Web Accessibility

An Approach Towards Inclusive Design!

Aparna Gopalakrishnan

Giridhar Rajkumar

Test Automation Consultant

Test Automation Consultant

Agenda

• What is Web Accessibility?

• Common Accessibility issues

• The Standards & Tools

• The Future

• Organisational Approach

• Why Accessibility?

• Common Accessibility Misconceptions

What is Web Accessibility?

Types of Disabilities

The power of the Web is in its universality.

Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.

 - Tim Berners-Lee

W3C Director & Inventor of WWW

It's all about inclusiveness! 

70% of UK websites are not compliant with accessibility laws

1 in 5 people have a disability.

There are 11.9 million disabled people in the UK which is nearly 19% of the population.

Statistics

Why does Accessibility matters?

• Social Responsibility

• Better Business

• Improved usability

... and accessibility helps everyone!

Why does it matter?

• Accessible websites are easier to find by search engines

Common Accessibility Issues

Keyboard Accessibility / Screen Readers

Failure to include text alternatives for images

Too low contrast

Color driven instruction

Use of Click-Here

How can we ensure our site is inclusive?

WCAG 2

(Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)

“The WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities.”

The Standards

WCAG 2.0 - published on 11 December 2008

WCAG 2.1 - published on 5 June 2018

“Content that conforms to WCAG 2.1 also conforms to WCAG 2.0.

(This is often called “backwards compatible”.)

A website that meets WCAG 2.1 should meet the requirements of policies that reference WCAG 2.0.”

The Guideline Principles

• Perceivable - Alt Text and Captions

• Operable -  Keyboard navigation

• Understandable -  Link text, error suggestion, etc.

• Robust - Semantics, assistive technologies (screen readers)

Success Criteria

Level AA

Level AAA

Accessibility Testing Tools

• ​Tab through the page using keyboard

• ​Screen readers (JAWS, NVDA, Talk Back, Speak Screen, etc.)

• ​Zoom Text

• ​Browser plug-in (Axe, WAVE)

• ​APIs for automation (axe, pa11y, totalValidator, etc.)

• Colour Contrast Testing Tools (Applitools Contrast Advisor, Color Contrast Analyser etc.)

Common Misconceptions

• Web Accessibility is expensive & time consuming

• Accessibility websites benefit only a small group of people

• Web accessibility is optional

• Accessibility makes website look dull

THE FUTURE

WCAG (2.2) is releasing in November 2020

Artificial Intelligence

Contrast Analyser

CONTRAST ADVISOR

Organisational Approach

Development Phase

3rd Party Companies

Hire Disabled People

97% of top-websites worldwide has accessibility issues

Organisational Approach

• Recruit people who are differently abled 

• Shift-left towards development phase (UX Design)

• Educate your team about the importance of Accessibility

• Adopt right set of tools

• Use automated tools for better results

It's everyone's right!

As an organisation, it is our foremost duty to consider accessibility testing a priority before we release any applications to our end users...."

References

• Applitools Contrast Analyser - https://applitools.com/contrast-advisor/
• WCAG 2.2 - https://www.w3.org/WAI/GL/project
• Axe - https://www.deque.com/axe/
• Pa11y - https://pa11y.org/
• JAWS - https://www.paciellogroup.com/products/jaws-inspect/
• https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/helping-people-to-use-your-service/testing-for-accessibility
• https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/09/importance-manual-accessibility-testing/
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disability-facts-and-figures/disability-facts-and-figures
• https://www.interactiveaccessibility.com/accessibility-statistics

Questions?

Aparna Gopalakrishnan

Giridhar Rajkumar

Test Automation Consultant

Test Automation Consultant