The web was designed to be used by everyone, no matter the tools they are using, their background, or their physical abilities. In most ways, specific guidelines have made it easier for the way people with disabilities interact and access information on the internet. Having a trusted way to participate in society by using the right tools is very important.
The availability of accessible web content has made it possible for people with disabilities to do many ordinary things on the world wide web, such as observing, understanding, navigating, and interacting with others. The internet was designed to be a medium for people to read contribute information. It’s a great deal that people with disabilities can participate in this exchange of information.
Screen readers are available to read aloud text from the computer of people who are blind. For people who are deaf-blind, they can still access the news that is recorded on radios and television through refreshable braille displays. People who cannot speak can take part in online discussions including blog comments. People who have quadriplegia and cannot move their arms or legs can now make use of online shopping to get items such as groceries and gift items delivered right to their doorstep.
Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go before all websites and tools become fully accessible to everyone. Some websites, applications, technologies, and tools exclude people from accessing the material on their platform. This has created barriers to communication and interaction, especially for people with disabilities. For that reason, people with disabilities have no way of contributing to what is happening in the online world where certain content is displayed.
This is a serious matter as there are millions of people who have disabilities and are affected by their use of the web. If you are new to accessibility, it may be challenging to learn; however, most of the basics are relatively easy to implement. There are technical specifications, supporting resources, techniques, and guidelines that are developed by the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) that highlight solutions that can make a website accessible.
Below we will look at some of the books, tools, and resources that can help you to learn about web accessibility.
Books
As the name suggests, this is a good pick for anyone who wants to get involved in website development, user experience, or strategy. It has a clear crafted layout that will help you create a fully accessible website. It is designed to provide solutions including practical advice and examples of how to create a website that can be used by all, including people with disabilities. A Web for Everyone has twelve chapters which describe in details everything you need to know about creating accessible sites without compromising on design.
The book is available in both printed and digital forms. If you have any concerns or lingering thoughts, the site has a question and answer FAQ section on common web accessibility topics. It is perfect for everyone intending to develop their skills in web accessibility.
Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design
Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design is suitable for people or organizations that develop accessible products. It features two key categories—accessibility design projects and single phase user-centered design process (UCD).
This book is free, and it can be found online in English, Spanish, and Japanese. It is well structured and has useful tips to ensure your website, products, apps, or hardware doesn’t have any barriers to people with disabilities. It is an excellent book for practitioners of usability analysis, and interaction design, user-interface, and user experience.
Just Ask was written to help you develop accessibility solutions effectively. It offers solutions for people with different abilities in the whole user-centered design process.
Inclusive Front-End Design Patterns by Heydon Pickering
Heydon Pickering reveals everything on how you can easily create an inclusive interface in this book. It includes the front-end design patterns that developers can use to improve user-experience for everyone.
For several years, developers have been building websites that have been inaccessible to most people. This book provides everything you need to know about web accessibility, including techniques, gotchas, and front-end strategies.
The book encompasses several practical examples of accessible interface components and inclusive design work-flow. It explains how to design and build inclusive websites without utilizing unnecessary codes.
Inclusive Front-End Design Patterns was written with a technical audience in mind, and it has 312 pages. Once you have finished reading this book, you will be able to master lessons in accessibility framework easily.
Apps For All: Coding Accessible Web Applications by Heydon Pickering
Apps For All: Coding Accessible Web Applications is a fantastic book that discusses how to make web applications interactive through the use of devices such as keyboard and screen reader users. The author is Heydon Pickering, and he explains how to interact with useful themes such as visual design challenges, performance issues, and progressive enhancements.
The book includes information that can help you make interactions possible for people with cognitive and motor disabilities, as well as users who have visual impairments. Having defined simple button controls, and creating reusable and accessible widgets, this book has addressed most of the accessibility concerns that most people with disabilities face.
Apps For All has seven chapters and deals with specific ways to master assistive technologies. Designers and developers can take advantage of this book to improve user experience.
Inclusive Components: The Book by Heydon Pickering
Another book written by Heydon Pickering, this piece examines certain common web UI patterns. It’s entirely designed to get accessible results for the patterns that are written and used daily.
