so here’s my response to the recent article Journey to Universal Accessibility–Part 1 by @Pathbrite. In general, the article is pretty good, but several of the techniques given are outdated.

  • For #3, I say don’t use tabindex; it’s no longer considered good practice as content can be same in code order as visual order. The CSS part is a must (adding focus in addition to hover state). 
  • For #4, it’s important to clarify that page titles (and H1) should be unique for each page.
  • For #5, it’s even better to use the scope attribute on TH elements. Also, the summary attribute is good but hardly ever used correctly; it’s also being made obsolete in HTML5.
  • For #7, I like title attributes, but unfortunately titles aren’t very accessible to all; browsers don’t support the rendering with keyboard use, most screen readers have it off by default,  nor does it help on mobile devices.
  • Lastly, I suggest increasing the text size on your site for better readability/accessibility.
Categories
event

Fall Accessibility Camps

Coming up soon is the heart of the 2012 Accessibility Camp season. Here’s a great list of the events this fall. Please try to make an event as they are very fun as well as informative. I (Dennis) will most likely be at the LA event.

A “camp” is also known as an unconference or barcamp. Last year, master @Jennison wrote a guest blog all about the accessibility barcamp movement, IT Accessibility Goes To Camp.

Categories
business

5 Reasons Businesses Should Take Web Accessibility Seriously

Editorial guest blog by Philip J Reed, on behalf of Westwood College.

Too many businesses make the mistake of dismissing web accessibility as irrelevant, but the assumption that accessibility issues concern only a small segment of would-be customers is a potentially profit-damaging misstep.

Taking web accessibility seriously can save your business from major problems, some that possibly haven’t even occurred to you. What’s more, it can save you time and money, two things any business owner could always use more of. After all, by designing an adequately accessible website, you will not have to make a special effort to provide materials to disabled clients or customers in different formats, such as in physical large-print, or Braille.

Additionally, accessible websites make it easier for those clients or customers to place their order with you.  While you may have been happy to provide those individuals with special service, the fact may be that they don’t ask you for that opportunity; they may simply find your interface unusable, and begin to look elsewhere. You don’t want that to happen, and here are five additional reasons your business should take web accessibility seriously.

  1. Customer Loyalty. If any user, disabled or not, finds your site slow, confusing or hard to navigate, you’ve just lost a potential customer. Web users have millions of sites to choose from, and they aren’t willing to find out if yours is worth the wait while your high-bandwidth images struggle to load. Even worse, if your site only functions well on one browser, you may have just lost a large share of web users, consumers who will make the switch to a competitor rather than deal with an inferior experience.
  2. Credibility. By ensuring your site accommodates and satisfies users of all levels of ability and access you’ll establish and build the one currency that means the most in the business world— credibility. If a consumer knows they can come to your site and easily navigate pages, forms and links, they’re much more likely to return, refer others, and speak well of your brand in general.
  3. Staying Ahead. In the digital world, being even one step behind current technology makes you a dinosaur. Working to create the most accessible site will ensure that you stay at the forefront of your industry, and empower your consumer to feel in control of their web experience. If re-coding your forms or updating your graphics seems daunting, remember that programs at local or online IT schools  can easily get you up to speed on any tech tricks necessary to avoid accessibility issues and revamp an  outdated site format.
  4. Progress. Web accessibility can be a moving target, but the consistent self-evaluation necessary to keep your site accessible for any user will benefit your business as a whole. Business awareness and accommodation of individual needs and desires was the top concern for 83% of consumers in a 2010 Experian poll, and you’ll be a go-to guy for these customers if you keep accessibility at the top of the list of priorities.
  5. Lawsuits. Web accessibility traditionally refers to site accommodation of users with visual, cognitive, auditory or physical disabilities. Sites that fail to feature alternative descriptions for images, transcription for videos, and the appropriate HTML code that makes the site usable by keyboard-only, screen reader and other users of adaptive technology, set themselves up to not only alienate disabled consumers, but also to invoke lawsuits for failure to comply with accessibility standards. Check state and national law and policy to avoid leaving your site exposed to legal action. In the U.S., if your website is even partially federally funded, it must comply with Section 508, so make sure you’re well familiar with it, and in full compliance.

As time goes on, web accessibility will only become more of an urgent issue. If you build accessibility into your plan from the beginning, you won’t always have to be playing catch up. And if you’re playing catch up, well, make sure you get to work!

For further reading and information, please see this overview assembled by W3C.

Categories
aria screenreader

Easy ARIA from Marco

Here’s a great blog series on ARIA techniques from Marco Zehe (@MarcoInEnglish) of Mozilla. The content is well over a couple years old now, but still very relevant and useful. Goes to show how leading edge Marco and Mozilla are!