Fresh news from the Web Accessibility Initiative about the brand new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines that will actually cover much more than just web and mobile this time. Augmented and virtual reality, Internet of things, wearables and beyond are a part of our daily life, so they must also be accessible!
Author: Bogdan Cerovac
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Extremely valuable documentation that reveals some interesting points about future of Web Accessibility Directive monitoring methods, tools and also some less clarified reporting matters. The accessibility statement automatic analysis will most certainly also have a central role and it is worth following on the Accessibility Conformance Testing rules that are the engine of all automatic tools out there.
I read a lot on best practices around implementing accessibility into a tech company – and this post is a simple guideline of mine. It is the first part and I will add my findings and lessons learned when I test the process in real life.
2020 was a special year and not only negative, it was especially positive for the accessibility, both for the world and for me as well.
Is it better to hire external consultants for accessibility assessment or is it better that it is made by the software vendor? I would say that both has its pros and cons and that combination works best.
Night before Christmas – and besides all the usual wishes – I also wish a more accessible web!
I have now evaluated some simple and complex websites, and even a whole banking digital presence and here are some notes and thoughts about lessons learned.
After some practical accessibility statement preparation work I decided to describe some thoughts of mine on the best practices that can be useful for it.
Some thoughts and investigations of mine on compliance and what does it really mean to be compliant. This seems like a simple declaration but is it really so simple?
A link should navigate and a button should do something is the basic idea. Semantics will be rewarded with usability and even search engines will like it, so why break the pattern.
Just a short explanation to all the developers out there that may not understand the need for skip to content links.
It is possible that our website is 100% WCAG compliant and still not accessible to an assistive technology user. WCAG alone is not enough, we must test manually as well.
When in need for a custom widget / control er even basic site element – it is easier than ever before to just get it from the web or maybe even create one from scratch. This post tries to explain what has to be considered.
Scaling down web browser is not enough. We should really test with physical devices and with at least Android and iOS based devices. UI and UX tests are important but so is testing accessibility with mobile screen-readers.
Defining testable conditions on multiple levels will make development and testing more effective. This is when acceptance criteria is useful.
New CSS media query that can enable more control for high contrast mode and what high contrast mode actually is and how it is not only a dark mode
Accessibility team as a team of members of other teams that are motivated to take a proactive role in their primary team – so that all teams can really implement accessibility efforts coherently.
Before we start with a review we should have a plan. We should think of providing real value, not just covering compliance. We should define real goals and lead to real results and improvements.
Today is a big day for accessibility in the European Union and beyond. Still long to the ultimate goal but an important milestone.
Just some thoughts of mine on presenting the case for accessibility to stakeholders
On the long term whole organization should be aware of the win-win potentials when accessibility is baked into organizational culture.
Personal thoughts after my first real session with stakeholders where I reflect on the business side a bit
Why are we not encouraged to use ARIA everywhere? Because it is a last option – if we are not able to find a native semantic element, or if we want to create something special, then we can use ARIA. But it should be used wisely!
Inspired by a YouTube video from Una Kravets and always knowing that aria reminded me of something I had to elaborate on that (and explain a small bit on dangers of aria as well)
Some reflections on my newly acquired Web Accessibility Specialist certification and a mention of Neuralink that will be demoed today and can have positive implications on accessibility as well. If used correctly.
Exactly one month until all public sector websites in the European Union must be accessible. Or to be more realistic – until they will have to let the users know where they still need work on accessibility. A positive direction nonetheless.
There are still some myths out there about what we can and can not do and there are also some best practices around use of headings. Please do use them is my advice, but it is not a thing for compliance and SEO itself. It is more about usability.
Yes – you have read it correctly – it may sound a bit peculiar but it can be pretty common – some people use the touch devices without touching them.
Social media is one of the most used internet services. And people with difficulties are users too. And as they should have the right to work as well – they do use LinkedIn. So it must really be accessible. But, is it?
A bit personal post, but I really do think that empathy builds our awareness about accessibility and by at least trying to think about others we can be better at it.