The book is comprised of 47000 words and has chapters that address accessible components, explaining how vulnerable people might read and interact with such, and it presents great solutions to the problems they encounter. The book has meticulous illustrations and code examples that can be used as working demos.
Inclusive Components is all about improving the process, rather than seeing things as right and wrong. Even better, there are several tips from the book that can help you adopt a greater mindset and create even far much better components.
Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology
The Disability, Human Rights, and Information Technology is a 360-page book that highlights information to the right to accessibility. The book gives insights into the rapidly evolving world on issues that affect people with disabilities regarding access to information and communications technology (ICT).
This book is impressive as it has stressed on the right for everyone to access the same digital information at the same time and cost. It explains that the right to access ICT calls for civil and human rights issues such as freedom of expression and freedom to information.
The contributors have raised the bar as they have examined some of the areas that were not yet explored. Some of these points include technology access for people with cognitive impairments, accessibility and e-learning, public financing of information technology, and human rights and social inclusion.
Strategic IT Accessibility: Enabling the Organization
This book is ideal for businesses, corporations, government agencies, or any organization whose IT is accessed by people with disabilities. It approaches IT accessibility from the business point of view and discusses how an organization can deal with enablement.
IT accessibility or lack of it has a significant impact on any organization, so the context of this book seeks to help organizations tackle the complexities of IT accessibility and other potential advantages that need to be incorporated into their strategy.
Strategic IT Accessibility is suitable for both private and public sector as it outlines strategic IT accessibility processes for a dynamic environment. It goes on to discuss everything you can do to enable and maintain them. It encourages organizations to have a holistic approach if they want to be successful in dealing with IT accessibility.
Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits
Structured Negotiation is another excellent book that describes the method to resolve legal claims without encountering depositions or costs successfully. It shows you how you can achieve good company relationships to get win-win solutions without facing lawsuits.
The book has led settlement agreements with some notable organizations such as Bank of America, Major League Baseball, Walmart, Weight Watchers, and CVS. So, you can rest assured that it will work wonders if you are in the non-profit and public sector.
The book will teach you many things including how to formulate an opening letter that invites participation, how to bring in experts, how to institute ground rules and hold a collaborative meeting without opting for legal battles. You will also learn how to supply clients that important role that builds relationships and acknowledges their expertise.
Accessibility for Everyone by Laura Kalbag
Accessibility for Everyone is a book that was written by Laura Kalbag. It is for both new and professional web design specialists. The book provides a sure footing on how to achieve inclusiveness for everyone when designing web content for people with or without disabilities.
There have been a lot of myths, misunderstandings, and different views on best practices—hence, the author takes you through some of the most common accessibility issues and how to address them. The book will help you understand disability and impairment challenges. It further highlights some important accessibility laws and guidelines and teaches about accessible design planning, evaluation, and testing.
Accessibility for Everyone reveals tools and techniques such as well-structured IA, clear copywriting, thoughtful design, and meaningful HTML that are considered best practices. After completing this book, you will be set on a sure path to designing with accessibility.
Color Accessibility Workflows by Geri Coady
Many experts worry about getting the right color for their web design projects. Color Accessibility Workflows, authored by Geri Coady, highlights different options that you can use for your design possibilities. Although there are a vast array of colors, most people just design with one or two colors in mind—ones that are their favorites.
Accessibility and aesthetics have become more important than ever for every created design. This book explains what color accessibility is all about, how you can choose the right colors and test them, as well as a few tips and tricks on how to perfect your color game plan.
If you have a web project, you will need to discover how other people see it from their angle. The book is available for purchase as an eBook as well as in paperback format.
Design for Real Life by Eric Meyer & Sara Wachter-Boettcher
Design for Real Life has set a new standard by revealing inclusive practices for everyone. The book was written by Eric Meyer & Sara Wachter-Boettcher with the knowledge that you can’t know every user or predict what emotional state they'll be in. However, by incorporating inclusive design practices into your web project, you can have good experiences with different people from all walks of life.
