Web Axe - Practical Web Design Accessibility Tips - Podcast and Blog

NEW WEBSITE AND RSS FEED!

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 08:29:50 PST

ANNOUNCING MY NEW WEBSITE: http://www.webaxe.org/
AND THE NEW RSS FEED: http://www.webaxe.org/feed/

This site will remain up for a little while longer.

After over 7 years on Blogger, the website has moved to WordPress. It uses a fairly customized version of the Blaskan theme. Two important plug-ins used are WP Accessibility and WP-Accessible Twitter feed.

Reasons for the change include a fresh, responsive design; a shorter and more accurate domain name; and, of course, to get off Blogger (which itself has many reasons, too many to list!)

Please update your favorites, RSS reader, and any links you may have made. Thank you!

Open Letter to Slideshare

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:20:16 PDT

Dear Slideshare,

I have been a user of your service for a few years now. I enjoying sharing slide presentations, following other authors, and having the option to add audio. And last year, your move to HTML5 from Flash was great. But there are some behaviors which are quite poor and have needed improvement for some time now, as outlined below. Note that my experiences are mostly with PowerPoint files.

1. The slide notes are not rendered whatsoever. The notes can often times be very valuable. Here's a related tweet from Sarah Bourne.

2. In my latest upload, images and text on several slides did not show up. I even edited and re-uploaded the file in an attempt to fix the issue. To resolve the matter, I resorted to posting the slides to Google Drive/Docs, and promoted that URL instead.

3. The auto-generated text transcript is very poor. The transcript is very important, particularly for accessibility. Specific items which can be improvement:

3.1 The owner is unable to edit or delete the generated transcript. Even with a Pro account it is not possible, as tweeted by Derek Featherstone.

3.2 The outline rendering is non-existent. Even when slides have proper bullet and number outlines, the transcript generates no structure, just one big text blurb.

3.3 Alternative text of images not present in transcript. For images in my PPT files, I add alternative text in the appropriate field. That text doesn't appear in the transcript.

3.4 In the transcript, the footer text in the slide master is output at the end of the content for every single slide! This reduces legibility.

Please improve your application, Slideshare. There are many other slide sharing services people can use (such as SlideSnack and SlideBoom), and the improvements above will surely set you apart from the competition, as well as win over many of us in the accessibility community.

Sincerely,

Dennis E. Lembree
Web Axe author

a11yBos Presentation

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:07:13 PST

Web Axe author Dennis Lembree presented (virtually via Skype) at the Boston Accessibility (Un)Conference, September 15, 2012. He presented a session titled "How To Build An Accessible Web Application" which is packed with great accessibility tips for web developers and web designers. Examples from the web-accessible Easy Chirp application are included. Special thanks to John Rochford (@ClearHelper), Char James-Tanny (@CharJTF) and Ben Amankwata for organizing and logistics.

How To Build An Accessible Web Application - a11yBos from Web Axe

Next month, Dennis will be speaking at Accessibility Camp LA.

More:

On Twitter #a11yBos @a11y_bos
More about the accessibility camp/unconference movement

Book Review: Pro HTML5 Accessibility

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:29:05 PDT

Recently I finally made time to read the book Pro HTML5 Accessibility by Joshue O Connor (@joshueoconnor), released in late March 2012 by Apress. Let's take a look at each chapter.

Chapter 1, Introduction to HTML5 Accessibility, covers exactly that. First, the differences between HTML5, HTML4, and XHTML are explained. Then the basics of web accessibility and theory are discussed including the four principles of WCAG 2.0 (POUR). Legislation is also discussed including Section 504/508 and ADA (US) and PAS78 and DDA (UK).

Accessibility should enhance your design—not destroy it.

Chapter 2, Understanding Disability and Assistive Technology, describes different types of disability, and goes into more detail about visual impairments. Assistive technology (AT) is explained such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and switches; the most popular screen readers JAWS, VoiceOver, NVDA are discussed in more detail.

Chapter 3 is about JavaScript and ARIA, and sure covers a lot. Nice to see progressive enhancement (PE) explained first; along with semantic markup, PE is a grounding technique which still many developers do not practice, unfortunately. The chapter then discusses event handler best practices, use of tabindex and no script, and references WCAG2 scripting techniques and failures. The DOJO, jQuery UI, and FLUID JavaScript libraries are mentioned, but surprisingly not YUI.

The next section in this chapter provides great information on ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) including the explanation of the following important attributes: live region, label/describedby, menu, and landmark roles. An ARIA state and role reference is also included.

Accessible drag-and-drop is mentioned briefly at the end of the chapter, but would have liked to see more on this topic. I guess everything can't be included! For more on this topic, start with Accessibility & Native Drag and Drop by the HTML5 Doctor.

Chapter 4, API and DOM, is a shorter and a bit dryer chapter, but definitely contains interesting and necessary information. The off-screen model (OSM) and accessibility APIs are defined, and how they work with browsers and AT. Accessibility APIs discussed include MSAA (the "older brother"); IAccessible 2; and the Apple, Webkit, and Linux versions.

