We can all pretend that we're helping others by making web sites accessible, but we are really making the web better for our future selves. Learn some fundamentals of web accessibility and how it can benefit you (whether future you from aging or you after something else limits your abilities). We'll review simple testing techniques, basic features and enhancements, coming trends, and where to get help. This isn't intended to be a deep dive into ARIA, but more of an overall primer for those who aren't sure where to start nor how it helps them.

1. Selfish Accessibility
Presented by Adrian Roselli for HTML5 Developer Conference 2014
I suspect there’s a hashtag.

2. About Adrian Roselli
• Co-written four books.
• Technical editor
for two books.
• Written over fifty
articles, most recently
for .net Magazine and
Web Standards Sherpa.
Great bedtime reading!

3. About Adrian Roselli
• Member of W3C HTML Working Group, W3C
Accessibility Task Force, five W3C Community
Groups.
• Building for the web since 1994.
• Founder, owner at Algonquin Studios
(AlgonquinStudios.com).
• Learn more at AdrianRoselli.com.
• Avoid on Twitter @aardrian.
I warned you.

4. What We’ll Cover
• Boring Statistics
• How to Be Selfish
• Basic Tests
• Some Techniques
• Questions (ongoing!)
Work with me, people.

5. Boring Statistics
1 of 4 sections.

6. Any Disability
• In the United States:
• 10.4% aged 21-64 years old,
• 25% aged 65-74 years old,
• 50% aged 75+.
• Includes:
• Visual
• Hearing
• Mobility
• Cognitive
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/
http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/2012/English/HTML/report2012.cfm?fips=2000000&html_year=2012&subButton=Get+HTML

7. Vision Impairments
• 285 million worldwide:
• 39 million are blind,
• 246 million have low vision.
• 82% of people living with blindness are aged 50
and above.
• 1.8% of Americans aged 21-64.
• 4.0% of Americans aged 65-74.
• 9.8% of Americans aged 75+.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs282/en/
http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/2012/English/HTML/report2012.cfm?fips=2000000&html_year=2012&subButton=Get+HTML

8. Hearing Impairments
• 360 million people worldwide have disabling
hearing loss.
• 17% (36 million) of American adults report
some degree of hearing loss:
• 18% aged 45-64 years old,
• 30% aged 65-74 years old,
• 47% aged 75+ years old.
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs300/en/
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/Pages/quick.aspx

9. Mobility Impairments
• In the United States:
• 5.5% aged 21-64 years old.
• 15.6% aged 65-74 years old.
• 32.9% aged 75+.
http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/2012/English/HTML/report2012.cfm?fips=2000000&html_year=2012&subButton=Get+HTML

10. Cognitive Impairments
• Dyslexia
• Dyscalculia
• Memory issues
• Distractions
• In the United States:
• 4.3% aged 21-64 years old.
• 5.4% aged 65-74 years old.
• 14.4% aged 75+.
http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/2012/English/HTML/report2012.cfm?fips=2000000&html_year=2012&subButton=Get+HTML

11. How to Be Selfish
2 of 4 sections.

12. WebAIM’s Hierarchy for Motivating
Accessibility Change
http://webaim.org/blog/motivating-accessibility-change/

13. My Hierarchy for Motivating
Accessibility Change
Is better, no?

14. Getting Older
• Affects (nearly) everyone,
• Carries risks and side effects,
• Is not for the young.
I’m still experimenting with it.

15. Rising Damp on Flickr.

16. Darren Baldwin on Flickr.

17. Accidents
• Broken limbs,
• Eye injuries,
• Hearing injuries,
• Head trauma.
All of these have happened to me, multiple times.

18. James Lee on Flickr.

19. Rev Stan on Flickr.

20. Let Ideas Compete on Flickr.

21. Fluffy Steve on Flickr.

22. Paul Townsend on Flickr.

23. But I’m Invincible!
• Multi-tasking,
• Sunlight,
• Eating at your desk,
• No headphones handy,
• Content is not in your native language.
The sun is trying to kill me.

24. Shawn Liu on Flickr.

25. Bitznbitez on Flickr.

26. Mariëlle on Flickr.

27. barockschloss on Flickr.

28. Seb on Flickr.

29. A.Davy on Flickr.

30. Raul Lieberwirth on Flickr.

31. Tim Norris on Flickr.

32. Lars Kristian Flem on Flickr.

33. Steve Rhodes on Flickr.

34. SuperFantastic on Flickr.

35. Jacob Enos on Flickr.

36. https://twitter.com/aardrian/statuses/388733408576159744

37. Tech Support
• Think of your family!
• Think of your time spent helping them!
This is why we hate the holidays.

38. Robert Simmons on Flickr.

39. The Message
• Supporting accessibility now helps to serve
future you.
• Supporting accessibility now helps injured
you, encumbered you.
• Getting younger developers to buy in helps
future you – if you teach them well.
There is no try.

