Selfish Accessibility — WordCamp Europe 2017

Selfish Accessibility
Presented by Adrian Roselli for WordCamp Europe 2017
Slides from this talk will be available at rosel.li/wceu

• I’ve written some stuff,
• Member of W3C,
• Building for the web
since 1993,
• Learn more at
AdrianRoselli.com,
• Avoid on Twitter
@aardrian.
Great bedtime reading!
About Adrian Roselli

• This trip paid for by The Paciello Group.
• But please do not tell them in case they do
not know.
Seriously. Do not tell them.
About Adrian Roselli

What is a11y?
• A numeronym for “accessibility”:
• The first and last letter (accessibility),
• The number of characters omitted (a11y).
• Prominent on Twitter (character restrictions):
• #a11y
• Examples:
• l10n → localization
• i18n → internationalization
Ain’t language funsies?

Accessibility Gets No Respect
In fairness, Sherwin Williams needs to come up with a lot of color names...
“Cyberspace” (gray)
“Online” (blue)
“Lime Rickey” (green)

Accessibility Gets No Respect
…however I think the team could have done better than this.

What We’ll Cover
• Yay Statistics!
• Be Selfish
• User Experience Models
• Technical Bits
• WordPress Goes WCAG
• Wrap-up
• Resources
Work with me, people.

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

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+.

Hearing Impairments
• 360 million people worldwide have disabling
hearing loss.
• 17% (36 million) of American adults report
some degree of hearing loss:
• 47% aged 75+ years old.
https://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/statistics/Pages/quick.aspx

Mobility Impairments
• 5.5% aged 21-64 years old.
• 32.9% aged 75+.

Cognitive Impairments
• Dyslexia,
• Dyscalculia,
• Memory issues,
• Distractions (ADD, ADHD),
• 14.4% aged 75+.
http://www.disabilitystatistics.org/reports/2012/English/HTML/report2012.cfm?fips=2000000&html_year=2012&subButton=Get+HTML

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

My Hierarchy for Motivating
Accessibility Change
Is better, no?

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

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

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.

World Bank Photo Collection on Flickr.

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

User Stories
• Components:
• User,
• Outcome,
• Value.
• Writing:
• As user, I want outcome.
• As user, I want outcome so that value.
• In order to get value as user, I want outcome.
How to Write User Stories for Web Accessibility

Selfish User Stories
• As a user on a sun-lit patio, I want to be able
to read the content and see the controls.
Add beer and as a user I may have trouble focusing.

• As a user in bed with a sleeping spouse, I want
to watch a training video in silence so that I
can get caught up at work.
As a user who doesn’t want to get punched for having slacked off at work.

• In order to click links as a user with no elbow
room in coach class with a tiny trackpad, I
want click areas to be large enough and
adequately spaced.
As a user in coach class who also paid too much for the drink he’s spilling on his keyboard.

• As a user distracted by the TV, I want clear
headings and labels so that I don’t lose my
place.
As a user who really should be finishing his work in the office.

Personas
Book Excerpt: A Web for Everyone, by Sarah Horton, Whitney Quesenbery

Personas
Adrian
• Works when he should be relaxing, relaxes
when he should be working.
• Lives between motorcycles.
• Works late at night with the TV on.
• Uses sub-titles in Netflix.
• Keeps all screens as dark as possible.
That photo is from official ID.

Use @alt Text on 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/

Use @alt Text on Images
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

Hyperlinks!
http://www.sitepoint.com/15-rules-making-accessible-links/

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/

Use Link Underlines
http://www.theverge.com/2014/3/13/5503894/google-removes-underlined-links-site-redesign

Use Link Underlines
• You are not Google:
• Users know Google’s layout,
• Users probably don’t visit your site daily.
• Relying on color alone will not suffice (WCAG
1.4.1 [A], 1.4.3 [AA]),
• Necessary contrast values:
• 4.5:1 between text and its background for copy,
• 3:1 between text and its background for larger text,
• 3:1 between surrounding text and a hyperlink, plus an
additional visual cue (G183).
http://adrianroselli.com/2014/03/i-dont-care-what-google-did-just-keep.html

Use :focus Styles
https://www.virginamerica.com/

Use :focus Styles
• Particularly if you removed link underlines,
• Everywhere you have :hover, add :focus,
• Look for :focus{outline:none;} in libraries:
• If you find it, remove it.
• Easy to test with the tab key.
http://adrianroselli.com/2014/06/keep-focus-outline.html

Color Contrast
• Is there enough contrast?
• Are hyperlinks, menus, etc. still visible?
• WCAG 2.0:
• 4.5:1 for normal text
• 3:1 for large text (14+pt & bold, or 18+pt)
• 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

Use <label> (properly)
• Match the for attribute to the corresponding
field’s id attribute.
• 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/

Use HTML5
<header role="banner">
<nav role="navigation">
<aside role="complementary">
<form role="search">
<footer role="contentinfo">
<main role="main">

Use HTML5
“Mobile” often means narrow screen
in RWD, as well as this context.