Chapter 5 gives explanation and references to new HTML5 semantic elements and attributes. A lengthy list of event handler attributes is provided. The chapter also includes an interesting mapping of new elements against the implied ARIA role. In addition, I like that the importance of headings is explained; this is a very basic and vital practice that if often overlooked. The hgroup element is discussed a fair amount, but the rumor is that it is being dropped from the HTML5 specification.

Chapter 6 is titled Images, Rich Media, Audio, and Video in HTML5. The first half of the chapter alone (about 21 pages) discusses alternative text for images. This lengthy section is great because even though this is a basic requirement, implementing alt text can be quite tricky depending on the how an image is used (or not used) and is often done incorrectly if at all.

It's great that the author is a supporter of the longdesc attribute which is now made obsolete in HTML5. I also advocate the longdesc attribute which points to an off-page resource; this behavior cannot be replicated with ARIA. Longdesc is not only used much in academia as the book states, but also for government websites and comics. A good example of alt text using describedby is given, but no solution for an external long description. Read more about this in my two-part article Longdesc & Other Long Image Description Solutions.

Although ARIA is great and HTML5 has made advances in many areas, neither currently provides a fully-functional replacement for @longdesc

I would have liked to read more on sprites as this is a popular design technique which causes many accessibility problems. For more on this topic, check out Notes on accessible CSS image sprites by Steve Faulkner.

The second part of Chapter 6 covers HTML5 audio and video. Issues with Flash for video are presented, and then the HTML5 media elements and attributes are covered. I'd like to point out that the autoplay attribute is bad for accessibility and usability as it automatically starts the media on page load and therefore removes control from the user.

A solid video code example is provided for embedding media and creating custom controls. I noticed that the fallback example was not what I expected as it didn't include Flash nor a simple file download link. For more on this topic, start with Creating Your Own Accessible HTML5 Media Player by Terrill Thompson.

It's great to see the Track element explained as it's great for captions, audio description, etc. Although it's not supported quite yet, many of us are in great anticipation and is definitely worth learning now.

Lastly, Chapter 6 suggests some great media encoding tools and explains the media types and supporting browsers.

Chapter 7, HTML5 and Accessible Data Tables, provides a great explanation and many code examples of basic and complex data tables, including the headers attribute technique. The author disagrees with deprecation of summary attribute, but I do not so much. The summary attribute is often not implemented correctly and is difficult to maintain; the content can be in the table caption or main content; screen readers can give the same information about a table that the summary attribute is originally intended for (an overview of the structure of the data table). But a great alternative method to summary is provided, using aria-describedby, which I do advocate.

In Chapter 8, HTML5 and Accessible Forms, a thorough explanation is given of the basics and complexities of accessible web forms. For form element labels, three techniques are described. I agree with the author in that explicit labeling (for/id) should be used over the implicit (wrapped) method. Or over any other method (such as title or placeholder) for that matter. Also discussed are many of the new HTML5 form elements (output, progress) and input types (tel, email, date, time) including a few details on browser support, or lack thereof.

However, in terms of making your forms more bulletproof and working with older legacy AT, I recommend sticking with the for/id method for now.

Useful tidbits are included such as the inconsistent screen reader support of optgroup element; how to style placeholder attribute for Webkit and Mozilla; and suggests to help the accessibility of the autofocus attribute. Speaking of placeholder, although the book points out that the placeholder attribute "represents a hint", I had hoped it would more directly state that the placeholder attribute is not a replacement for the label element, as it's often misused.

Error recovery and form validation is also discussed. The jQuery form validation plugin is mentioned; for details check out Paul Adam's related article.

In Chapter 9, HTML5, Usability, and User-Centered Design, great information is given, but I wonder a little of how this content fits into the scope of the book. The chapter mostly discusses user testing and the 7 principles of universal design: equitable use; flexibility in use; simple and intuitive; perceptible information; tolerance for error; low physical effort; and size and space for approach and use. In addition to details from the book, you can also check out my article from last year on this topic, Popular Mistakes in Universal Web Design.

Chapter 10 discusses numerous tools and tips for accessibility testing, or "Assessing Your Accessible HTML5 Project". Some popular tools are mentioned including WAT-C, WAVE, and Colour Contrast Analyser. Other notable tools not mentioned are aViewer, Accessibility Evaluation Toolbar, and Worldspace FireEyes.

In summary, Pro HTML5 Accessibility is a comprehensive and important book for any web developer and web designer. The read was excellent and contains many references and appropriate code examples. I highly recommend it. And now that you've read my review, you're ready to buy the book!

Reponse to Journey to Universal Accessibility–Part 1

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 08:02:10 PDT

I got an error when trying to comment, so here's my response to the recent article Journey to Universal Accessibility–Part 1 by @Pathbrite. In general, the article is pretty good, but several of the techniques given are outdated.

For #3, I say don't use tabindex; it's no longer considered good practice as content can be same in code order as visual order. The CSS part is a must (adding focus in addition to hover state).
For #4, it's important to clarify that page titles (and H1) should be unique for each page.
For #5, it's even better to use the scope attribute on TH elements. Also, the summary attribute is good but hardly ever used correctly; it's also being made obsolete in HTML5.
For #7, I like title attributes, but unfortunately titles aren't very accessible to all; browsers don't support the rendering with keyboard use, most screen readers have it off by default, nor does it help on mobile devices.
Lastly, I suggest increasing the text size on your site for better readability/accessibility.

