Paul Sherman, Sherman Group User Experience

 First,  let’s  listen  to  the  web…  

[listen  to  yahoo.com,  google.com,  and  awta  site]  

2  

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

3  

 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  

 “Disability”  is  an  impairment  that  limits  life  activities.  

 “Accessible”  means  “usable  by  people  with  disabilities.”  

6  

 “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  

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

product.    

9  

 Therefore…  

 “Accessible”  basically  means  “usable  by  people  with  disabilities.”  

10  

11  

 Older  Americans  have  more  disabilities  and  are  more  affected  than  others.  

 In  the  US,  20%    -­‐  55  million  people  -­‐  have  some  disability.    

 Most  of  these  people  use  computers  and  mobile  phones.  

12  

 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  

 How  do  software  and  web  producers  accommodate  people  with  disabilities?  

15  

16  

 Hardware  or  operating  system  adaptations    

 Assistive  technology  

 Per-­‐program  adaptations  

17  

[show]  

18  

 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  

 Producers  aren’t  going  to  build  separate  apps  for  the  disabled.    

 And  even  if  they  did…”separate”  would  not  mean  “equal.”    

 Sound  familiar?  

20  

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

21  

 Universal  design  advocates  say  “yes!”  

Or  more  accurately,  “yes  you  should!”  

22  

 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  

[Amazon]  

24  

Many  designs  can  optimize  for  people  with  disabilities.    

But  separate  designs  always  lead  to  separate  and  unequal  treatment.  

25  

My  take:  universal  design  is  the  way  to  go.    

It  has  benefits  beyond  “just”  accessibility.  

26  

 Universal  design  has  benefits  beyond  accommodating  the  disabled.  

 Ramps  and  curb  cuts  are  good  for  strollers,  shopping  carts,  and  bikes!  

28  

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.  

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/  

32  

“alt”  text  

“longdesc”  long  description  for  images  

33  

[play  page  with  alt  text  for  nav]  

34  

 <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  

 See?  It’s  not  hard!  

36  

 Allow  keyboard  only  navigation.  

 Provide  sufficient  foreground-­‐background  contrast.  

 Allow  mistake  avoidance  and  correction.  

And  more…  

37  

Deploy  “alt”  text.  

Ensure  keyboard-­‐only  navigation.  

Assess  your  site!    

Listen  to  your  site.  And  try  to  navigate  it  with  just  your  keyboard.  

38  

Assess  and  test.  

Correct  the  most  glaring  issues  first.  

Then  move  on  to  the  secondary  stuff.  

39  

40  

 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  

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.  

Assess  and  test  

Build  awareness  in  your  org  

Address  

Test  again  

43  

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

44  

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

45