Use HTML5
<header role="banner">
<nav role="navigation">
<aside role="complementary">
<form role="search">
<footer role="contentinfo">
<main role="main">
“Mobile” often means narrow screen
in RWD, as well as this context.

Use HTML5
• 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!

Use <h#> Wisely
• Use only one <h1> per page,
• Don’t skip heading levels,
• Use appropriate nesting,
• There is no Document Outline Algorithm:
• Don’t use <h1> within every new <section> nor
<article>,
• This will not affect your SEO.
http://adrianroselli.com/2013/12/the-truth-about-truth-about-multiple-h1.html

<button>, <input>, or <a>
http://adrianroselli.com/2016/01/links-buttons-submits-and-divs-oh-hell.html

<button>, <input>, or <a>
• Don’t use a <div> nor <span>.
• Does the control take me to another URL?
• Use an <a href>.
• Note: does not fire on space-bar.
• Does the control change something on the
current page?
• Use a <button>.
• Does the control submit form fields?
• Use a <input type="submit"> or <button
type="submit">.
http://adrianroselli.com/2016/01/links-buttons-submits-and-divs-oh-hell.html

Don’t Use tabindex > 0
https://www.digitalgov.gov/2014/11/17/user-experience-impossible-the-line-between-accessibility-and-usability/

Don’t Use tabindex > 0
• tabindex="-1"
• Use to set focus with script,
• Does not put it in tab order of page.
• tabindex="0"
• Allows user to set focus (eg: via keyboard),
• Puts in tab order of page (based on DOM).
• tabindex="1" (or greater)
• Do not do this,
• Messes with natural tab order.
http://adrianroselli.com/2014/11/dont-use-tabindex-greater-than-0.html

Maybe Use tabindex=0
http://adrianroselli.com/2016/02/keyboard-and-overflow.html

Maybe Use tabindex=0
• Do you have scrolling content boxes?
• Keyboard users cannot access it.
• Do you have content that displays on hover?
• Keyboard users probably cannot access it.
• A technique:
• <div role="region" aria-label="[if
appropriate]" tabindex="0">
http://adrianroselli.com/2016/02/keyboard-and-overflow.html

Set lang attribute on <html>
http://codepen.io/aardrian/pen/rOGYNL

Set lang attribute on <html>
• VoiceOver uses to auto-switch voices,
• VoiceOver uses appropriate accenting,
• JAWS loads correct phonetic engine /
phonologic dictionary,
• NVDA matches VoiceOver and JAWS,
• Use the correct lang value:
• Sub-tags are ok,
• Avoid private-use: en-GB-x-hixie
http://adrianroselli.com/2015/01/on-use-of-lang-attribute.html

Source Order Matters
http://codepen.io/aardrian/full/MavVeb/
Firefox
Chrome

Source Order Matters
• CSS techniques allow visual order to break
from DOM order:
• Floats,
• Absolute positioning,
• Flexbox (see 5.4.1 of ED for a11y note),
• Grid (read Rachel Andrew on subgrid).
• WCAG 1.3.2 and 2.4.3 describe meaningful
sequence and tab order matching visual flow,
• Different behavior among different browsers.
http://adrianroselli.com/2015/09/source-order-matters.html
http://200ok.nl/a11y-flexbox/

Don’t Disable Zoom
http://codepen.io/aardrian/full/dYNJOV
http://codepen.io/aardrian/full/ojBpjw

Don’t Disable Zoom
• Allow users on mobile to zoom in,
• Look in <meta name="viewport"> for this:
• minimum-scale=1.0
• maximum-scale=1.0
• user-scalable=no
• Look in @-ms-viewport {} for this:
• zoom:1.0
• Enhance!
http://adrianroselli.com/2015/10/dont-disable-zoom.html