Fall Accessibility Camps

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:10:55 PDT

Coming up soon is the heart of the 2012 Accessibility Camp season. Here's a great list of the events this fall. Please try to make an event as they are very fun as well as informative. I (Dennis) will most likely be at the LA event.

Boston Accessibility Conference (#a11yBOS) September 15.
Web Accessibility London Mini-Conference (#a11yLDN) September 19.
Accessibility Camp New York City (#a11yNYC) September 22.
Accessibility Camp DC (#a11yDC, @AccessCampDC) October 13.
Accessibility Camp Los Angeles (#a11yLA, @a11yCampLA) October 20.
Accessibility Camp Toronto (#a11yTO, @A11yCampTO) November 17.
Accessibility Camp Montreal (#a11yMTL, @a11yMTL) November 23.

A "camp" is also known as an unconference or barcamp. Last year, master @Jennison wrote a guest blog all about the accessibility barcamp movement, IT Accessibility Goes To Camp.

5 Reasons Businesses Should Take Web Accessibility Seriously

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:11:11 PDT

Editorial guest blog by Philip J Reed, on behalf of Westwood College.

Too many businesses make the mistake of dismissing web accessibility as irrelevant, but the assumption that accessibility issues concern only a small segment of would-be customers is a potentially profit-damaging misstep.

Taking web accessibility seriously can save your business from major problems, some that possibly haven’t even occurred to you. What’s more, it can save you time and money, two things any business owner could always use more of. After all, by designing an adequately accessible website, you will not have to make a special effort to provide materials to disabled clients or customers in different formats, such as in physical large-print, or Braille.

Additionally, accessible websites make it easier for those clients or customers to place their order with you. While you may have been happy to provide those individuals with special service, the fact may be that they don't ask you for that opportunity; they may simply find your interface unusable, and begin to look elsewhere. You don't want that to happen, and here are five additional reasons your business should take web accessibility seriously.

Customer Loyalty. If any user, disabled or not, finds your site slow, confusing or hard to navigate, you've just lost a potential customer. Web users have millions of sites to choose from, and they aren't willing to find out if yours is worth the wait while your high-bandwidth images struggle to load. Even worse, if your site only functions well on one browser, you may have just lost a large share of web users, consumers who will make the switch to a competitor rather than deal with an inferior experience.
Credibility. By ensuring your site accommodates and satisfies users of all levels of ability and access you'll establish and build the one currency that means the most in the business world— credibility. If a consumer knows they can come to your site and easily navigate pages, forms and links, they're much more likely to return, refer others, and speak well of your brand in general.
Staying Ahead. In the digital world, being even one step behind current technology makes you a dinosaur. Working to create the most accessible site will ensure that you stay at the forefront of your industry, and empower your consumer to feel in control of their web experience. If re-coding your forms or updating your graphics seems daunting, remember that programs at local or online IT schools can easily get you up to speed on any tech tricks necessary to avoid accessibility issues and revamp an outdated site format.
Progress. Web accessibility can be a moving target, but the consistent self-evaluation necessary to keep your site accessible for any user will benefit your business as a whole. Business awareness and accommodation of individual needs and desires was the top concern for 83% of consumers in a 2010 Experian poll, and you'll be a go-to guy for these customers if you keep accessibility at the top of the list of priorities.
Lawsuits. Web accessibility traditionally refers to site accommodation of users with visual, cognitive, auditory or physical disabilities. Sites that fail to feature alternative descriptions for images, transcription for videos, and the appropriate HTML code that makes the site usable by keyboard-only, screen reader and other users of adaptive technology, set themselves up to not only alienate disabled consumers, but also to invoke lawsuits for failure to comply with accessibility standards. Check state and national law and policy to avoid leaving your site exposed to legal action. In the U.S., if your website is even partially federally funded, it must comply with Section 508, so make sure you're well familiar with it, and in full compliance.

As time goes on, web accessibility will only become more of an urgent issue. If you build accessibility into your plan from the beginning, you won't always have to be playing catch up. And if you're playing catch up, well, make sure you get to work!

For further reading and information, please see this overview assembled by W3C.

Easy ARIA from Marco

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 08:03:58 PDT

Here's a great blog series on ARIA techniques from Marco Zehe (@MarcoInEnglish) of Mozilla. The content is well over a couple years old now, but still very relevant and useful. Goes to show how leading edge Marco and Mozilla are!

Open Web Camp 4 another success!

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:34:18 PDT

Open Web Camp 4 took place last Saturday July 14, 2012. Turned out to be another great event organized by John Foliot (@JohnFoliot) of San Jose, California. This time, OWC was held at PayPal headquarters in San Jose (was held at Stanford the previous three years). Although the event covers different area of web development, several sessions concentrated on accessibility and others included accessibility as part of the content.