40. Basic Tests
3 of 4 sections.

41. Click on Field Labels
• When you click label text next to a text
box, does the cursor appear in the field?
• When you click label text next to a radio /
checkbox, does it get toggled?
• When you click label text next to a select
menu, does it get focus?
http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/09/05/the-6-simplest-web-accessibility-tests-anyone-can-do/

43. Unplug Your Mouse
• Turn off your trackpad, stick, trackball, etc.
• Can you interact with all controls
(links, menus, forms) with only the keyboard?
• Can you tell which item has focus?
• Does the tab order match your expectation?
http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/09/05/the-6-simplest-web-accessibility-tests-anyone-can-do/

45. Turn off Images
• Can you still make sense of the page?
• Is content missing?
• Can you still use the site?
• Is your alt text useful?
http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/09/05/the-6-simplest-web-accessibility-tests-anyone-can-do/

48. Turn on High Contrast Mode
• Windows only.
• Background images and colors are replaced.
• Text colors are replaced.
• Does this make your site unusable?
http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/09/05/the-6-simplest-web-accessibility-tests-anyone-can-do/
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2012/08/css-background-images-high-contrast-mode.html

51. Turn off CSS
• Does important content or functionality
disappear?
• Do error messages or other items that rely on
visual cues make sense?
• Is content still in a reasonable order?
• Do any styles (colors, text effects, etc.)
remain?
http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/09/05/the-6-simplest-web-accessibility-tests-anyone-can-do/

53. Test for Colorblindness/Contrast
• Is there enough contrast?
• Are hyperlinks, menus, etc. still visible?
• Tools:
• Chrome Color Contrast Analyzer
• Lea Verou’s Contrast Ratio
• WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
• CheckMyColours.com
http://www.inpixelitrust.fr/blog/en/tips-create-accessible-color-palette/
http://alistapart.com/blog/post/easy-color-contrast-testing

54. Protanopia

55. Deuteranopia

56. Tritanopia

57. Look for Captions & Transcripts
• Do video/audio clips have text alternatives?
• Are links to closed-captions or transcripts built
into the player or separate text links?
• Is there an audio description available?
• Tools:
• Media Access Australia YouTube captioning
tutorial, Vimeo captioning tutorial
• Tiffany Brown’s WebVTT tutorial
http://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

58. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCqN_cCLnnk

59. Hyperlinks!
• Is there any “click here,” “more,” “link to…”?
• Are you using all-caps, URLs, emoticons?
• Do you warn before opening new windows?
• Do links to downloads provide helpful info?
• Are you using pagination links?
• Are your links underlined (or otherwise obvious)?
• Is there alt text for image links?
• Is the link text consistent?
http://www.sitepoint.com/15-rules-making-accessible-links/

60. http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2014/03/i-dont-care-what-google-did-just-keep.html

61. Some Techniques
4 of 4 sections.

62. WAI-ARIA
• Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich
Internet Applications.
• Adds accessibility information to HTML
elements.
• Can be used with prior versions of HTML.
• WAI-ARIA 1.0 published March 20, 2014.
http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/

63. Four Five Rules of ARIA Use
1. If you can use a native HTML5 element with
semantics/behavior already built in, then do
so, instead of repurposing another element.
RT this! https://twitter.com/aardrian/status/454249142387081219

64. Four Five Rules of ARIA Use
2. Do not change native semantics. Unless you
really have to (no <h1> with a
role="button", for example).
RT this! https://twitter.com/aardrian/status/454249201564532737

65. Four Five Rules of ARIA Use
3. All interactive ARIA controls must be usable
with the keyboard — keyboard users must be
able to perform equivalent actions.
RT this! https://twitter.com/aardrian/status/454249253284483072

66. Four Five Rules of ARIA Use
4. Do not use role="presentation" or aria-
hidden="true" on a focusable element. If you
do so, some users will never be able to focus.
RT this! https://twitter.com/aardrian/status/454249297408585729

67. Four Five Rules of ARIA Use
5. All interactive elements must have
an accessible name (in progress). This may
come from a visible (text on a button) or
invisible (alt text on an image) property.
As of May 12: http://rawgit.com/w3c/aria-in-html/master/index.html#fifth-rule-of-aria-use
Accessible name: http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/terms#def_accessible_name

68. Role Playing
Stolen from Heydon Pickering: https://twitter.com/heydonworks/status/420196676297424898/

69. HTML/ARIA Don’t
• <div onclick="DoThing();">Do a thing.</div>
I see this all the time.

70. HTML/ARIA Don’t
• <div onclick="DoThing();" tabindex="0">Do a
thing.</div>
I see this a bunch, too.

71. HTML/ARIA Don’t
• <div onclick="DoThing();" tabindex="0"
onkeypress="DoThing();">Do a thing.</div>
Excluded bits like if(event.keyCode==32||event.keyCode==13)DoThing();

72. HTML/ARIA Don’t
• <div onclick="DoThing();" tabindex="0"
onkeypress="DoThing();" role="button">Do a
thing.</div>
ARIA roles to the rescue! Er…

73. HTML/ARIA Do
• <button onclick="DoThing();"
onkeypress="DoThing();">Do a
thing.</button>
Or just start with the right element. http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/05/14/links-are-not-buttons-neither-are-divs-and-spans/

74. WAI-ARIA
• Accessibility Lipstick on a Usability Pig
• By Jared Smith:
http://webaim.org/blog/accessibility-lipstick-on-
a-usability-pig/
• What is WAI-ARIA, what does it do for me, and
what not?
• By Marco Zehe:
http://www.marcozehe.de/2014/03/27/what-is-
wai-aria-what-does-it-do-for-me-and-what-not/
ARIA ALL THE THINGS!

