Did you know that an Undo button can be an accessibility feature? It is if your product is a content creation tool. Accessibility is as important for your admin and content creation tools as it is for front facing products.
If you've ever wondered what content creation features are useful to people with disabilities, or how you can help your creators to easily make more accessible content, then the ATAG (Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines) standard is what you need. It's a bit different than WCAG in ways that are useful for web apps and software.
Using ATAG as a guide, this talk will walk you through an accessibility features list to help refine your requirements and prioritize your backlog. The right preference settings, keyboard shortcuts and documentation in your app can help everyone build a more accessible web.
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites by people with disabilities. When your website is inaccessible, research shows you could be excluding up to 20 percent of your visitors from interacting with your content and functionality. If your university website is inaccessible, you could be preventing access to education, student services, and more.
When your website is accessible, everyone can consume your information freely. Visually-impaired users can visit your website using a screen reader. Those who can’t use a mouse can navigate your site using a keyboard or other input device.
While creating accessible websites involves every step, including design and content, the foundation for good accessibility starts with good markup. Join my workshop to learn more about accessibility and how to program a high-quality user experience that is inclusive and beneficial to all.
Presented by: Michael Head, Slalom, Inc
Presented at All Things Open 2020
Abstract: Web accessibility is a growing topic of interest among many practitioners in software development, from designers to product managers to developers. If you're not familiar with the topic it can be overwhelming at first. This talk serves as a crash course into web accessibility to help people get a grasp on the topic overall and figure out where they can go to learn more. It's useful for designers, developers, product managers, or anyone else involved in product development. Come learn about why accessibility is important, what all those acronyms mean (WCAG, ATAG, WAI-ARIA, oh my!), and about some of the tools of the trade.
Web Accessibility in its simplest definition is all about making sure websites work for the widest possible audience. This seminar would involve a quick introduction to Web Accessibility, Web Accessibility Issues, Guidelines etc.
Never mind the content: the importance of Authoring Tools in achieving Web Ac...David Sloan
Presentation on Web Authoring Tools and Accessibility, given by David Sloan at a Scottish Web Accessibility Briefing, organised by TextHelp Systems, in Glasgow on 27 May 2009.
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites by people with disabilities. When your website is inaccessible, research shows you could be excluding up to 20 percent of your visitors from interacting with your content and functionality. If your university website is inaccessible, you could be preventing access to education, student services, and more.
When your website is accessible, everyone can consume your information freely. Visually-impaired users can visit your website using a screen reader. Those who can’t use a mouse can navigate your site using a keyboard or other input device.
While creating accessible websites involves every step, including design and content, the foundation for good accessibility starts with good markup. Join my workshop to learn more about accessibility and how to program a high-quality user experience that is inclusive and beneficial to all.
Presented by: Michael Head, Slalom, Inc
Presented at All Things Open 2020
Abstract: Web accessibility is a growing topic of interest among many practitioners in software development, from designers to product managers to developers. If you're not familiar with the topic it can be overwhelming at first. This talk serves as a crash course into web accessibility to help people get a grasp on the topic overall and figure out where they can go to learn more. It's useful for designers, developers, product managers, or anyone else involved in product development. Come learn about why accessibility is important, what all those acronyms mean (WCAG, ATAG, WAI-ARIA, oh my!), and about some of the tools of the trade.
Web Accessibility in its simplest definition is all about making sure websites work for the widest possible audience. This seminar would involve a quick introduction to Web Accessibility, Web Accessibility Issues, Guidelines etc.
Never mind the content: the importance of Authoring Tools in achieving Web Ac...David Sloan
Presentation on Web Authoring Tools and Accessibility, given by David Sloan at a Scottish Web Accessibility Briefing, organised by TextHelp Systems, in Glasgow on 27 May 2009.
Forms for All: Building Accessibility into UiPath App DesignDianaGray10
Explore the world of accessible app design. We'll dive into common accessibility challenges faced by users in online forms and uncover practical solutions. Learn how to identify and rectify barriers that hinder user interaction, ensuring your forms are navigable and usable by all. This session will provide valuable insights into creating more inclusive online experiences, making your apps not just functional, but more accessible.
