What is it and why should I care?

Web Accessibility & Inclusive Design

What Is Inclusive Design? Making our designs accessible to

everyone  

What Is Accessibility?

Focuses on making designs accessible to people with disabilities

Perceivable

Operable

Understandable

Robust

Perceivable

Interface forms, controls, and navigation are operable

Operable

Web content is made available to the senses – sight, hearing and/or

touch

Understandable

Content and interface are understandable

Robust

Content can be used reliably by a wide variety of user agents,

including assistive technologies

-Tim Berners-Lee

The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability

is an essential aspect.

Changing our mindset

Stop thinking of accessibility as being for “others”

We All need Accessibility

57 million Americans have a disability

•  19.9 million (8.2%) have difficulty lifting or grasping.

•  15.2 million (6.3%) have a cognitive, mental, or emotional impairment.

•  8.1 million (3.3%) have a vision impairment. •  7.6 million (3.1%) have a hearing impairment.

Web Access is a Basic Human Right

Accessibility supports social inclusion for people with disabilities as well as older people, people in rural areas, and people in developing countries.

Don’t Let accessibility and Inclusive Design be an afterthought

Accessible design from day 1

1. Incorporate accessibility into the design process from the beginning

2. Write code with accessibility in mind

3. Write tests with accessibility in mind

“But we aren’t required to make it accessiblE...”

Accessible Design Benefits everyone

•  Overlap with other design best practices •  Better search results •  Reduced maintenance cost •  Increased audience reach

Legal & General Website Redesign

Legal & General Website Redesign

•  50% increase in search engine traffic •  95% increase in requests for quotes •  300% increase in take up for some products •  Conversion rates doubled for the most important

revenue generators •  450% increase in earnings in the five days

following the launch of the redesigned website •  Longer term 135% increase in completed

applications

Designing for accessibility improves overall design

Where to Start?

1. Get familiar with assistive technology

2. Go through the A11Y Project web accessibility checklist

3. Test your code for 508 compliance

4. Test your code with the WAVE tool

Resources

•  http://www.w3.org/ •  http://webaim.org/articles/pour/ •  http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist •  http://community.nvda-project.org/ •  http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/ •  http://a11yproject.com/checklist.html •  http://www.508checker.com/ •  http://wave.webaim.org/ •  http://webaim.org/standards/508/checklist

More to Come

Next up: Web development accessibility basics

sources •  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/art-exhibit-lets-vision-impaired-visitors-touch-

masterpieces-madrid-museum/ •  http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/Overview.html •  http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/5/e/0/8/highres_170544072.jpeg •  http://www.accessibleicon.org/ •  https://flic.kr/p/rhY9gQ - Nicola, “Chemex”. CC Attribution 2.0 Generic •  http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist •  https://flic.kr/p/exFqxs - Chad Cooper, “Lake View”. CC Attribution 2.0 Generic •  http://www.interactiveaccessibility.com/accessibility-statistics •  http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility#examples •  http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/Overview •  http://www.legalandgeneral.com/ •  http://isolani.co.uk/presentations/wsg/ •  http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/legal-and-general-case-study •  https://getflywheel.com/layout/design-web-accessibility-beginning/ •  http://www.whistleout.com.au/MobilePhones/News/phones-for-the-blind-apple-

voiceover •  http://www.pixeldiva.co.uk/blog/shares/expand-the-awesome-design-for-a-wider-

audience