Web accessibility - the practice of ensuring that websites and applications are available to all users, regardless of ability - isn’t a new topic. However, even today, few web developers and product owners fully understand the nuances of accessibility and universal design. Some believe all it takes is a few quick tweaks to make a site fully accessible, while others propose costly site overhauls to avoid litigation and negative press. Misunderstandings of accessibility can confuse digital teams, delaying simple but effective wins that enhance experiences for all users and increase conversions. Improving the accessibility of your digital properties starts with debunking misconceptions. Once you understand what accessibility is and who it helps (everyone!), you’ll be able to create an iterable plan to progress your digital presence. In this webinar, we will discuss: -Tips to improve the accessibility of your digital properties today -Planning for accessibility from the start of a web project -Questions to ask when hiring a development partner -Why accessibility matters: humanity, user experience, conversions, litigation, and SEO -Who accessibility helps, including personas to bring these characters to life

1. ©2016 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary
Christina Dulude, Acquia
Everett Zufelt, Myplanet
Accessibility Myths Debunked
Why Smart Organizations Know it's Not Optional

2. ©2016 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary©2016 Acquia Inc. — Confidential and Proprietary
Christina Dulude
Technical Account Manager
christina.dulude@acquia.com
Everett Zufelt
Associate Director of Technology, Marketing & Commerce Solutions
everett.z@myplanet.com

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Why should we care about accessibility?
– Litigation
– Lost business, conversions, opportunities
– It’s the right thing to do

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Vivienne
– Blind since birth
– Uses JAWS screen reader
– Can’t use a website or make
transactions if website isn’t
coded for screen readers

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Thomas
– Deaf
– Uses ASL
– Needs captions on videos

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Juan
– Non-native English speaker
– Needs language on websites
to be straightforward and
clear
– Appreciates when translations
are available in Spanish, his
primary language

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Edith
– Elderly, experiencing loss of
fine motor control
– Appreciates the ability to
enlarge small text
– Needs large click targets for
mouse actions

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What is accessibility?
– Almost 1 in 5 Americans have a disability of some kind
– Vision, hearing, mobility and fine motor skills, and
cognitive disabilities
– Most of us will have a disability at some point in our
lives, especially as we grow older.

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“Disability” of devices and networks
– Websites and applications should work on all devices
– Isn’t that responsive design?
– Yes. Accessibility helps everyone, regardless of ability.

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WCAG vs. Section 508
– The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0):
A standard published by the W3C (World Wide Web
Consortium)
– Section 508 is a national regulation in the US
– Other countries have their own regulations
– A standard vs. a regulation
– Many similar requirements between the two

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WCAG
– Reflects the best international consensus
– 12 guidelines that are organized under 4 principles
– Perceivable
– Operable
– Understandable
– Robust
– A, AA, and AAA

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Section 508
– Requires federal agencies to provide software and
website accessibility to people with disabilities
– Includes:
– Government agencies
– Federal-funded nonprofits
– Public higher education institutions
– Public K-12 schools

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AODA
– Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
– Requires organizations to provide website
accessibility to people with disabilities
– Includes:
– Designated public sector organizations
– Private sector organizations
– Not-for-profit organizations

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How can I make my site more accessible?
– Myth: Building an accessible website is hard
– Myth: You need a separate, stripped down site to serve
your disabled users
– Big wins with small tweaks
– Development best practices

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Use ARIA roles
– Defines the semantics behind sections on the page
– Associate elements in the document to a WAI-ARIA role
– Use appropriate states and properties

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Color contrast
– Provide sufficient contrast between colors, especially
foreground and backgrounds
– Don't use color alone to convey information

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Obvious calls to action
– Provide clear and consistent navigation options
– "Skip to content" links
– Menu items and links must be reached by tabbing
– All interactive elements must be used with a keyboard
– Lost customers and business

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Don’t start movement automatically
– But if you do, be sure you have controls to stop it
– Be careful with movement in general
– Flashing
– Parallax scrolling

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Help users avoid and correct mistakes
– Whatever device they are using to access the site,
don't let them get into states that they cannot exit or fix
– Isn’t that just good usability?
– Yes. Accessibility helps everyone, regardless of ability.

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Good code structure
– Tables with <th> tags
– Use headings and spacing to group related content
– Added SEO bonus
– Avoid CAPTCHAs for form validation
– No flashing of any kind
– Avoid unnecessary movement

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Textual Content
– Provide informative, unique page titles
– Use headings to convey meaning and structure
– Make link text informative
– Write meaningful text alternatives for images, including
captions
– Create transcripts and captions for multimedia
– Isn’t this just good usability?

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Clear instructions, simple language
– WCAG AAA: Content shouldn’t be above a lower
secondary ed level
– https://readability-score.com
– Simple language does not correlate to intelligence
– Accessibility helps everyone.

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Keep content clean and concise
– BEFORE: “The Committee on Education shall concern
itself with the quality of educational services provided
to all school-aged residents by the Boston Public
Schools.”
– AFTER: “We work to make sure all Boston public
school students get a quality education.”
http://next.boston.gov/updates/2016/3/10/writing-for-a-human-centere

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Video and Audio
– Transcript to provide basic accessibility for most W3C
media
– For visuals such as charts and diagrams, supply an
audio description
– Captions are nice to have

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Case study: Accessible Media Inc
– Accessible media for all Canadians
– Not-for-profit multimedia organization serving
Canadians who are blind, partially sighted, deaf, hard of
hearing, mobility or print restricted
– Improved UX and accessibility were prioritized
– Easy but extensible content publishing platform for all
content authors
– Drupal 8

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Drupal and accessibility
– Improvements in Drupal 8
– Semantic HTML5 elements
– Drupal.announce JavaScript method

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Drupal and accessibility
– Controlled tab order
– Hidden/invisible/on-focus elements
– Fieldsets for radio buttons and checkboxes now in the
Form API
– Alt text now required by default

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All stages of the design process
– Plan from the start
– Universal design

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Design & Develop
Discover
– Who will be using the product, what will they need to
achieve?
Define
– Review prototypes to ensure they will work for all
personas

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Design & Develop
Deploy
– Test with different browsers, devices and assistive
technologies
Analyze
– Collect feedback from users about what is working well
and what could be improved

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What if you can’t start from scratch?
– Incremental changes
Tools:
– http://wave.webaim.org
– http://www.508checker.com
– https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools
– https://readability-score.com

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Working with a development partner
– “Do you build accessible websites?” WRONG!
– Ask for specific examples of past projects
– How do they test sites for accessibility compliance?
– Run code through scanner

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Why should we care about accessibility?
– Litigation
– Lost business, conversions, opportunities
– It’s the right thing to do

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Easter Egg!
– Be one of the first 5 respondents to email
kevin.f@myplanet.com with subject line "Accessibility
Check-up" and receive a complimentary accessibility
check-up for your website.
Some restrictions apply. Inquire for details.

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Thank you!