Topics covered in this session include:
• The Importance of Accessibility
• UX Accessibility Examples
• Adding Accessibility to Apps
Speaker:
David Kroll, Director, Product Marketing @Ashling Partners and UiPath MVP
Accessibility and Web Technologies @HTML5_TorontoGeorge Zamfir
Accessibility questions? Get in contact: george@goodwally.ca.
George Zamfir's presentation on disabilities & web accessibility at the HTML5 Toronto Web App Developers Meetup in Toronto on Jan 19, 2012.
"We are only as (dis)abled as the environment around us!"
Powerpoint & PDF Versions at
http://bit.ly/preso_a11y_html5
How to create accessible websites - WordCamp New YorkRachel Cherry
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites by people with disabilities. When your website is inaccessible, research shows you could be excluding up to 20 percent of your visitors and customers. When your website is accessible, everyone can consume your information and interact with you and your services. Visually-impaired users can visit your website using a screen reader. Those who can’t use a mouse can navigate your site using a keyboard or other input device. Designing with accessibility in mind will also improve your SEO. Join my workshop to learn more about accessibility, the importance of universal design, and how to create a high-quality user experience that is inclusive and beneficial to all.
ATAGTR2017 SPEAKING EYE for differently abled people to see the web contentAgile Testing Alliance
The presentation on SPEAKING EYE for differently abled people to see the web content was done during #ATAGTR2017, one of the largest global testing conference. All copyright belongs to the author.
Author and presenter : Nadeeka Samanthi Wijewantha
According to a report, mobile eCommerce sales are expected to generate $710 billion in revenue by 2025. As a developer, you need to create progressive web apps (PWAs) that can help your clients generate higher sales.
An introduction to accessibility: definition, concepts, some requirements from WCAG, checking the accessibility conformance, recommendations and curiosities.
Building products people actually can use – why all developers need to unders...Cyber-Duck
Discover the presentation from our fifth episode in Cyber-Duck's new webinar series, Essential (Laravel) developer skills for successful end-to-end project delivery.
A Half Day Workshop on Building Accessible Websites For People With DisabilitiesAayush Shrestha
The beauty of internet is in its availability and universality. However, developers are neglecting a big chunk of population when they build websites that are not accessible.
In this workshop, we will talk about accessibility and how it can be achieved in the websites that we build with very little extra effort to what we have been doing all along.
Organized by:
Sangai Hami - Together We
American Embassy
nLocate | Locate things nearby
Lightning Talks by Globant - Accessibility for everyone testing toolsGlobant
The power of the World Wide Web is in its universality. Accessed by everyone, regardless of any physical condition, is an essential aspect, Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. This workshop gives a broad overview of the meaning of Accessibility, its principles, and why is a topic that interests so many? We will discuss the benefits, and show how to work with tools used to implement these types of tests.
Marketing Without Barriers: Considering Digital Accessibility for Customers a...Whole Brain Group, LLC
There are 57 million Americans living with a disability, and many of these people need to use assistive technology to interact with websites and digital marketing materials. If your website and marketing materials aren't created properly, they won't be compatible with these devices, and you could be unintentionally excluding customers who would otherwise like to buy from you. You can also be at risk for legal liability if you're in an industry that is subject to accessibility compliance regulations.
This talk illustrates why businesses and marketers should be thinking about accessibility when they develop marketing plans and launch digital campaigns.
The value of measuring your accessibility maturityIntopia
Slides from the webinar co-presented by Andrew Arch and Neil Jarvis in September 2023 on the value in measuring your accessibility maturity.
The webinar explored the importance of measuring your maturity, and how doing so can help you create an action plan for improving accessibility within your organisation. A recording of the webinar is available on Intopia's YouTube channel.
Forms for All: Building Accessibility into UiPath App DesignDianaGray10
Explore the world of accessible app design. We'll dive into common accessibility challenges faced by users in online forms and uncover practical solutions. Learn how to identify and rectify barriers that hinder user interaction, ensuring your forms are navigable and usable by all. This session will provide valuable insights into creating more inclusive online experiences, making your apps not just functional, but more accessible.