After helping with registration, I arrived a few minutes late to "HTML5: All about Web Forms" by Estelle Wyl (@standardista). The talk was a bit rushed, but packed with great information. Next, "Surf a GB with Glenda's Thumb" was pretty interesting as Glenda Watson-Hyatt (@GlendaWH) demonstrated challenges of using a computer with a motor disability. She also asked attendees to try a web-surfing exercise while simulating a mobile impairment (by using only non-dominant hand with rubber band around fingers).

I regretted missing "Getting Your CSS Under Control" by Jonathan Snook. But instead I attended Denis Boudreau's very relevant presentation, "Social Media Accessibility: Where Are We Today?". This session was actually a replacement for Molly Holzschlag's presentation; she couldn't make the event due to TSA nonsense.

I finished the conference by attending "Unhiding The Truth Behind Hiding Content for Screen Reader Users" by Victor Tsaran (@vick08) and then a "game changing perspective" talk by Glenda Sims (@GoodWitch), pictured below.

The event was free in the past, and this year there was only a small $10 registration fee; the value is tremendous! In addition to the sessions, a t-shirt and lunch was provided to all attendees. And lunch was enjoyed by many outside in the nice Northern California weather by the pond on the beautiful PayPal campus. A nice time. I look forward to an OWC5 next year.

Google IO12 Review and Accessibility

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 08:02:29 PDT

I was fortunate enough to attend the Google I/O conference again this year (last year's I/O blog). It was again held at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, California. The opening keynote was a smash hit, and in addition to product announcements, featured skydivers wearing Google Glass!

On the second floor, it was a pleasure to meet Phil Strain (@pstr) in person; we've followed each other on Twitter for a couple years. He now works for Google and was helping out in the accessibility developer sandbox (booth). He demonstrated the latest ChromeVox. Also at the sandbox, Peter Lundblad demonstrated to me the braille output support using a new Nexus 7 tablet and a Humanware braille display.

Google announced the release of Android Jellybean (4.1) to be released through over-the-air updates to the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S and Motorola Xoom in July. The announcement came with several Android accessibility enhancements including:

Speech recognition is now local to the device, no longer requiring the device to be connected to the Internet in order to use it.
Gesture support allowing for greater nonvisual control of the device using the touch screen.
Native support for refreshable Bluetooth Braille displays.
Source: The Mobile Accessibility Landscape

Session videos

Making Android Apps Accessible with T.V. Raman, Charles Chen, Alan Viverette, Peter Lundblad. Session description:

Android 4.0 introduced platform-level accessibility APIs so that you don't have to be an expert to make an app that's accessible to people with disabilities. Come learn how APIs for accessibility make your job easier. We'll provide code examples covering touch exploration, speech synthesis, multiplatform support through use of a DPAD, magnification for low vision, braille, and more.

Advancing Accessibility for the Web with Rachel Shearer, Dominic Mazzoni, Charles Chen. Includes announcement and demo of the new Chrome Accessibility Developer Tools. Session description:

This session will help you learn through code samples and real world examples how to design and test your web apps for complete accessibility coverage. We will review APIs such as the Text-to-speech (TTS) API, tools like ChromeVox and ChromeShades and how Google products implement solutions today for users with disabilities.

Tidbits

I ran into Peter Hazelhurst, former VP of two of my past employers. Turns out he now is Global Head of Payments, Product Management at Google. He presented on "Introducing Google Wallet Cloud APIs".
It was neat to run into Isabelle Olsson, a lead designer on the Google Glass project, outside the conference center. She had presented in the keynote.
The line to get the "free" devices on the first day was incredibly long; wrapped around the entire first floor! I would say it was "unbelievable", but not too surprising considering three cool toys were being handed out including the new Nexus 7" tablet.
While attending on Wednesday, my wife, kids, and parents (who were visiting from Michigan) had a great time touring downtown San Francisco!

Response to 15+ Tips to Improve Web Accessibility

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:16:42 PDT

I gave feedback in the form of a comment for the article 15+ Tips to Improve Web Accessibility of a Website. But, yet again, my blog comment was not published. The article is not bad, just needed some clarifications. So since my comment wasn't approved (after several days), here it is:

Great points, although 4 have to do with forms. Some clarifications:

For alternative text on images, decorative images should have empty value (alt="") and linked images must have alt text describing target of link.

Relative sizing in CSS not as important as it used to be. [Most browser do page zoom by default and all browsers but IE can zoom text set in pixels.]

CSS vs table layout doesn't have any direct impact to accessibility.

Use ABBR tag for acronyms as well as abbreviations (acronym tag is deprecated).

For skip links, see end of this article for JS fix for functionality on some browsers: http://terrillthompson.com/blog/161

And now that I think about it, the article overlooks pretty basic techniques such as data tables, captioning, and ARIA. For a more complete list of tips, see my 25 Ways To Make Your Website Accessible.

About WebAIM Screen Reader Survey 4

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 22:34:11 PDT

As you may have heard, the results of the fourth WebAIM screen reader survey are now available. The survey provides valuable information on about screen reader users such as primary screen readers used, browsers used, and reasons for use.

