Brian DeConinck
Front-end designer, WordPress developer, & mathematics enthusiast at NC State University's Office of Information Technology
Testing for
Accessibility
Before You Hit
Publish
Brian DeConinck
View these slides:
go.ncsu.edu/a11y-helper-wcus
And so do a lot of other schools! Check out wpcampus.org for more on WordPress in higher ed!
At NC State,
anyone could be using WordPress!
At NC State,
anyone could be using WordPress!
Departmental websites
Content by
admin assistants
At NC State,
anyone could be using WordPress!
Departmental websites
Content by
admin assistants
Course websites
Content by faculty and TAs
At NC State,
anyone could be using WordPress!
Departmental websites
Content by
admin assistants
Course websites
Content by faculty and TAs
Research group websites
Content by grad students
At NC State,
anyone could be using WordPress!
Departmental websites
Content by
admin assistants
Course websites
Content by faculty and TAs
Research group websites
Content by grad students
Student group websites
Content by undergrads
At NC State,
anyone could be using WordPress!
Departmental websites
Content by
admin assistants
Course websites
Content by faculty and TAs
Research group websites
Content by grad students
Personal blogs at wordpress.ncsu.edu
Content by... anyone!
Student group websites
Content by undergrads
The WordPress community likes to talk about
democratizing publishing...
All Students + All Faculty + All Staff
means we have
52,000+ potential
content creators
and that's really cool!
This is AWESOME
because...
-
We have lots of websites
-
Minimal training required for new users
- Anyone can create new web pages!
This is
TERRIBLE
because...
-
We have lots of websites
-
Minimal training required for new users
- Anyone can create new web pages!
This is
TERRIBLE
because...
WE CARE ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY!
As a developer, I can do a lot to
make a theme accessible...
But I don't have any control over
what our users put in the page!
So I can't prevent things like...
Images with no alt text
So I can't prevent things like...
Insufficient
color contrast
So I can't prevent things like...
Misused
heading tags
We usually approach accessibility as a compliance challenge
Create inaccessible content
Scanning
& user complaints
Notify
site owner to fix
How do you get
52,000+ potential
content creators
to
not make
inaccessible content
in the first place?
gives us the solution!
Democratizing
Government
Democratic norms
+
Everyone participates in civic institutions
Democratizing
Government
Democratic norms
+
Everyone participates in civic institutions
Democratizing
Publishing
Let's make
accessibility testing
part of the
content creation process
NC State
Accessibility Helper
- Homegrown WordPress plugin
- Uses aXe accessibility testing engine by Deque Systems
- Additional custom tests by us
View my terrible code (and help make it better!)
go.ncsu.edu/a11y-helper-github
Generates an
annotated preview
highlighting detected accessibility issues
Modal gives a
description
of the detected issue
and links to
documentation
Custom tests give reminders to keep thinking about accessibility
What this isn't
- Rigorous compliance testing
- A substitute for accessibility training
- A substitute for manual testing
- A fool-proof solution for everything!
What this is
- Accessibility as part of content creation
- Democratizing publishing
Accessibility should be something
all of your content creators are thinking about.
Brian DeConinck
View these slides:
go.ncsu.edu/a11y-helper-wcus
Testing for Accessibility Before You Hit Publish (WordCamp US)
By Brian DeConinck
