When developing for the web, even with the best intentions, accessibility can become a vortex of inelegant code, functionality that does not degrade gracefully, and localisation nightmares. Dafydd's talk discusses what happens when accessibility goes wrong. It provides "war-stories covering immense and monstrous websites, and how they got stuck in digital swamps." Gain an understanding about how to promote productive accessibility and expert advice to help you avoid falling into traps when making accessibility improvements. Learn about: Kitchen sink accessibility Behind-the-scenes accessibility The risks of bolt-on accessibility Exclusionary accessibility Find out more at: https://abilitynet.org.uk/webinars/accessibility-anti-patterns-abilitynet

1. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Accessibility Anti-Patterns
Dafydd Henke-Reed
@o_dafydd

2. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
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• Shownotes, a transcript and recording:
www.abilitynet.org.uk/anti-patterns-webinar
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Welcome

3. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
• @Mark
Welcome
Poll 1.
What issues have you encountered when
trying to make accessibility improvements?

4. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
• @Mark
Hello there
Dafydd (Welsh for David)
Accessibility consultant. Complains about
websites and apps.

5. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Humble brag
Clients include…
AXA, Barclays, Birmingham City
Council, BT, British Museum, Camelot,
EON, The FA, HSBC, Lloyds,
Microsoft, NHS, TFL, and so on.
…whose projects I am definitely not
talking about. They are all perfect.

6. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Core themes
Accessibility that gets removed to
make things more accessible.
Accessibility that creates problems,
such as localisation challenges.
Accessibility that that paradoxically
results in users feeling excluded.

7. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Kitchen sink accessibility
The most common and relatively
harmless issue is descriptive alt
attributes on decorative images.
It is good practice to have multiple
ways to understand your content.
But consider the user experience and
mark some content as decorative.

8. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Accessible Rich Internet Applications
(ARIA) Clean-up
The pretty common and pretty bad
issue is poor use of ARIA.
You can build great and terrible
components with it.
W3C - Rules of ARIA
WebAIM - ARIA the cause of and solution
to accessibility problems

9. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Removing Bolt-On
The rarer but more harmful is
accessibility plugins and sidebars.
For example, accessiBe, User1st,
Userway, and more.
They claim “Protect your business from
lawsuits” with an accessibility magic bullet.

10. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Removing Bolt-On
They are absolute and awful snake oil.
They do not solve accessibility problems.
They create accessibility problems.
• Bolt-on Accessibility
• Be Wary of Add-on Accessibility
So, I cannot fully endorse you using them.

11. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Problematic Accessibility
One way to implement accessibility is
hidden and hard-code strings.
This is commonly done with aria-
label and text hidden with CSS.
The idea is to add behind-the-scenes
accessibility. The reality is that people
struggle to maintain it.

12. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Problematic Accessibility
A common issue with cards is generic links. You
could use hidden text or an aria-label.
<a href=“…”>Read more <span
class=”hidden”>About…</span></a>
<a href=“…” aria-label=”read more
about…”>Read more</a>
Or could use aria-describedby to connect
elements without adding anything new.

13. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Exclusionary Accessibility
Accessibility absolutely needs to be part
of your user research.
It must not be glorified bug testing. Do
not disable users with your research.
You would not run sessions using a
website which didn’t work with a mouse.

14. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Exclusionary Accessibility
Be vocal about your commitment to
accessibility. Do not keep it a secret.
For users, your accessibility is only as good as
their awareness of your accessibility.
Do not wild claims. Trust is paramount. Avoid
patting yourself on the back. No, really …

15. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
What Can You Do?
Use lean content and elegant components. When in doubt,
refer to WAI-ARIA Practices and Inclusive Components.
Avoid accessibility for the sake of accessibility. When in
doubt, refer to the W3C - Web Accessibility Tutorials.
Do not solve your fall for accessibility snake oil. Be honest
about your issues and build a roadmap.

16. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
Thank You
😊Dafydd Henke-Reed
@o_dafydd
Dafydd.henke-reed@abilitynet.org.uk

17. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
• @Mark
Thank you
Training: 10% discount code for webinar attendees: AntiPatterns10
Book now: www.abilitynet.org.uk/training
Training courses coming up in September include:
• How to begin your own accessibility testing
• Understanding accessibility evaluations and testing results
• Accessibility for copywriters
• Accessibility testing in mobile apps

18. Accessibility Anti-Patterns August 2020
• @Mark
Thank you
• AbilityNet newsletter: www.abilitynet.org.uk/newsletter
• Next webinars: www.abilitynet.org.uk/webinars
8th September: Accessibility Insights with Paul Smyth from Barclays
22nd September: Higher Education/Public Sector update with Open
University
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/abilitynet
• Podcast: www.abilitynet.org.uk/podcast