75. HTML5 Elements
• Sectioning elements already have accessibility
built in. Use them.
• <header>
• <nav>
• <main> (one per page)
• <aside>
• <footer>
• <form> (a search form)
This stuff is baked in!

76. HTML5/ARIA Landmarks
• They don’t always have support in assistive
technologies (AT), so use roles as well.
• <header role="banner"> (once per page)
• <nav role="navigation">
• <main role="main"> (one per page)
• <aside role="complementary">
• <footer role="contentinfo"> (once per page)
• <form role="search">
http://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/wiki/Using_ARIA_landmarks_to_identify_regions_of_a_page

77. Generic Desktop Layout
<header role="banner">
<nav role="navigation">
<aside role="complementary">
<form role="search">
<footer role="contentinfo">
<main role="main">

78. Generic
“Mobile”
Layout
<header role="banner">
<nav role="navigation">
<aside role="complementary">
<form role="search">
<footer role="contentinfo">
<main role="main">
“Mobile” really means narrow screen
in RWD, as well as this context.

79. HTML5 Headings
• Use normal heading ranks to convey
document structure.
• Don’t skip; go in order.
<h1>
<h2>
<h3>
<h4>
<h5>
<h6>
Fun fact: NCSA Mosaic 1.0 had provisions for an <h7>: http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2013/04/ncsa-moscaic-turns-20.html

80. HTML5 Headings
• Document Outline Algorithm…
• Is a myth,
• Isn’t implemented in any browsers,
• Should not be relied upon.
• Don’t be fooled by articles claiming otherwise.
• Spec being updated.
• No SEO benefit for one over other.
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2013/12/the-truth-about-truth-about-multiple-h1.html

81. The New <div>itis
• <section>orrhea, <article> abuse.
• These map to regions in page navigation order
(role="region").
• Can overwhelm users of AT.
• If it doesn’t get an <h#>, don’t use it.
• If it shouldn’t be in the document outline,
don’t use it.
http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/sections.html#the-section-element
http://www.w3.org/TR/html5/sections.html#the-article-element

82. Alternative Text
• Which is correct?
• <img src="fox.png" alt="Photo of a fox reading
aloud from a book.">
• <img src="fox.png" title="Photo of a fox reading
aloud from a book.">
• <img src="fox.png" aria-label="Photo of a fox
reading aloud from a book.">
• <img src="fox.png" aria-labelledby="FoxPic"> <p
id="FoxPic">Photo of a fox reading aloud from a
book.</p>
http://blog.adrianroselli.com/2013/11/image-alt-exception-change-re-re-re.html

83. Alternative Text
• Use alt.
• Longdesc links to more verbose alternative.
http://www.w3.org/blog/2014/03/wcag-techniques-for-image-text-alternatives/

84. Alternative Text Decision Tree
http://www.4syllables.com.au/2010/12/text-alternatives-decision-tree/
http://dev.w3.org/html5/alt-techniques/#tree
1. What role
does image
play?
2. Does it
present
new info?
3. What
type of
info?
Informative Yes
alt=""
or
<a href="foo"><img alt="">Link</a>
alt=""
or
Use CSS
alt="descriptive identification"
or
alt="short label" + caption
PurelyDecorative
Sensory
No
alt="label for link"
alt=“short alternative"
or
alt="short label" + caption
alt="short label + location of long alternative"
or
long text alternative on same or linked page
Long/Complex
Short/Simple

85. Questions
This isn’t a section, you should have been asking all along.

86. Resources
• Web Accessibility and Older People:
Meeting the Needs of Ageing Web Users
http://www.w3.org/WAI/older-users/Overview.php
• Easy Checks - A First Review of Web Accessibility
http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/preliminary
• How People with Disabilities Use the Web:
Overview
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-
web/Overview.html
In addition to the gems I’ve sprinkled throughout.

87. Resources
• 2.11 ARIA Role, State, and Property Quick
Reference
http://www.w3.org/TR/aria-in-html/#aria-role-
state-and-property-quick-reference
• 2.12 Definitions of States and Properties (all
aria-* attributes)
http://www.w3.org/TR/aria-in-html/#definitions-of-
states-and-properties-all-aria--attributes
In addition to the gems I’ve sprinkled throughout.

88. Resources
• a11yTips
http://dboudreau.tumblr.com/
• How to Write User Stories for Web
Accessibility
http://www.interactiveaccessibility.com/blog/how-
write-user-stories-accessibility-requirements
• Book Excerpt: A Web for Everyone
http://uxmag.com/articles/book-excerpt-a-web-for-
everyone
In addition to the gems I’ve sprinkled throughout.

89. Selfish Accessibility
Presented by Adrian Roselli for HTML5 Developer Conference 2014
My thanks and apologies.
Slides from this talk will be available at http://rosel.li/HTML5DevConf2014