WebAIM reports that problematic items have changed little over the last 2 years. The top ten are:

The presence of inaccessible Flash content.
CAPTCHA - images presenting text used to verify that you are a human user.
Links or buttons that do not make sense.
Images with missing or improper descriptions (alt text).
Screens or parts of screens that change unexpectedly.
Complex or difficult forms.
Lack of keyboard accessibility.
Missing or improper headings.
Too many links or navigation items.
Complex data tables.

Conclusions from the survey include:

JAWS is still the primary screen reader, but usage continues to decrease as usage of NVDA and VoiceOver increases.
The perception of accessibility of web content is decreasing.
72% of the respondents use a screen reader on a mobile device, up from only 12% three years ago.
iOS device usage is significantly increasing and well above that of the standard population. Screen reader users represent a notable portion of the iOS device user market. Usage of Android devices is well below that of non-disabled users.
The use of properly structured headings remains of great importance.

Here are a few great analyses of the survey:

My Take on the WebAIM Survey (by @TerrillThompson) Highly recommended.
WebAIM's Survey: Headings Matter to Users of Assistive Technologies (by CommonLook)
Free and Mobile Screen Readers on the Rise (Media Access Australia)

Placeholder Attribute Is Not A Label!

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 10:55:18 PDT

Just so we're all clear on this, the HTML5 placeholder attribute in a text input is not a replacement for the label element. Period. The placeholder should only be used as a brief example of the text to be entered.

Besides inconsistent support for screen readers, using a placeholder as an input label can create usability problems and issues for those with cognitive impairments. The placeholder should be used like a title attribute (tooltip); it provides only supplementary information. If the information is required for the user (such as a strict text format) then this should be conveyed in the main content of the page, not in an attribute.

The W3C HTML5 placeholder specification specifically states it should be a "short hint" and states:

The placeholder attribute should not be used as an alternative to a label.

Supporting articles:

Bonus!
On @a11yMemes, check out this humorous take on placeholder.

Addendum:
Using the HTML5 placeholder attribute by Léonie Watson.

The Usability Principles, Accessibility Style

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 18:06:38 PDT

Steve Grobschmidt (@AquinasWI) recently blogged a three-part series titled The Usability Principles, Accessibility Style. Using Jakob Nielsen's 10 Usability Heuristics as a guideline, Steve discusses the principles and then explains how they each relate to accessibility. Great stuff!

The 10 principles discussed are:

Visibility of system status
Match between system and the real world
User control and freedom
Consistency and standards
Error prevention
Recognition rather than recall
Flexibility and efficiency of use
Aesthetic and minimalist design
Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
Help and documentation

Addendum:
For more related information, see my article Popular Mistakes in Universal Web Design which discusses the seven universal design principles.

Reflecting on GAAD

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:10:18 PDT

[A guest post by Jennison Asuncion (@Jennison), co-founder of GAAD]

On May 9, people from around the world took part in public events, hands-on experiences, and other activities to mark the first Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Conceived by Joe Devon, the idea started because Joe, as a developer, and not someone who knew much about accessibility to begin with himself, blogged passionately last November that all devs need to possess basic awareness of and do their part in making the web accessible. He further declared that there needs to be a day to bring focus, and suggested May 9 as a good a day as any.

As someone who is constantly thinking about and actively pursuing ways to make digital accessibility, "accessible", to the mainstream IT and related communities myself, you cannot imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon, purely by accident via Twitter, Joe's blog post, on that random Saturday night when it went live. After reading it, I was immediately in touch with Joe, raising my hand to be his co-pilot for the effort. The rest is now history, and a pretty good testimonial of the power of social media in its own right.

What inspired me most, outside of Joe's genuine interest and enthusiasm, was how willing people were, in stepping forward to either run an event and/or promote GAAD, without much time at all to spare. Thank you everyone. The truth is that Joe and I share a common trait, equally hectic schedules between our day jobs and our other involvements, which meant GAAD crept up on both of us. Thankfully, leaning on our generous networks, social media, and word of mouth, everyone who took part, in what ever way, has much to be proud of. Now that the date is set, and the event is out there, GAAD 2013 and beyond can only keep growing. Check out Joe's post-event recap to see where he plans bringing his energies next.

Involvement with GAAD has only reinforced my belief that we, working in digital accessibility, only benefit when we engage with and support members of the mainstream design, development, and related communities in raising the profile of and addressing digital accessibility.

Get involved- express interest in holding an event for GAAD 2013. Volunteer to translate some of our text into other languages.

Email globala11yawarenessday at gmail.com
Follow/tweet @gbla11yday
Like GAAD's Facebook page

Editor's Note

There were many blogs and press articles written about GAAD. Here are some:

Web Axe Podcast #95: Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Surveys, more
Video of GAAD Los Angeles at Yahoo! featuring Todd Kloots and Victor Tsaran, along with Zahir Herz.
Boston Post-Event Wrap-Up by The Carroll Center for the Blind.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day Highlights Digital Inclusion by @LFLegal.
Join the Festivities: Do Something for Global Accessibility Awareness Day by District Dispatch.
Global Accessibility Awareness Day is Today–but wheress the Sem Tech?
Global Accessibility Awareness Day: May 9 by Chronicle.com.
May 9 is Global Accessibility Awareness Day by @GoodWitch.
New event promotes accessibility: For people with disabilities, the Internet offers a world of challenges, by Canada.com.
Awareness by @Feather.
Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day by How Interactive Design.
Know Your Web: Making the Web an Accessible Place

Podcast #95: Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Surveys, more

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:10:26 PDT

First, Dennis and Ross discuss a variety of topics including some current surveys and a couple articles about skip-to links. Then Dennis speaks with @JoeDevon and @Jennison about the inaugural Global Accessibility Awareness Day!