Topics covered in this session include:
• The Importance of Accessibility
• UX Accessibility Examples
• Adding Accessibility to Apps
Speaker:
David Kroll, Director, Product Marketing @Ashling Partners and UiPath MVP
Accessibility and Web Technologies @HTML5_TorontoGeorge Zamfir
Accessibility questions? Get in contact: george@goodwally.ca.
George Zamfir's presentation on disabilities & web accessibility at the HTML5 Toronto Web App Developers Meetup in Toronto on Jan 19, 2012.
"We are only as (dis)abled as the environment around us!"
Powerpoint & PDF Versions at
http://bit.ly/preso_a11y_html5
How to create accessible websites - WordCamp New YorkRachel Cherry
Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites by people with disabilities. When your website is inaccessible, research shows you could be excluding up to 20 percent of your visitors and customers. When your website is accessible, everyone can consume your information and interact with you and your services. Visually-impaired users can visit your website using a screen reader. Those who can’t use a mouse can navigate your site using a keyboard or other input device. Designing with accessibility in mind will also improve your SEO. Join my workshop to learn more about accessibility, the importance of universal design, and how to create a high-quality user experience that is inclusive and beneficial to all.
ATAGTR2017 SPEAKING EYE for differently abled people to see the web contentAgile Testing Alliance
The presentation on SPEAKING EYE for differently abled people to see the web content was done during #ATAGTR2017, one of the largest global testing conference. All copyright belongs to the author.
Author and presenter : Nadeeka Samanthi Wijewantha
According to a report, mobile eCommerce sales are expected to generate $710 billion in revenue by 2025. As a developer, you need to create progressive web apps (PWAs) that can help your clients generate higher sales.
An introduction to accessibility: definition, concepts, some requirements from WCAG, checking the accessibility conformance, recommendations and curiosities.
Building products people actually can use – why all developers need to unders...Cyber-Duck
Discover the presentation from our fifth episode in Cyber-Duck's new webinar series, Essential (Laravel) developer skills for successful end-to-end project delivery.
A Half Day Workshop on Building Accessible Websites For People With DisabilitiesAayush Shrestha
The beauty of internet is in its availability and universality. However, developers are neglecting a big chunk of population when they build websites that are not accessible.
In this workshop, we will talk about accessibility and how it can be achieved in the websites that we build with very little extra effort to what we have been doing all along.
Organized by:
Sangai Hami - Together We
American Embassy
nLocate | Locate things nearby
Lightning Talks by Globant - Accessibility for everyone testing toolsGlobant
The power of the World Wide Web is in its universality. Accessed by everyone, regardless of any physical condition, is an essential aspect, Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. This workshop gives a broad overview of the meaning of Accessibility, its principles, and why is a topic that interests so many? We will discuss the benefits, and show how to work with tools used to implement these types of tests.
Marketing Without Barriers: Considering Digital Accessibility for Customers a...Whole Brain Group, LLC
There are 57 million Americans living with a disability, and many of these people need to use assistive technology to interact with websites and digital marketing materials. If your website and marketing materials aren't created properly, they won't be compatible with these devices, and you could be unintentionally excluding customers who would otherwise like to buy from you. You can also be at risk for legal liability if you're in an industry that is subject to accessibility compliance regulations.
This talk illustrates why businesses and marketers should be thinking about accessibility when they develop marketing plans and launch digital campaigns.
The value of measuring your accessibility maturityIntopia
Slides from the webinar co-presented by Andrew Arch and Neil Jarvis in September 2023 on the value in measuring your accessibility maturity.
The webinar explored the importance of measuring your maturity, and how doing so can help you create an action plan for improving accessibility within your organisation. A recording of the webinar is available on Intopia's YouTube channel.
Slides from AccessU presentation presented by Sarah Pulis and Claire Webber.
Annotating designs with accessibility information is a powerful way to focus on accessibility early in the design phase, as well as communicate your accessibility requirements to developers and testers. Sarah and Claire will cover how to add accessibility annotations in components, patterns and complete wireframes using popular design tools such as Figma.
Designing for people with cognitive impairmentsIntopia
Slides from a presentation delivered by Andrew Arch and Sarah Pulis at the DTA Summit, November 2020.
When considering disability as part of the diversity of people we need to do research with and design for, we often only consider the more visible disabilities and impairments of vision, hearing and mobility. Cognition, often considered a 'hidden disability', can easily be overlooked. Digital design and language choices can make content inaccessible to people with cognitive and learning disabilities.
