A11yAwareness

A11yAwareness, 1 month ago to random

People often have difficulty reading content when there isn’t sufficient contrast, so it's important to have high color contrast. TPGi’s free color contrast checker tool allows you to determine the contrast ratio of two colors by using an eye-drop tool.

https://developer.paciellogroup.com/color-contrast-checker/

A11yAwareness, 1 month ago to random

When possible, organize pages with headings to help users scan page content for what they're looking for. Statements allow you to put the keywords first. Both sighted users and screen reader users benefit if words they expect are at the front of headings.

https://www.w3.org/WAI/tutorials/page-structure/headings/

A11yAwareness, 1 month ago to random

People who are new to writing alt text sometimes feel they must describe every detail in every visual, including logos. This is unnecessary and will overwhelm screen reader users. For example, it's OK to write "Google logo" rather than describing the logo in exhausting detail.

A11yAwareness, 1 month ago to random

When creating PDFs, avoid using "Print to PDF." A screen reader user may still be able to access the text of PDFs created this way, but heading structure, alternative text, and any other tag structure will be lost. Using "Save As" or "Export" can preserve these tags.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

If you pair light colors (yellow text on white background) or dark colors (dark blue text on black background), users will struggle to read your content. Understanding color contrast will help you better serve all users, especially those with low vision.

https://webaim.org/articles/contrast/

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Cognitive load refers to how much working memory or short-term memory someone is using at a time. Minimizing the cognitive load it takes to use your site makes it more accessible for people with cognitive disabilities. Limit what you're asking users to remember to use your site.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Sheri Byrne-Haber's "Giving A Damn About Accessibility" has great tips on how to deal with people who challenge or dismiss the need for accessibility.

https://uxdesign.cc/giving-a-damn-about-accessibility-6caf90be5a40

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Don't write generic descriptions for alt text. "Screenshot of a news article" might technically describe an image, but it does nothing to convey the information or context sighted users get from the image. People who can't see the image need the same information and context.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Individuals working on web accessibility can only do so much on their own, so get accessibility on the radar of organization managers. Leadership should demonstrate and enforce a commitment to accessibility, as it should be a team responsibility, rather than just yours alone.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

First and foremost, alt text must always be informative and descriptive of the content in the image. It can have character and humor, but it still needs to be informative and descriptive. Alt text is not a place to add easter eggs or jokes for sighted users.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Headings serve as landmarks for users and help them understand how different pieces of information relate to each other. For example, a section with a level 3 headings probably provides information in support of information provided in the previous level 2 heading, and so on.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Some people may be unable to use a mouse, and instead rely exclusively on keyboards, or use assistive technologies such as speech recognition, head pointers, mouth sticks, or eye-gaze tracking systems. If a website is accessible only to mouse users, these people will be excluded.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Hyperlink text should make sense when read out of context. Screen reader users can navigate from link to link, and can listen to links in a list. When navigating this way, only the link is read. So "click here" or "read more" won't make sense.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Kasey Bonifacio's 13 Days of Accessibility is a great way to dig into the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which are international standards used to measure accessibility. Kasey's resource makes WCAG more digestible.

http://a11ycalendar.kaseybon.com

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Alexa Heinrich's Accessible Social is a free resource for digital marketers, communication professionals, content creators, everyday social media users, and anyone who wants to learn how to make their content accessible for people with disabilities.

https://www.accessible-social.com/

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

For screen readers to recognize headings, heading text can't just be body text or normal text that's been made to look bigger and bolder. It must be formatted as a heading. In Microsoft Word and Google Docs, this can be done in the styles box. In HTML, use the tags h1 through h6.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

The Americans With Disabilities Act does not currently have specific, testable criteria to measure web accessibility. If a vendor or company promises you that they can make your site "ADA-compliant," be skeptical. The ADA has no specific standards with which one can or can't "comply."

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Holly Tuke uses screen readers on different devices every day. She says she consistently finds the same errors: unlabelled links and buttons, inaccessible web forms, and no heading structure. Here's her advice for developers.

https://business.scope.org.uk/article/message-to-web-developers-from-a-screen-reader-user

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

If you're looking to hire people with accessibility knowledge and experience, the Accessibility Skills Hiring Toolkit created by Teach Access can help you. The toolkit provides language to use when writing job ads, and questions to ask when interviewing.

https://teachaccess.github.io/accessibility-skills-hiring-toolkit/

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Don't use emojis to replace words. It increases cognitive load for everyone. You can't be sure people will interpret the emoji as you intended. Emoji alt text descriptions used by screen reading and text to speech software may not be what you intended the emoji to mean.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Some people replace the word "season" with "szn" or the word "please" with "plz." Not all sighted users will know what those spellings are supposed to mean, and many screen reader users won't, either. Many screen readers will read "szn" as S-Z-N and "plz" as P-L-Z.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Vestibular disorders affect people's balance as well as their visual perception of their world around them. Don't make animations, sliders, videos, or rapid movement start automatically, as autoplaying elements could trigger a bad reaction in people who have vestibular disorders.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

Many struggle with writing alt text for charts and other other data visualizations. Amy Cesal's "Writing Alt Text for Data Visualization" hammers home the importance of explaining the chart type, the type of data, and the reason for the chart.

https://medium.com/nightingale/writing-alt-text-for-data-visualization-2a218ef43f81

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

You don't necessarily need to say "image of" in your alt text for users to know it's an image. Screen readers will announce that it's an image. But it can help readers to specify if it's a hand-drawn image, Polaroid, infographic, screenshot, chart, map, diagram, or so on.

A11yAwareness, 2 months ago to random

As you share Oscars images, memes, screen shots, and more on social media, don't forget alt text. Adding alt text helps everyone using a screen reader, whether they are blind, have low-vision, have a cognitive disability, etc.