Download Web Axe Episode 95 (Global Accessibility Awareness Day, Surveys, more)
[Transcript of podcast 95]

Goings On

Ross' book update.
Positive email response to Disability.gov critique.
Liz Ellcessor Ph.D. candidate in Media & Cultural Studies at U of Wisc interviews Dennis (Malware warning due to hosting issue).
New! a11yBuzz by @KarlGroves, an "accessibility body of knowledge".
2 updates (validation, open in other browsers) to Web Accessibility Toolbar 2012 by The Paciello Group.
Seeing more accessibility jobs in general lately. Hiring good web developers at PayPal in San Jose, San Francisco, Austin; contact @DennisL.

Surveys

Blind or low-vision users, complete AFB's Survey on Travel Website Accessibility.
Short survey by Blind Bargains to improve accessibility to flowcharts on mobile devices (must log in).
Survey on Books & Accessibility for person with disability, special educators, parents; from @Barrierbreak.
4th screen reader survey by WebAIM

Articles

Skip links on mobile and tablets by @iheni.
Article by @TerrillThompson "Back to Basics: Skip to Main Content Links".
The Mobile Website Debate (Jakob Nielson vs Josh Clark vs Ross Johnson).
Usability Principles, Accessibility Style, a 3-part series by @AquinasWI.
Good examples of accessible websites by @TerrillThompson.

Upcoming Events

Accessibility Conference at University of Guelph, Ontario - May 29-30, 2012
Accessibility Camp Seattle (A11ySEA) - June 2-3, 2012
NFB National Convention 2012 starts June 30 in Dallas: http://t.co/mSQ59Op5

Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Wednesday, May 9; first one ever!
GAAD Website (launched May 2!)
Facebook page.
Twitter @GblA11yDay and hashtag #GAAD.
Event in Los Angeles featuring Yahoo!'s Todd Kloots and Victor Tsaran.
Melbourne Breakfast Meetup led by Adem Cifcioglu.
Event in Toronto, Canada, at OCAD University.
Event in Mumbai, India sponsored by BarrierBreak Technologies.

Suggestions for the new Disability.gov

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:10:03 PDT

Last month (March 2012), Disability.gov (@DisabilityGov) relaunched its website; there is an announcement in its newsletter. I discovered this actually by coming across an article posted on Twitter, A Look behind the Scenes – Part I: Making Disability.gov Accessible which discusses considerations made when developing an accessible website.
Naturally, this peaked my curiosity and was compelled to investigate. I found mixed results. Every website, no matter how great the foundation, is a work in progress and could use improvements. Disability.gov is no exception. Here's my review of the home page.

Heading usage needs improvement. Currently no H1 and only two H2 elements, nothing else. Besides the H1, suggest at least adding headings for the featured/slide content and the Connect section at bottom.
In very top section, the elements are keyboard accessible which is great, but the visual placement of print button is out of tab order which makes it a little confusing. (On other pages, three added text links in this area compound the problem.)
The "Skip to Page Content" link is good, but needs a JavaScript enhancement for browsers that don't support the functionality. The fix is explained at end of article Back to Basics: Skip to Main Content Links by @TerrillThompson (which I implemented on Easy Chirp). (Skip-to link is the first of three main features listed on the site's accessibility statement.)
I like the implementation of the search form (besides the 1 extra span in the markup). It uses a visually hidden label and an HTML5 placeholder attribute.
High contrast controls are good as the input label and submit button are included. But there are a few issues; the first two mesh with usability. (High contrast is the second of three main features listed on the site's accessibility statement.)

It seems that "Full Graphics" is a poor choice of words for the default state. After all, both states have the graphics.
There are only two options, so why have a select dropdown? Unless more options are planned, I suggest using two simple radio options or a single checkbox option.
While in high contrast mode, text links in the featured/slide content are unreadable (yellow on white).

About the feedback modal/overlay window:

After opening, the focus is managed and the feature is keyboard accessible, which is super. But the "Save" button is misleading and confusing. It should simply be "Submit"; the user is not saving the selection for later, but actually submitting his or her response.
After closing the feedback modal/overlay window, the keyboard focus is lost. When closing, suggest placing focus on control that opened it (the button "Tell us what you think").

In the non-JavaScript use case:

The feedback is missing a submit button (and the button "Tell us what you think" should not be present).
The featured/slide content doesn't degrade well. Most of the slide sections are still visually hidden with no controls to view.