The book features a lot of practical examples to test where your designs skills fall. It is suitable for web designers, developers, content strategist, and anyone involved in creating a great user experience. The lessons learned will help the readers to test their design might fail before implementing them.
Design for Real Life brings plenty of realistic scenarios to help build an online business that will serve all people. It has everything you need to know to develop inclusive practices.
iOS Accessibility Handbook by Luis Abreu
iOS Accessibility Handbook is what every designer, developer, or creator of iOS apps needs to read. The author has written a clear and concise handbook that features practical examples that can make web design more accessible. It has several lessons on how accessibility can be user-friendly for everyone to reach a wider audience.
The first version of the book includes 30 well-explained guidelines that can be used by designers and developers. Each one of the chapters describes benefits, conformance instructions, and examples for web designers.
The book is simple and covers Accessibility Semantic Audit. It also features iOS Accessibility API Quick Technical Reference. This is a great book that every designer and developer need to own.
This reference material is a good pick for those responsible for implementing accessible technology and content. Plus, it is suitable for developers and webmasters who want to understand interface design and law. The authors—Jonathan Lazar, Daniel Goldstein, and Anne Taylor— have a combination of skills in law, IT accessibility, and research.
It offers both a policy and a technical perspective. It has several topics such as the history of accessible computing, technical, and legal details. Thanks to its practical, real-world examples, readers can learn about some of the organizations that are doing a remarkable job in providing digital information that is accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.
Some key features in the book include understanding digital accessibility, evaluation techniques, and technical standards. It also highlights best practices and suggestions for providing equal access to information and implementing solutions for complying with laws that govern rights for people with disabilities.
Digital Outcasts: Moving Technology Forward without Leaving People Behind by Kel Smith
Digital Outcasts is a hyped book focused on key developments in technology and their relevance to some group of people. Kel Smith had done a decent job to widen the views of many people on accessibility.
This book has showcased what most innovators are passionate about when creating barrier-free designs. It covers various areas of interest, especially for parents who raise children with special debilities. The main topic is addressing key movements in technology and their importance to people with various forms of disabilities.
The author noted that despite designers and companies supporting innovations, they usually don’t target people with disabilities. The book emphasizes the need for embracing universal design principles to support people of all abilities and backgrounds.
Blogs
This is a magnificent blog that is designed to showcase accessible user interfaces and tools. Most people with disabilities are worried about getting the right interfaces and tools. Thanks to A11Wins, people can submit their favorite website, application or UI to share with other people.
One of the remarkable stories shared on this blog includes a German TV website that has baseline accessibility. This has helped many people with disabilities by including TV programs with audio descriptions and subtitles. Another tremendous innovative design was shared about Google Maps that has made their app keyboard-functional. People need to get around, so making Google Maps accessible to all users is a pleasant upgrade.
A11Wins is a revelation to people with disabilities who can see the organizations that are making their products accessible to suit their needs.
This blog helps people know what is happening in the accessibility world. It is the perfect place for everyone to get current updates on various topics that affect people with disabilities.
Along with the discussions on completed innovative accessibility projects, the blogger also reveals some of the threats to accessibility which are happening in some of the major companies. Adrian Roselli has taken accessibility to a whole new level by updating people on what web developers around the world are doing.
This blog is clean and straightforward—demonstrating that a passionate blogger, he's doing what he loves to talk about. The topics are well-researched and are full of rich, accessible content. This is suitable for anyone interested in learning web accessibility.
Deque Systems is a blog that is designed for web designers and developers who want to learn how they can create websites and apps that are accessible to people with disabilities. It is specifically focused on sharing strategies that can be used to help companies fix accessibility problems.
This blog invites experts to share their experiences with people across the globe on issues related to accessibility. Some of the topics that were recently discussed include accessibility when designing a usability test, creating Accessible SVGs, and JavaScript and civil rights.
Deque Systems also highlights accessibility best practices, conferences, webinars, and tools. With so many unique topics and references to choose from, web designers and developers can benefit a lot from this company. They also have a university course that can be helpful to those who might want to learn further.
Karl Groves runs this blog to show developers how to create accessible content. It has detailed discussions on particular topics that offer solutions to accessibility problems. The blogger’s purpose is to help companies use websites and apps that support people with disabilities.
