A Bit of Accessibility

What is it?

An Accessible App...

  • Is usable by those with various disabilities
  • Is usable w/out a pointing device
  • Functions according to accepted conventions & standards

Why don't we do it?

Main Reasons

  • Apathy
  • Too laborious
  • Low priority
  • High barrier-to-entry

Why should we do it?

Some Reasons

  • The "right" thing to do
  • Benefits everyone

How do we do it?

Ongoing: Use HTML Correctly

  • Use <a> and <button> where appropriate
  • Wrap form fields in <label>
  • Use <ul> and <ol> for lists
  • Use <table> for tabular data
  • <div> is not the only tag in the HTML spec

Step 1: Low-Hanging Fruit

  • Fix your markup
  • Run auditing tools like WAVE
  • Use a screen reader (e.g. VoiceOver on OSX)

Step 2: Read

  • Read MDN's accessibility section
  • Try to read the spec - it's not too bad
  • Follow experts on a11y on twitter

A Short Talk About Accessibility

By Ray Nicholus

A Short Talk About Accessibility

Based on a chapter in Steve Krug's "Don't Make Me Think" along with my own thoughts and experiences on the subject.

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