There is a visual hover/focus indicator for text links, which is great, but should be more prominent (more obvious, too subtle); it's currently dark blue text which changes to purple text.
The links under Information by Topic have a lot of content in the title attribute. If the content is that long, and especially if it's important to the user (not "supplementary"), then title attributes are not the best solution.
Under News and Events, a title attribute is fine for links in new window, but also need visual indication (icon) and/or include "new window" in anchor (and possibly hide off screen).
It's good practice to declare a language in the HTML element with the lang attribute, in this case, lang="en-us".
The text-resize widget works, but I see two issues (this is the third of three main features listed on the site's accessibility statement):

The text-resize widget doesn't resize text specifically; it makes the whole design larger, which is basically the same as browsers' page zoom feature. So why have the widget? Recommend replacing with real text-size functionality since browsers bury this feature or don't provide it at all anymore.
The hover/focus state of the options in the text-resize widget is so subtle (purple instead of black) that it's very difficult to notice the change.

The options in the "Add This" flyout provides visual feedback with the mouse hover, but is missing keyboard focus.

After completing this review, I unfortunately wouldn't agree with the claim in the footer that the Disability.gov website adheres to WCAG 2 level AA.
The site's accessibility statement states:

If you experience any technical problems or have issues with accessibility, please contact dgovdeveloper AT devis DOT com with your feedback, and we'll do our best to respond to your concerns.

I have emailed a link to a link to this blog and hope more improvements can be made soon. -Dennis

Web Accessibility Jobs, April 2012

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 12:33:24 PDT

Great opportunities in US, UK, and Australia!

Accessibility gurus at Nomensa seek Django/Python Developer for their Bristol, UK office.
Intuit seeks a Sr. Accessibility Software Engineer in Mountain View, CA.
NIH seeks a Section 508 QA. Send resume to Mikhail Seidov at mseidov at ezsc-usa dot com or go to listings.
Web Accessibility Consultant wanted at Vision Australia in Melbourne.
The RNIB seeks temporary principal web accessibility consultant in UK.Yammer seeks a Senior Accessibility Engineer in San Francisco.
Software Developer, Accessibility Services at Research In Motion (Blackberry).

For more, be sure to follow me, accessible_jobs and @a11yjobs on Twitter!

Response to blog Web Accessibility Initiative

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 08:13:08 PDT

This is a response to the blog Web Accessibility Initiative by Nathan Crause. Contrary to the title, the article attempts to disclaim the need for web accessibility, particularly for visual impairments. I submitted a comment but it wasn't posted. So here it is:

A 3.8% population with visual impairment is not minor at all. If your company has 1 million potential customers, you are ignoring 38,000 chances to make money! And if they're already customers, be prepared to receive up to 38,000 complaints.
Keep in mind that accessibility also benefits people who have mobile, hearing, and cognitive impairments. They are potential customers, too, and they themselves add up to much more than 3.8% of the U.S. population. The 2009 stats from DisabilityStatistics.org say about 2% of the U.S. population is visually impaired, while total percentage of people who are disabled is around 12%.
Java Applets...seriously?
Content of SVG can be made accessible. And even the accessibility of HTML5 canvas is being worked out.
In addition, Flash can be made accessible. Adobe has made huge improvements here, although not on the Mac. The problem is that developers have the tools to make web sites/apps accessible, but just hardly ever do it.
JavaScript libraries are usually not an issue either. For example, YUI3 and jQuery UI incorporates ARIA which help screen reader users with the interaction.
Still don't believe me? Check out the W3C's Developing a Web Accessibility Business Case for Your Organization.
If you current with web technologies, an accessible website doesn't have to be "crippling". The bar is now set much higher with modern coding practices available such as progressive enhancement, ARIA, and managing focus. A good example of an accessible web application is Yahoo! email.
The real issue here is ignorance. Ignorance in business, empathy, and proper development technologies and practices. I do agree with you [the author, Nathan] on one point, though; accessibility is a touchy subject.

CSUN12 Quick Review

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 09:26:09 PST

Another CSUN conference has come and gone and this year was better than ever. I met many great people for the first time including Joe Dolson, who's been on the Web Axe podcast a couple times in the past. The conference included much discussion on Google and accessibility, the announcement of WAVE5 beta by WebAIM, and the Tweetup was a bash! Special thanks to Adobe, Deque, and Accessible Media for being such great hosts. On Saturday morning, I attended the SS12 finals in which @Jennison was one of three judges (I judged last year). Be sure to check out the Great Big List by @mactoph which includes many links to presentations, round-ups, podcasts, and more. Also, here's my Flickr CSUN12 photo album. -Dennis

Photo: Joe, Jennison, Dennis, and John at lunch. Credit: Angela Hooker.

Comment on Effective Web Design to Enhance Accessibility

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 07:45:08 PST

Several days ago, I submitted a comment to the article Effective Web Design to Enhance Accessibility, which was recently going around Twitter. The comment wasn't published, so here it is:

Proper use of headings is another very important issue.
Comments on points above:
Adequate font size by default is best; 16px ideal, 10 or 12 is unacceptable.
Alternative text is a basic requirement that many folks still miss. Especially important on infographics (and comics!). If too long for alt attribute, just put text on page.
Great point, but “link text” or “link content” may be better use of words. The “title” attribute (a.k.a. tooltip) should only be used for supplemental (and not duplicate) information.
Symbols in addition to color is a good practice. In W3C words, “don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning”.
Be sure to have a label for each form component (and associate correctly). Use Fieldset/Legend for long forms to break in sections.