Personalised technical accessibility training: a case studyIntopia
Allison Ravenhall at CSUN 2020: “We want accessibility training for our app team but we don’t want all-day classroom sessions.” How I delivered a different sort of accessibility training program.
Presented at the CSUN Assistive Technology conference 2020.
How to use web animation to support understanding, without excluding people with cognitive or vestibular issues. Presentation based on developer and accessibility auditor experience.
How to use web animation to help enhance people’s understanding without creating barriers for people with cognitive or vestibular issues.
Learn how to provide useful, fun interface animation to enhance people’s understanding while giving everyone control over what they see so no one is excluded
Slides which focuses on 8 of the WCAG 2.1 requirements for designers: reflow, text spacing, non-text contrast, content on hover or focus, pointer gesture, target size, label in name, status message.
Creating accessible design systems - OZeWAI 2018Intopia
After working with different organisations to create accessible designs systems, our Accessible Services Director, Sarah Pulis, shares some practical tips, tricks and pitfalls to help you create an accessible design system.
Many of the new WCAG 2.1 criteria have implications for designers: graphics, content and UX. In this presentation from the 2018 OZeWAI Conference, Senior Digital Accessibility Consultant Andrew Arch will discuss relevant criteria from a design perspective and identify who needs to take responsibility for what.
Even more accessible! What WCAG 2.1 means for designers - Web Directions Summ...Intopia
Allison Ravenhall's interpretation of 10 of the 17 new WCAG 2.1 success criteria, as they relate to designers.
Presented at Web Direction Summit, Sydney, on 1 November 2018.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 5DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 5. In this session, we will cover CI/CD with devops.
Topics covered:
CI/CD with in UiPath
End-to-end overview of CI/CD pipeline with Azure devops
Speaker:
Lyndsey Byblow, Test Suite Sales Engineer @ UiPath, Inc.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Observability Concepts EVERY Developer Should Know -- DeveloperWeek Europe.pdfPaige Cruz
Monitoring and observability aren’t traditionally found in software curriculums and many of us cobble this knowledge together from whatever vendor or ecosystem we were first introduced to and whatever is a part of your current company’s observability stack.
While the dev and ops silo continues to crumble….many organizations still relegate monitoring & observability as the purview of ops, infra and SRE teams. This is a mistake - achieving a highly observable system requires collaboration up and down the stack.
I, a former op, would like to extend an invitation to all application developers to join the observability party will share these foundational concepts to build on:
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
Pushing the limits of ePRTC: 100ns holdover for 100 daysAdtran
At WSTS 2024, Alon Stern explored the topic of parametric holdover and explained how recent research findings can be implemented in real-world PNT networks to achieve 100 nanoseconds of accuracy for up to 100 days.
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
Unlocking Productivity: Leveraging the Potential of Copilot in Microsoft 365, a presentation by Christoforos Vlachos, Senior Solutions Manager – Modern Workplace, Uni Systems
Why You Should Replace Windows 11 with Nitrux Linux 3.5.0 for enhanced perfor...SOFTTECHHUB
The choice of an operating system plays a pivotal role in shaping our computing experience. For decades, Microsoft's Windows has dominated the market, offering a familiar and widely adopted platform for personal and professional use. However, as technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of innovation, alternative operating systems have emerged, challenging the status quo and offering users a fresh perspective on computing.
One such alternative that has garnered significant attention and acclaim is Nitrux Linux 3.5.0, a sleek, powerful, and user-friendly Linux distribution that promises to redefine the way we interact with our devices. With its focus on performance, security, and customization, Nitrux Linux presents a compelling case for those seeking to break free from the constraints of proprietary software and embrace the freedom and flexibility of open-source computing.
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In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
GraphSummit Singapore | The Future of Agility: Supercharging Digital Transfor...Neo4j
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Sudheer Mechineni, Head of Application Frameworks, Standard Chartered Bank
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GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
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The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
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Dr. Sean Tan, Head of Data Science, Changi Airport Group
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Communications Mining Series - Zero to Hero - Session 1DianaGray10
This session provides introduction to UiPath Communication Mining, importance and platform overview. You will acquire a good understand of the phases in Communication Mining as we go over the platform with you. Topics covered:
• Communication Mining Overview
• Why is it important?