Avoid Infinite Scroll
http://www.pewresearch.org/category/publications/

Avoid Infinite Scroll
• Makes it impossible to access some content:
• Footer,
• Sidebar links.
• Destroys the back button,
• Makes it impossible to share a URL to specific
“page” of results,
• Makes it impossible to jump ahead several
“pages” of results,
• Can overwhelm AT users, less powerful devices.
http://adrianroselli.com/2014/05/so-you-think-you-built-good-infinite.html
http://adrianroselli.com/2015/05/for-infinite-scroll-bounce-rate-is.html

Use Captions/Subtitles
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V592VMJeXc8

• Everybody uses them:
• Working in public, in bed, at home,
• Surfing in public, in bed, at work.
• Should include audio descriptions,
• Should include speaker identification,
• Review auto-captions (“craptions”):
• NoMoreCraptions.com
http://adrianroselli.com/2013/11/captions-in-everyday-use.html

• 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,
• DIY Resources for Closed Captioning and Transcription
from 3 Play Media.
http://webaim.org/techniques/captions/

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/

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

2. Do not change native semantics. Unless you
really have to (no <h1> with a
role="button", for example).

3. All interactive ARIA controls must be usable
with the keyboard — keyboard users must be
able to perform equivalent actions.

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.

5. All interactive elements must have
an accessible name. This may come from
visible (text on a button) or invisible (alt text
on an image) property.
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

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

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

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

HTML/ARIA Don’t
onkeydown="e.preventDefault();">Do a
thing.</div>
Oh right, have to keep page from scrolling if the use tries to activate the button with a space bar.

HTML/ARIA Don’t
onkeydown="e.preventDefault();"
role="button">Do a thing.</div>
ARIA roles to the rescue! Er…

HTML/ARIA Do
• <button>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/

WordPress Goes WCAG
2 of 4 sections

<irony>No transcripts nor captions, but go to the
video and search (ctrl + F) for “It's Martin.” to jump to
the point in the in-progress slightly inaccurate
transcript.</irony>

“All new or updated code
released into WordPress
core and bundled themes
must conform with the
WCAG 2.0 guidelines at
level AA.”
— Rian Rietveld
March 21, 2016

Notes
• Leans on WP Core Accessibility Coding Standards
• https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/best-
practices/coding-standards/accessibility-coding-
standards/
• Itself informed by WCAG (Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines) 2.0 (a W3C
recommendation)
• https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag
• Get involved
• https://make.wordpress.org/accessibility/get-
involved/

More Notes
• To get accessibility-ready tag for your theme,
must follow specific guidelines
• https://make.wordpress.org/themes/handbook/r
eview/accessibility/required/
• “The accessibility of plugins is the
responsibility of each plugin author.”

Yet More Notes
• Accessibility wish list for 4.6+, 27 April 2016
• https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/04/27/acc
essibility-wish-list-for-4-6-and-beyond/
• Rian Rietveld won Heroes of Accessibility
Award, Individual Achievement category
• http://wptavern.com/wordpress-contributor-rian-
rietveld-wins-heroes-of-accessibility-award

Accessibility Ready Themes
https://wordpress.org/themes/tags/accessibility-ready/

Plug-ins
• WP Accessibility
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-accessibility/
• Access Monitor
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/access-monitor/
• Accessible Video Library
• https://wordpress.org/plugins/accessible-video-
library/

The Message
• Supporting accessibility now helps to serve
future you.
Do or do not.

The Message
future you.
• Supporting accessibility now helps injured
you, encumbered you.
There is no try.

The Message
future you.
• Supporting accessibility now helps injured
you, encumbered you.
• Getting younger developers to buy in helps
future you – if you teach them well.
Always pass on what you have learned.

Stairamp
Dean Bouchard on Flickrhttp://accessibility.net.nz/blog/the-problems-with-ramps-blended-into-stairs/

≠ Checklist
• Accessibility is not a checklist.

Maintenance
Nicolas Steenhouthttps://twitter.com/vavroom/status/571092086365261824
“Wheelchair ramp at
pharmacy not only
hasn’t been cleared of
snow but has 2 potted
trees to ensure nobody
can pass.”

= Process
• Accessibility is not a checklist.
• Accessibility is an ongoing process.

Resources
Unless you had questions, which you didn’t else you would have asked by now.

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.

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

Resources
• Designing For The Elderly: Ways Older People Use
Digital Technology Differently
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2015/02/05/design
ing-digital-technology-for-the-elderly/
• 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

Selfish Accessibility — WordCamp Europe 2017

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