This blog discussed several topics including why using tabindex values more significant than “0” is bad and why it can be confusing for a sighted or partially sighted keyboard-only user. The blogger goes to great lengths to explain how some companies have used accessibility. The good news is that the discussions look at the bad and good side of the strategies employed.
Karl Groves provides simple and straightforward analysis of accessibility. This blog is the right-fit for designers and developers who have the intention of improving user-experience for people with disabilities.
Leonie Watson has created this blog to demonstrate her knowledge of accessibility. The blogger discusses various topics that highlight the tools that improve the user experience of people with disabilities. This is an ideal platform for web designers and developers to understand the challenges that some users face when using their apps.
Some of the topics discussed include using the aria-role description attribute, accessible SVG flowcharts, and playing with the Accessibility Object Model (AOM). The topics are discussed in great detail by pointing out flaws in various tools and providing solutions to the issues.
For companies focused on improving the user experience for people with disabilities, this blog highlights accessibility mechanics, boundaries of inclusive design, and web standards. It will provide you with the challenges that people are encountering when accessing products.
Level Access is another inclusion in accessibility blog that is run by a diverse team of experts with legal, risk, compliance, technical, and industry backgrounds. Many of the people who write here have disabilities themselves, giving them a chance to explore accessibility and usability topics with passion.
This blog provides many blog topics on accessibility news happening around the world, as well as conferences and webinars. This blog is great for designers and developers to learn the basic principles and guidelines to support people with disabilities.
Level Access announces webinars that address regulatory standards for people with disabilities. Other topics discussed in webinar sessions and blog articles include accessibility analytics WCAG 2.1, VPAT 2.2, and accessibility in the SDLC.
It’s always difficult for some companies to make their products accessible for people with disabilities. Simply Accessible is a blog managed by a team of accessibility experts that are attempting to change the perception of accessibility on the web.
The blog provides information on accessibility within processes, and they aim at creating intuitive applications and sites. It covers a variety of topics such as a smartphone accessibility primer and how to create more accessible SVGs.
Simply Accessible encourages companies to make their products accessible to improve the digital challenges people face every day. Many experts have misunderstood accessibility, but this blog will help designers and developers to have a clearer understanding of all there needs to know.
This is a blog targeted at organizations across the globe. It states that it provides world-class accessibility consultancy to government agencies, technology vendors, and companies in different industries, that are interested in advancing accessibility.
The Paciello Group has various types of articles that focus on topics such as attribute requirements, accessibility testing tools, and JAWS Inspect. The blog is also used to promote services such as technical accessibility testing process that doesn’t require automated tools.
These guys are members of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and most of their clients are long-term engagements from all over the world.
Funka’s purpose is to analyze, develop, and educate people on accessibility. It is designed to provide support, recommendations, and user testing. They have made a lot of contributions to standards and guidelines both at national and international levels.
They have a community which is involved in several activities including providing access to information and answering questions about web accessibility. They also offer tips on how you can read PDFs, adapt the look of your website, and how you can have your content read out loud to you.
This is a great community for everyone such as companies and individuals who are interested in enhancing their online platform to suit the needs of people with disabilities. As a leader in accessibility, they can help you with user testing, reviews, and support and training in regards to accessibility.
We have seen many impressive blogs, but if you intend to find any accessible digital events, then Web Axe is the blog for you. In.net magazines of 2008 and 2009 nominated this website for “Podcast of the year”, and in 2010, for Best of the Web awards.
Dennis Lembree is the main host, and he focuses on providing conferences and events targeting digital accessibility for all, including people with disabilities. Plus, you can find information on past webinars and updates on the conferences targeting digital accessibility. You will also see a list of their upcoming conferences for 2019.
Tutorials & Guides
Accessibility A11Y Style Guide has continued supporting developers through this application. It is a style guide or pattern library that is created from KSS documented styles. It welcomes professionals such as designers, QA testers, developers, UX/UI specialists, and accessibility experts to contribute to the guide.