• How can it help today’s business and the benefits
• Phases in Communication Mining
• Demo on Platform overview
• Q/A
5. the Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines
(https://www.w3.org/TR/ATAG20/)
ATAG is…
6. • Any website, app or other software
• Which is used to make content for the web
So what's an authoring tool?
7. • Any website, app or other software
• Which is used to make content for the web
Julie's opinion: ATAG should also apply to any
digital product with more UI than content
So what's an authoring tool?
8. • Helps people with digital accessibility
• Has principles, guidelines, success criteria
• Hard to read
ATAG is similar to
WCAG…
9. • It's not required by law
• It doesn't apply to all digital products
…but also different
10. To make authoring tools:
1. easier to use by people with disabilities
2. more likely to create accessible content
ATAG has two parts
12. Me on Intopia's YouTube channel
https://youtu.be/I1T849ZFJ5g
Introduction to ATAG
13. ATAG: the standard for accessibility of content
creation by Hidde de Vries
(https://hidde.blog/content-creation-accessibility/)
Plain-language ATAG
guide
41. Two types:
1. How to find and use accessibility features
2. How to create accessible content
Documentation
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49. Documentation
Helps people with disability find and use
your accessibility features, and helps all
of us make more accessible online
content
50. Making accessible content
We need accessible tools if we want people
to make accessible content. ATAG can help
you make your products accessible to
everyone.
Today I'm going to be talking to you about how to make your content and admin tools more accessible. We want to do this because…
…the future of the web depends a lot on the diversity of the people building the web.
It shouldn't just be built into walled gardens owned by giant corporations. The web is best when it connects diverse people with different heritage, incomes, abilities.
Not that I'm not grateful!
When it comes to diversity, my particular area of interest is accessibility. Tools! Because PWD don't want to be just consumers.
So today I'm going to show you the ATAG standard, which is specifically for content creation tools. Then I'm going to give you some feature suggestions based on ATAG, which you can apply to just about any web app or software even if ATAG isn't an exact fit for your needs.
Hardly anyone has heard of it
It's a standard, by the Web Accessibility Initiative at the W3C. You've probably heard of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, this is a similar thing but for authoring tools. Which raises the question…
- Pretty much any website, app or software that can be used to make content for the web.
VS Code, Canva, TikTok, Twitter, half of Atlassian. All these really powerful apps which deserve to be made accessible in the broadest sense of the word.
My personal opinion though: any app with more UI than content. Which includes business and productivity tools.
PWD often find inaccessible business software a major barrier to employment, can't use the same tool as everyone else in the office.
(describe slide content)
(describe slide content)
ATAG divides up all the success criteria into two parts: Part A and Part B
I'm not going to go into all of the success criteria today. You know how to read documentation!
But if you feel like ATAG is a perfect fit for your organisation, I'm going to direct you to some deeper dives into the standard. Recording of a webinar I gave earlier this year…
Check out a really great blog post by Hidde de Vries, who spoke at the Web Directions Triple A conference, which puts all of the guidelines into plain language, much easier to read than the standard itself.
What I'm going to do now is looks at what we can learn from ATAG even if it's not a perfect fit for your product. Because another big difference between WCAG and ATAG is that ATAG has a lot more feature-level advice in it. For example: alt text.
So if you squint at it the right way, ATAG contains within it a list of the most common features that people with disabilities want in complex interfaces.
Now obviously you should be doing user research before you begin building anything new
User testing before launch
Intopia provides this, and any accessibility practitioner would be thrilled to help you out
But there's not always budget, or you've already built it, or you've got a long list of features and aren't sure what to make top priority
What I’m suggesting is that ATAG can be used as a bit of a guide for what features people with disability are going to ask for.
For me, the best feature suggestions from ATAG fall into three main groups.
I'm going to show you examples of these features from existing products; not unusual stuff, we just often don't realise that these are accessibility supports rather than just nice-to-have
These groups don't map exactly to specific success criteria in ATAG, this is my own grouping based on talking to clients we've done ATAG work with
Let's start with extended keyboard control. Our basic WCAG requirement is that everything must work with the keyboard. If you have a nice ecommerce site, etc then you want navigation and some forms to work with the keyboard. But when we get into authoring tools, all of a sudden we've got a lot more UI to consider. Sometimes the whole app is just one big user interface.
