Increasingly, topics like digital responsibility are entering the conversation around digital transformation. “This responsibility has evolved from primarily focusing on data privacy to now include accessibility, diversity, and inclusion as well. Really, it’s about being more proactive, less reactive. You want to take it from being aspirational to ground truth – how do we make […]
Posts Tagged ‘Accessible Design’
Help us Celebrate the 11th Annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day!
May 19, 2022 is the 11th anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). GAAD is an event to get everyone talking, thinking, and learning about digital access and inclusion. The day started with a single blog post written by a web developer, Joe Devon. An accessibility professional in Toronto, Jennison Asuncion, stumbled across the blog […]
Define Initial Requirements: Accessibility in the Product Development Lifecycle Part 2 of 4
Read Part 1 of this series here: Plan to be Accessible by Design: Accessibility in the Product Development Lifecycle. Forward-thinking product teams will plan for and implement inclusive user experiences at the start of the design process to achieve better outcomes. More commonly known as Shift Left, this method advocates ‘baking in’ inclusive user experience […]
Plan to be Accessible by Design: Accessibility in the Product Development Lifecycle Part 1 of 4
Accessible Product Development Starts with Shift Left Using a Shift Left method to improve product development outcomes isn’t new or novel. Shift Left has been adopted for decades to lower software development refactoring time and costs and streamline time to market by testing software earlier in the design process and not just before it ships. […]
Semantic Markup for Web Accessibility
Worldwide, over 285 million individuals live with some sort of visual impairment. This is according to the U.S. Health and Human Services Department. Introduction to Section 508 Compliance and Accessibility (hhs.gov) They require screen-readers to help them navigate the web. The problem is that not all websites are structured with appropriate semantic markup for accessibility. […]
Designing Accessible Digital Experiences Begins with Personas and User Stories
The disability market has hit an inflection point. More global organizations buying tech are committing to accessibility in 2022 due to pressure created by the increasing number of digital accessibility lawsuits, and the increasing number of firms creating diversity and inclusion programs (DE&I). This is creating competition for opportunities to attract the global disability market […]
Dark Mode and Digital Accessibility: Who it Helps and Without it, Who it May Hinder
If you only knew the power of the Dark Side mode… Ok, it might be a slightly altered quote from Darth Vader, but you get the point. Dark mode can be very powerful indeed for those who require it and those that it just makes viewing convenient. Let’s take a few minutes to talk about […]
The Roundabout Truth: Carousels and Accessibility
When you hear the word “carousel,” the first thing that might come to mind is sitting in the saddle of an ornamental horse, riding in a circle and waving to onlookers as you pass by. If you had the experience of watching a carousel, you know that carousels provide a repetition of visual information until the ride comes to an end. Similar to the carnival version, website carousels are also a […]
Why Color Contrast is a Top Priority in Accessible Design
Does your website have the proper contrast ratio? The contrast ratio is the property of a web display and the ratio of the luminance of the brightest shade to the darkest shade that the system produces. A high contrast ratio is desired, and having the proper contrast ratio for all users, including those with disabilities, […]
The Importance of Interacting with the Web by Keyboard or Screen Reader
Keyboards and screen readers are both useful and robust forms of technology used to navigate webpages and apps, giving web users the capability to navigate digital experiences and interact with content that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. Keyboard and Screen Readers – Not All Users Are the Same It’s often assumed that web users […]
The Powerful Link Between Accessibility, SEO, and Google
It’s long known that good accessibility is good for search engine optimization (SEO). However, most people think of this connection as being specific to implementing alt attributes on their images when the truth is far more involved and complex. In fact, a core measure of the quality of a website and its content is how […]
Introducing Digitally Accessible Experiences: Why it Matters and How to Create Them, a Guide
Using the internet has become a daily activity for us, to the point where, without the internet and its services, it can become difficult to perform tasks that are necessary for making it through our day. This is often the case for users living with disabilities when online experiences are poorly designed for accessibility – […]