The A11Y Style Guide is designed with pre-populated accessible features that include helpful links to articles, WCAG guidelines, and tools to make a website inclusive. If you are creating a website, the components listed on this platform will serve as an instruction manual for both HTML markup and SCSS/CSS code.
This tool can be used in many ways including as a reference, as a base for your own style guide, for creating accessible components, new accessible theme, and for contributing to or making a style guide better. This is a great tool for anyone wanting to learn more about accessibility.
Inclusive Components Club, by Heydon Pickering
Another tutorial/guide that is like a pattern library. The website features an Inclusive Components book written by Heydon Pickering that highlights all there needs to know about designing inclusive web interfaces. The author offers one of the best inclusive components design for designers. The book fully-packed with assessable information about how you can create accessible interfaces without much effort. It also highlights different front-end design patterns that you can use to create inclusive experiences.
There is also a Components section on the site that has several features such as cards, data tables, notifications, a content slider, collapsible sections, and tabbed interfaces. It also features a theme switcher, tooltips & toggle tips, menus & menu buttons, a to-do list, and toggle buttons.
These high-end features are helpful for designers intending to have either simple or complex websites. It makes it clear what you need to know to design an inclusive web interface to improve user-experience.
This is a tutorial that is uniquely written by Ian Pouncey, Henny Swan, Léonie Watson, and Heydon Pickering. The principles focus on designing for the benefit of all people including those who have permanent or temporary disabilities and changing or situational limitations.
It provides a broad approach to inclusive such as those involved in the design and development of websites and applications. These can be user experience experts, developers, product owners, innovators, and artists. The principles on this platform cover the following: why you should consider the situation, be consistent, give control, offer choice, prioritize content, and add value.
This tutorial offers best practices focused on making accessible web and mobile apps. They currently target developers and designers by providing necessary training.
This is an excellent fit for those who are new to accessibility as the tutorial provides material to help you have a good start on accessibility through hands-on practical exercises and useful reference guides.
They have simple-to-follow instructions that can be used to interact with the tutorials. Arrow keys are used to navigate through the slides that encompass learning intuitions such as core concepts and code samples. The code sample output can also be verified using VoiceOver Apple’s built-in screen reader. The tutorial also covers ARIA, a W3C standard for creating accessible web user interfaces.
The A11Y Project is all about making accessibility easier for users to implementing it on the web. They welcome authors who are experts in the field of web accessibility to share their knowledge by contributing to their site. They have several resources including accessibility software, books, screen readers, courses, newsletters, and online tools.
The A11Y Project targets people with disabilities, as in, how they can make the internet more accessible for such ones. They also provide services to people who have conditional limitations such as people who don’t speak local languages or those who have suffered physical injuries like a broken arm.
There is also a community that focuses on webs accessibility content and accessibility meetups. The content they use is short and is readable, and their content up-to-date with the latest standards.
W3C Tutorials are based on web accessibility. They showcase how to create web content that is accessible to people with disabilities, as well as provide a great user experience for everyone. The tutorials are perfect for a variety of professions including web developers, web designers, web trainers, content writers, and project managers.
The tutorials cover different accessibility topics such as demonstrating how to create accessible images and tables using various web technologies such as HTML4 and MathML. The concepts and techniques are flexible as they can also be used in other formats.
These tutorials have raised a bar as they provide best practice guidance that can be used when implementing accessibility in various formats. Each tutorial is based on WCAG 2.0 success criteria and techniques.
Guidelines & Checklists
The IBM Accessibility platform has a unified checklist that ensures online products are complying with the Revised United States Section 508 standards. It features further requirements that need to comply with the European standard EN 301 549.
This checklist is ideal for any company that is involved in government procurement of accessible products. Some of the content covered in the list include WCAG 2.0 A & AA Checkpoints, Revised 508 Non-Web Software Checkpoints, Revised 508 Authoring Tools Checkpoints, and Revised 508 Documentation Checkpoints.
The checkpoints have been divided into subsections and each matchup with enforced accessibility standards.
VOX Media Accessibility Guidelines
It’s now clear that making content accessible helps to create a better user experience. The VOX Media Accessibility Guidelines were created to build on the conversation as to why accessibility matters. Team members implement role-specific best practices into their actual work to advocate for universal design.