WCAG Improvements

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 12:45:44 PST

It was such a relief when WCAG 2.0 became a W3C Recommendation back in December of 2008. But in the fast paced world of the web, nothing stays the same for very long. Even WCAG could use many improvements, especially after over three years. (Time sure flies!)

Jared Smith (@Jared_W_Smith) of WebAIM recently wrote an excellent article WCAG Next which explains some of the top issues and suggests how they can be improved. I pretty much agree with all. Here is a summary:

Remove the CAPTCHA Exception - should prohibit all CAPTCHA at Level AA.
Media Guidelines - a few suggestions here plus a recommendation for restructuring.
Contrast at Level A -minimal contrast requirement needed for Level A.
Decrease the 200% Text Resizing Requirement -biggest burden of Level AA.
Clarify Images of Text -this is subjective.
Specify Mechanisms to Bypass Blocks - add techniques such as skip-to, headings, landmark roles, and others.
"Can Be Programmatically Determined" -a confusing aspect of page conformance.
Require Keyboard Focus Indicators at Level A - "There is no reason why this should not be a Level A requirement." Totally!
Remove Parsing Requirement - no direct benefit and difficult to test for accessibility; possibly move code validation requirement to Level AAA.

Podcast 94: Women of CSUN12

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 08:40:36 PST

This podcast is a preview of the 27th Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, commonly known as CSUN, February 27 thru March 3 in San Diego, California. If you're not attending to the CSUN conference this year, this podcast is valuable in learning about current issues in web accessibility and "meeting" several great people in the field. If you are going, then you can also make a better decision in which sessions you want to attend.

First, Dennis and Jennison Asuncion (@Jennison) do an excellent overview of the conference (OK, mostly Jennison). Then several guests, all women, speak about their work, their sessions at CSUN, and some other fun thoughts. Four of the women live in the UK!

Download Web Axe Episode 94 (Women of CSUN12)

[Transcript of podcast 94]

Guests

Glenda Sims / @GoodWitch
Henny Swan / @IHeni
Lainey Feingold / @LFLegal
Leonie Watson / @LeonieWatson
Sandi Wassmer / @SandiWassmer
Sarah Lewthwaite / @Slewth

More Related

CSUN12 Tweetup, Thursday, March 1 at 6:30pm
Project: Possibility / @ProjPossibility
Adobe at CSUN12 / @AdobeAccess
Manchester Grand Hyatt

Fixing Alt - Facebook Like Button Explained

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 08:23:32 PST

The next in our "Fixing Alt" series is the Facebook Like button explained posted on MakeUseOf a while back. It's a short but sweet comedic image, but again, with no alternative text provided. So here it is.

Facebook Like button, equals: I've read it, but I'm too lazy to comment!

PS: There are so many other things wrong with the MakeUseOf web page. But since my New Year's resolution is not to be as critical, I won't go into it.

Web Accessibility Conferences 2012

dennislembree@yahoo.com (Dennis E. Lembree) — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 18:01:55 PST

Here's a list of conferences relating to web accessibility this year. Details for some of the annual events are not announced yet. Please comment with any changes, additions, and comments.

ATIA 2012 Orlando
January 25-28, 2012
Orlando, FL U.S.A.

Techshare India 2012 "Bridging the Barriers"
6-7 February 2012
New Delhi, India

International Technology & Persons with Disabilities Conference
Feb 27-March 3, 2012
Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel
San Diego, CA U.S.A.

Power Up 2010 Conference and Expo
April 2 and 3, 2012
Columbia, Missouri U.S.A.
Holiday Inn Executive Center
presented by Missouri Assistive Technology

W4A 2012
9th International Cross-Disciplinary Conference on Web Accessibility
16-17 April 2012
Lyon, France

John Slatin Access U (from Knowbility)
May 15-17, 2012
Austin, Texas U.S.A.

Guelph Accessibility conference
May 29-30
Guelph, Ontario, Canada

Penn State Web 2012 Conference
June 11-12, 2012
Pennsylvania U.S.A.

ICCHP
13th International Conference on Computers Helping People with Special Needs
July 11-13, 2012; Pre-Conference July 09-10, 2012
University of Linz, Altenbergerstraße 69, 4040 Linz, Austria

AHEAD: Association on Higher Education And Disability
July 9-14, 2012
New Orleans, Louisiana U.S.A.
The Sheraton Hotel

Illinois Web Accessibility Conference and Expo
TBD

HighEdWeb Association (Higher Education Web Professionals)
October 7-10, 2012
Milwaukee, Wisconsin U.S.A.

ASSETS 2012
The 13th International ACM SIGACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility
October 22-24, 2012
Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.

Accessing Higher Ground
Accessible Media, Web and Technology Conference
TBD
Colorado, U.S.A.

OZeWAI Conference
Australian Web Adaptability Initiative
Melbourne, Australia
Late November