Talk presented to the Association of Women in Technology - Austin's Tech Tuesday meeting, 29 September 2009.

1. Paul Sherman,
Sherman Group User Experience

2. First,
let’s
listen
to
the
web…
[listen
to
yahoo.com,
google.com,
and
awta
site]
2

3.  What
is
accessibility?
Usability?
 Why
is
this
all
important?
 Accessibility
guidelines
and
resources
 What
can
you
do?
 Discussion
3

4. When
you
design
for
accessibility,
you’re
making
your
design
more
usable.
It’s
not
hard
or
complex.
But
it’s
better
to
plan
for
it
up
front
than
to
bolt
it
on
later.
4

5. 5

6. “Disability”
is
an
impairment
that
limits
life
activities.
“Accessible”
means
“usable
by
people
with
disabilities.”
6

7. “Accessibility”
is
a
quality
that’s
experienced
by
the
user.
It’s
not
built
into
the
product.
Similar
to
“security”…
Security
cannot
be
claimed,
it
can
only
be
demonstrated.
7

8. 8

9. Your
intended
users
can
accomplish
what
they’re
trying
to
do
on
your
site
or
with
your
product.
9

10. Therefore…
“Accessible”
basically
means
“usable
by
people
with
disabilities.”
10

11. 11

12. In
the
US,
20%
-­‐
55
million
people
-­‐
have
some
disability.
Most
of
these
people
use
computers
and
mobile
phones.
Older
Americans
have
more
disabilities
and
are
more
affected
than
others.
12

13. Visual
Mobility
Hearing
Cognitive,
emotional
and
language
13

14. Cognitive,
emotional
and
language
impairments
affect
people’s
ability
to…
Solve
problems
Perceive
sensory
information
Remember
things
Comprehend
and
use
language
14

15. How
do
software
and
web
producers
accommodate
people
with
disabilities?
15

16. 16

17. Hardware
or
operating
system
adaptations
Assistive
technology
Per-­‐program
adaptations
17

18. [show]
18

19. Many
applications
and
web-­‐delivered
apps
don’t
“play
nice”
with
accessibility
accommodations.
But
people
with
disabilities
need
mainstream
apps…
the
same
ones
you
and
I
use!
19

20. Producers
aren’t
going
to
build
separate
apps
for
the
disabled.
And
even
if
they
did…”separate”
would
not
mean
“equal.”
Sound
familiar?
20

21. Can
you
design
a
site
that’s
equally
usable
by
people
with
and
without
disabilities?
21

22. Universal
design
advocates
say
“yes!”
Or
more
accurately,
“yes
you
should!”
22

23. Universal
design
advocates
say
that
the
best
design
is
one
that
equally
satisfies
the
needs
of
all
intended
users.
Accessibility
advocates
say
that
separate
sites
are
never
resourced
the
same,
so
people
with
disabilities
are
slighted.
So
what
do
you
think
of
this…
23

24. [Amazon]
24

25. Many
designs
can
optimize
for
people
with
disabilities.
But
separate
designs
always
lead
to
separate
and
unequal
treatment.
25

26. My
take:
universal
design
is
the
way
to
go.
It
has
benefits
beyond
“just”
accessibility.
26

27. Universal
design
has
benefits
beyond
accommodating
the
disabled.
Ramps
and
curb
cuts
are
good
for
strollers,
shopping
carts,
and
bikes!

28. 28

29. Law
and
policy
 1990:
ADA
says
public
accommodations
must
provide
access.
 1996:
DoJ
rules
that
web
sites
are
public
accommodations.
 1996:
Telecommunications
Act.
 1998:
Section
508
of
the
Rehabilitation
Act.
Standards
and
guidelines
 1999
-­‐
present:
World
Wide
Web
Consortium’s
Web
Access
Initiative
(W3C
WAI).
 US
Access
Board’s
guidelines
for
Section
508
compliance.

30. W3C
 De
facto
standards
body
for
the
Web.
 Formed
the
Web
Accessibility
Initiative,
a
multi-­‐
disciplinary
effort
to
promote
accessibility
for
the
Web.
Web
Accessibility
Initiative
(WAI)
 Web
Content
Accessibility
Guidelines
(WCAG)
first
version
published
in
1999.
 WCAG
2.0
published
in
2008.
All
available
at
www.w3c.org/wai

31. http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
31

32. 32

33. “alt”
text
“longdesc”
long
description
for
images
33

34. [play
page
with
alt
text
for
nav]
34

35. <td><a
href="default.aspx"
onMouseOut="MM_swapImgRestore();"
onMouseOver="MM_swapImage
('top_nav_home','','images/
top_nav_home_over.jpg',1);"
><img
id="ucSiteTopNav_uxHomeImg"
name="top_nav_home"
src="images/
top_nav_home_over.jpg"
style="border-­‐
width:0px;height:31px;width:52px;"
alt="Back
to
Home
page"/></a></td>
35

36. See?
It’s
not
hard!
36

37. Allow
keyboard
only
navigation.
Provide
sufficient
foreground-­‐background
contrast.
Allow
mistake
avoidance
and
correction.
And
more…
37

38. Deploy
“alt”
text.
Ensure
keyboard-­‐only
navigation.
Assess
your
site!
Listen
to
your
site.
And
try
to
navigate
it
with
just
your
keyboard.
38

39. Assess
and
test.
Correct
the
most
glaring
issues
first.
Then
move
on
to
the
secondary
stuff.
39

40. 40

41. Validation
tools
are
programs
that
inspect
for
code-­‐based
conformance.
W3C
HTML
validator:
http://validator.w3c.org
More
at:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete

42. User
test
your
site!
Good:
you
and
your
colleagues
listen
to
it,
navigate
it
with
keyboard.
Better:
recruit
people
with
disabilities
to
use
your
site.
Watch
them
and
listen
to
what
they
have
to
say.

43. Assess
and
test
Build
awareness
in
your
org
Address
Test
again
43

44. Sharron
Rush,
Knowbility
Access
U
–
accessibility
conference
http://www.knowbility.org/conference/
44

45. Paul
Sherman
Sherman
Group
User
Experience
www.shermanux.com
paul@shermanux.com
Twitter:
@pjsherman
45