The checklist is ideal for designers, engineers, and project managers. It’s easy to use as you need to check the boxes of the guidelines that apply to your project. The platform also futures some of their favorite accessibility resources. Team members have gone to great lengths to conduct research to put forth the best tools. Highlighted are websites on W3C, Interactive WCAG 2.0, and A List Apart. There are also courses, books, and newsletters.
Newsletters and Mailing Lists/
A11y weekly, as the name suggests, is a weekly news forum on web accessibility that helps individuals, specifically we gurus, to garner an accessibility mindset. This newsletter was started with the idea that web workers should always talk about, think, and practice accessibility.
If you are a web worker and wants to make a difference in accessibility, then this newsletter is for you. It’s focused on sharing knowledge about accessibility and keeping up with the accessibility world. The platform also features an archive section with past topics that users can refer to. If you want to be a part of their email mailing list, all you have to do is sign up!
Gov.uk Accessibility Community
Accessibility Community is designed for those whose work involves writing content, coding, designing user experience, and managing a product or service. It features several learning aids such as GDS blog posts, books and newsletters, and accessibility groups.
This is an active accessibility community which provides several services including Q&A about accessibility and regular updates. It also raises awareness of accessibility issues through blog posts or training.
Anyone working in or within the government is welcome to join the group as it focuses on person interested in learning web accessibility. The community also features other groups that discuss accessibility issues. These groups include Google Group, Slack channel, and the GDS accessibility blog.
An award-winning web design newsletter, the Web Design Update has a plain text email digest that is focused on sharing news and information related to web design and development. This is a fantastic platform for web designers and developers.
This Webdev Newsletter emphasizes several areas including accessibility, user experience, and web standards. It sends out regular monthly updates by way of blog content. It is managed by LCarlson as has won a gold award from the University of Minnesota's Communicators Forum.
You can subscribe to the newsletter to tutorials and information about web development and design.
W3C a11ySlackers has people from different communities across the world. They have specific channels of communication depending on the topics or projects. Once registered, a person can share their accessibility projects with the rest of the community.
This is a perfect platform for anyone involved in accessibility, including web designers and developers to ask questions and get answers. Regular contributors can also share their experiences on conferences they attend.
If you are having accessibility issues with your project, this is the right for you. There are currently over 90K communities within this community and over 800K members. You are free to explore and find communities that satisfy your needs, or you can create your own community. There is no fee involved in creating or joining any community.
This channel provides everyone with a spot to communicate with each other. The platform is ideal for messaging, using tools, and sharing files that help people collaborate and stay informed. It has channels for conversation which can be divided by team, project, or client basis.
Slack is free to join, and team members can leave the channels whenever they like. Threads are available to prevent side conversations from overlapping topics being discussed. This is great for stakeholders and businesses across the world that need to stay informed and get work done together.
Fortune 100 companies and small businesses use Slack to unify their systems and move their business in the right direction. The Slack App Directory has more than 1,500 apps that can be integrated into Slack.
Funka email newsletter is distributed 11 times per year and is suitable for anyone interested in discussing web accessibility concerns or issues. They accept people from various organizations and specialties from anywhere that have an interest in the niche. It currently has over 19000 members.
There is no charge for signing up, emails are sent out monthly, and you can view past newsletters listed on the site. This is great for designers, developers, and organizations to interact by discussing accessibility issues that affect people with disabilities. They have a form for anyone intending to subscribe.
Conclusion
Web accessibility encompasses guidelines and regulations that protect people with disabilities such as those with visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and even neurological impairments. All these issues affect web use, so companies, organizations and government agents are required to all that they can to provide accessible products and services to improve the user experience of everyone.
Although the primary focus of web accessibility is on people with disabilities, it also has enormous benefits for people without disabilities. The dominant idea of web accessibility is to design websites that are simple and easy-to-use. By so, it increases usability and allows all internet users to have different options according to their preferences.
Making the web accessible can undoubtedly improve people’s lives and society on the whole. Providing an accessible website is a way an organization can show its commitment to corporate social responsibility.
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