I've picked VS code as an example here for 2 reasons: firstly Lauren; secondly it has a lot of features I think fit into the ATAG way of doing things.
(Describe screengrab)
(Describe new screengrab: sighted keyboard user, screen reader user would have a different experience. Imagine if you were writing some HTML then wanted to get into the Edit menu.)
Notice though, that there could have been many many more tab stops for a keyboard user. (describe). The reason for this is that VS code uses a lot of what accessibility folks call a Toolbar pattern, which is much more common on desktop software than the web (describe)
You can get a deep dive into the toolbar pattern in the ARIA authoring practices guide, the APG. If you've heard me talk at all about accessibility, you'll have heard me mention the APG before. This has a full description of how to make an accessible toolbar, with all the markup and keyboard listeners you'll need, and a demo for you to play with.
Another really useful pattern for providing extended keyboard support is called an "action menu" pattern. That's for when you have a menu of tools rather than a menu for navigation. Again, deep dive into the details.
Something you might not think of as providing keyboard support is a search feature. But it helps you jump to exactly the spot you need in what you're making. VS Code has some features which are specific to code, you would obviously want to adapt that to add features which are specific to the type of content your users are making.
- Another thing you might think of is keyboard shortcuts. VS Code has a heap of these, and they're all editable.
This is particularly helpful for people with disabilities, because they need to avoid conflicts with the keyboard shortcuts built in to their screen reader or other assistive tech software.
AAA, but gets mentioned again in ATAG
Let's just change things up a bit from VS Code for a bit.
Because Canva is a web app, it can use landmark elements in code to organise the interface. (describe screengrab)
These work well for screen reader users, who can use their standard landmark shortcuts to jump from one area of the interface to another
But these aren't usually exposed to anyone who isn't a screen reader user.
Another method of extending keyboard support is to let people choose which parts of the UI they have to navigate through by putting it inside panels and tab groups which can be collapsed or expanded. (describe) Again we're just letting people have more control and choice than we would for a site which was mostly about consuming content.
- Overall, what we're aiming for is to help people navigate large amounts of user interface in the most efficient way possible.
Any feature you're considering which does that job will be a huge plus for PWD, and a nice set of shortcuts for everyone else.
These sorts of features tend to be the sort of thing you build once then just have to do a bit of light maintenance on over time.
For me, fixing a mistake is a little bit of a pain in the arse. For someone with a disability and/or using assistive technology, it can be a huge time sink. But all of the features I'm about to show you are really common ways of making mistakes easier to deal with, so I want to make sure you don't forget to consider them in your roadmap.
One of the best ways to prevent mistakes is to allow people to save templates or snippets of things they'll want to re-use frequently.
Canva is probably my favourite example of this, it has pre-made templates but allows you to save your own too.
This way, PWD only have to put a lot of effort into making something correctly the first time, and then can re-use that thing later
Figma, Confluence, sharing templates with community
In the talk description I mentioned the humble Undo button. An Undo command is easily the most useful accessibility support you can provide in a complex app. Figma has quite a common setup (describe).
Figma also takes extra care by giving you a warning before you do any destructive tasks, like deleting things. Again we're just giving people a chance to recover from a mistake before it's too late.
Now, this might not seem like much to you, but when reaching the controls is difficult it can be such a time-saver.
You might know Josh Comeau from his work at Gatsby or his course CSS for JavaScript Developers. But you might not know that for about 2 years, he wasn't able to use a mouse or keyboard due to a repetitive strain injury. He switched to using a speech recognition tool called Talon, which is designed for coding tasks, and a Tobii eye tracker. When you use an eye-tracker, each click takes two actions – you have to focus on the item to zoom in so you can only see one of item, before you activate the click.
Now coming back to Figma, imagine you deleted this file by clicking the red delete button, then immediately realised you'd made a mistake. Maybe you were distracted and got the wrong one. If you were using an eye tracker, you'd have to do four actions to undo that mistake. Focus on the Edit menu, activate it to open it, then focus on the Undo item, activate it to undo.
