This document discusses how the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) and Drupal 8 aim to make it easier to create accessible content. ATAG provides guidelines for making content authoring tools accessible, while Drupal 8 seeks to incorporate these guidelines and support authors in producing accessible content. The document outlines several areas both are working to address, such as ensuring editing interfaces are operable and understandable for authors, automatically processing content for accessibility, and providing tools to assist authors in checking and repairing existing content to make it more accessible. The overall goal is to work together to simplify the process of creating accessible digital content for all.

1. ATAG & Drupal 8
Making it easier to produce a11y content!

2. About me!
Drupal 8 Core Accessibility Maintainer
Spearheading accessibility improvements since
2008.
Mike Gifford
President
OpenConcept Consulting Inc.
Ottawa, Canada
http://openconcept.ca

3. Authoring Tool A11y Guidelines
ATAG is well defined, but still getting baked.
W3C Working Draft 7 November 2013

4. Drupal 8
Drupal 8’s also still a work in progress.
Expected to release in 2015.
https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/search?i
ssue_tags=atag

5. Why ATAG Matters
As much as designers, themers & developers
might want …. less technical people are
usually going to be producing most of the
content of a website.
If a site is going to be accessible...

6. The Legal
The UN Convention on the Rights of
Disabilities …
AODA
GoC

7. What is Content Anyways?
Articles, Stories, Blogs, Articles, FAQ’s…
Anything that convey’s meaning between the
website & the user.
Images, videos, charts, tables...

8. Creating Something Great!
❖ Compelling
❖ Meaningful
❖ Semantic
❖ Personalized
❖ Localized
❖ Interactive

9. How Can a CMS Help?
❖ Consistency
❖ Structure
❖ Workflow
❖ Data analysis
❖ Simple Checks
❖ Updates

10. CKEditor
Most user edited content will be coming
through CKEditor, so putting pressure on
their bugs is important!
IBM is leading the accessibility improvements
for CKEditor for both WCAG & ATAG.

11. Images
Required text
When is alt=”” appropriate
HTML5 support for longdesc
Knowing how to use it properly for AT
figure/figcaption

12. Spelling
It’s really hard for a machine to correctly read
(a screen reader) a mis-spelled word, or
click on a misspelled link using voice
commands (Dragon Naturally Speaking)
Also usually bad for SEO.

13. Readability & Broken HTML
There are open source programs to assess
readability.
Several filters address broken HTML, sadly,
none seem to be keeping up with HTML5.

14. ATAG Parts A & B
A) Make the editing interface accessible
(WCAG)
B) Essentially WCAG P.O.U.R. - Support the
Production of Accessible Content

15. A3 Editing-views are operable
❖ Provide keyboard access to authoring features
❖ Provide authors with enough time
❖ Help authors avoid flashing content that could cause seizures
➢ Slow animations and motion sickness -
https://www.drupal.org/node/2316205
❖ Enhance navigation and editing via content structure
❖ Provide text search of the content
❖ Allow users to manage preference settings
❖ Ensure that previews are at least as accessible as user agents - (Coming
in D8)

16. A4 Editing-views are understandable
Help authors avoid and correct mistakes
➢ Fixing broken HTML
➢ Highly structured semantic content
➢ Required images
Document the user interface, including all
accessibility features - (Not yet)

17. B1 Auto-Processes & A11y Content
❖ Ensure that automatically-specified content
is accessible (CKEditor)
➢ Drupal 8 is doing pretty well.
❖ Ensure that accessibility information is
preserved (CKEditor)
➢ Cut/Paste from Word

18. B2 Support Content Authors
❖ Ensure that accessible content production is possible
❖ Guide authors to produce accessible content
❖ Assist authors with managing alternative content for
non-text content
❖ Assist with accessible templates
❖ Assist with accessible pre-authored content

19. B3 Support A11y of Existing Content
❖ Assist authors in checking for accessibility
problems
❖ Assist authors in repairing accessibility
problems

20. B4 Promote Accessibility Features
❖ Ensure the availability of features that
support the production of accessible content
❖ Ensure that documentation promotes the
production of accessible content

21. Conclusion...
Accessibility is complicated… Making it easier
to create accessible content is more
complicated… But by working together we
can make it easier for everyone to work
together.

22. Thanks!!!
This presentation will be at http://openconcept.ca/blog
OpenConcept Consulting Inc http://openconcept.ca
@mgifford
@openconcept_ca
http://openconcept.ca