Library: Accessibility resources, guides, communities, and more
A very comprehensive directory of accessibility resources.
Link tags: accessibility
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prefers-reduced-motion: Taking a no-motion-first approach to animations
Given the widespread browser support for prefers-reduced-motion now, this approach makes a lot of sense.
Show/Hide password accessibility and password hints tutorial | Part of a Whole
A good tutorial on making password fields accessible when you’ve got the option to show and hide the input.
A Complete Guide To Accessible Front-End Components — Smashing Magazine
Vitaly has rounded up a whole load of accessibility posts. I think I’ve linked to most of them at some point, but it’s great to have them all gathered together in one place.
Good, Better, Best: Untangling The Complex World Of Accessible Patterns — Smashing Magazine
I really like the approach that Carie takes here. Instead of pointing to specific patterns to use, she provides a framework for evaluating technology. Solutions come and go but this kind of critical thinking is a long-lasting skill.
Overlay Fact Sheet
Based on the problems with accessiBe and its ilk, I have signed my name to this:
- We will never advocate, recommend, or integrate an overlay which deceptively markets itself as providing automated compliance with laws or standards.
- We will always advocate for the remediation of accessibility issues at the source of the original error.
- We will refuse to stay silent when overlay vendors use deception to market their products.
- More specifically, we hereby advocate for the removal of accessiBe, AudioEye, UserWay, User1st, MK-Sense, and all similar products and encourage the site owners who’ve implemented these products to use more robust, independent, and permanent strategies to making their sites more accessible.
Progressive enhancement and accessibility redux - QuirksBlog
This is a really interesting take on the intersection between accessibility and progressive enhancement (which I always felt was there, but this expresses it well):
Accessibility aims to optimize an experience across a spectrum of user capabilities. Progressive enhancement aims to optimize an experience across a spectrum of user agent capabilities.
Indeed, if you broaden the definition of “user agent” to include a user’s physiology, I think the concepts become nearly identical.
Skipping skip links ⚒ Nerd
Vasilis offers some research that counters this proposal.
It makes much more sense to start each page with the content people expect on that page. Right? And if you really need navigation (which is terribly overrated if you ask me) you can add it in the footer. Which is the correct place for metadata anyway.
That’s what I’ve done on The Session.
Imagining native skip links | Kitty Giraudel
I like this proposal, and I like that it’s polyfillable (which is a perfectly cromulent word).
HTML test cases
This is handy—an up-to-date list of tests run on form fields with different combinations of screen readers and browsers.
Responsible Web Applications
An excellent collection of advice and examples for making websites responsive and accessibile (responsive + accessible = responsible).
axe-con Digital Accessibility Conference | Deque
This looks like it’ll be a good event: a keynote from Vint Cerf and talks from Val Head, Rachel Andrew, Sara Soueidan, and others.
Best of all, it’s free!
Web Almanac 2020
I spent most of the weekend reading through this and I’ve still barely scratched the surface—a lot of work has gone to the analyses and write-ups!
The sections on accessibility and performance get grimmer each year but the raw numbers on framework adaption are refreshingly perspective-setting.
The Importance of HTML – Jerry Jones
You’re not going to get a Webby Award or thousands of views on Codepen for how amazingly crafted your HTML is. You’ll need to be OK going unrecognized for your work. But know that every time I use a screen reader or keyboard on a site and it works correctly, I have a little spark of joy.
Playing with Envision Glasses - Tink - Léonie Watson
The street finds its own uses for things, and it may be that the use for Google Glass is assistive technology. Here’s Léonie’s in-depth hands-on review of Envision Glasses, based on Google Glass.
The short wait whilst the image is processed is mitigated by the fact a double tap is all that’s needed to request another scene description, and being able to do it just by looking at what I’m interested in and tapping a couple of times on my glasses is nothing short of happiness in a pair of spectacles.
An opinionated guide to accessibility testing /// Iain Bean
- First impressions
- The Tab key
- Automated testing tools
- Screen reader testing
- Next steps
Not so short note on aria-label usage – Big Table Edition – HTML Accessibility
This is a very handy table of elements from Steve of where aria-label can be applied.
Like, for example, not on a div element.
Webbed Briefs
Heydon is back on his bullshit, making extremely entertaining and occassionally inappropriate short videos about web stuff.
WEBBED BRIEFS are brief videos about the web, its technologies, and how to make the most of them. They’re packed with information, fun times™, and actual goats. Yes, it’s a vlog, but it isn’t on Youtube. Unthinkable!
The pilot episode is entitled “What Is ARIA Even For?”
Accessibility Support
A very handy community project that documents support for ARIA and native HTML accessibility features in screen readers and browsers.
Van11y: Accessibility and Vanilla JavaScript - ES2015
Van11y (for Vanilla-Accessibility) is a collection of accessible scripts for rich interfaces elements, built using progressive enhancement and customisable.