But Figma has made this easier by surfacing an Undo action specifically for that destructive action, just in case. It might seem like they're being overly cautious, but for someone using eye-tracking, they've just halved the number of actions needed to recover from a mistake from four to two, by making it so you don't have to open a menu first. Don't underestimate the power of making Undo available everywhere!
Most software gives you 10 or 20 Undo steps, but if your content creation tool makes things which are worked on over time, we get into the idea of versioning. Someone with an attention disorder or a memory deficit could go quite a long way before they realise they've headed in the wrong direction. Confluence and WordPress let you do this, but I feel like it's becoming less common. Letting people go back to earlier versions or snapshots of their work allows them to recover from that kind of bigger mistake, without having to learn Git just to write a blog post.
Another feature you might not realise is an error prevention tool is any kind of sharing or export feature. If someone with a disability has gone to a lot of effort to make something, letting them get it out of your software and re-use it somewhere else means they don't have to recreate all that effort and with all of the potential for mistakes again. Obviously what kind of exporting you offer depends a lot on what type of content you've got, but being able to change formats or embed things in a new location can go a long way to making life easier for many people.
One of the obvious ways of preventing errors is to give people a spellcheck feature. You should absolutely customise it to the kinds of content your tool makes, if you can.
We can include code linters in this category as well. I've lost count of how many times an automated accessibility checker has told me off because I wrote "area" hidden instead of "aria" hidden.
My last feature suggestion from ATAG in this group is kind of a stretch goal, an extension of the idea of spellcheckers and linters. If people are investing a lot of time making something, encourage them to make it accessible.
MS Office is good (describe)
Again, customise (slides vs page title here)
So for error prevention and recovery we've got a lot of features which seem small, until you're the one who has to build them. But don't forget to include them, because they can make the difference between your tool being accessible or not.
Is documentation a feature?
It's one of the things people consider when choosing a CMS or other software
Could have the most accessible, but if no-one knows then what's the point?
For accessibility we need two types of documentation
Firstly… Secondly…
- Figma does a great job of the first type in their keyboard documentation. They've got a page all about keyboard shortcuts, and notice how it's part of the Getting Started area, not tucked away in a separate accessibility section.
- they've aimed it at anyone who might need this feature (describe)
Secondly we want to make sure that everyone knows how to use your tool to make accessible content, whether they know much about accessibility or not. This screengrab here is from WordPress again, of the modal window that pops up when you add an image to a blog post.
They've included alt text in with all the other details and settings for the image, again not hiding it in a separate accessibility area.
They've used inline help text to tell you how to use the field, with a link to learn more, and what to do if you don't need alternative text for that image. So if this was the first time you'd heard of alternative text, you could easily find out what to do.
Lower down though, we've got a field that confused me. We've already got alt text, a title attribute and a caption for the image. What could description possibly be? This is where documentation helps even experienced accessibility folks like me. I was worried that whatever I put there would override my alt text, or break something if I left it blank.
But I was able to go to the documentation for the attachment details modal, and find out that the description is purely for my benefit, and helps me organise my media library of attached images. Awesome, no worries then.
One last thing to consider as part of your accessible documentation is making sure that the examples you give in there are also accessible. Because we know for sure that people are going to just copy and paste your samples straight into their own work, right? So let's help out PWD by supporting creators to make accessible content even they don't know what they're doing yet.
So documentation is what helps PWD use your tool, and helps everyone make more accessible stuff. It's not your responsibility to force people to make WCAG compliant things, but you can make it a hell of a lot easier for them and by doing that, you'll really raise the bar for accessible content online.
I hope you're intrigued enough by ATAG to give it more attention. I really think it's a great standard for anyone working on a product which creates content. But even if your work isn't on authoring tools, I hope you've found this a useful guide to features that people with disabilities will rate as more important among the many things you could be building.
Before I finish, I'll just say that everyone I meet at a WD event loves making stuff, so I think you'll get what I mean when I say that the people here are building the future of the web. We have a lot of power here. So let's make the future more accessible than the past, by making the tools we use for work and hobbies into things which anyone can use. If you've got any questions about how accessibility might apply to your work, come and find me for a chat – I love talking about this stuff!