1 Website Accessibility And The AMA: Where to Start?DIO Advancing Accessibility Plans Event June 1, 2016 Lisa Snider Everything Accessibility

2 What Is My Background?

3 About Me: My Past I have been an accessibility advocate since 1999.I have worked with accessibility projects in various North American settings, including the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and as the owner and senior Web Developer at The Snider’s Web ( ). From 1999, I worked with website, document and audio/video accessibility and then in 2010 onwards added social media, computers, etc.

4 About Me: My Present I am currently the senior accessibility consultant and owner of Everything Accessibility. We specialize in accessibility training, workshops, educational materials, analysis, reporting, auditing and user testing. Our focus is on digital accessibility: computers, social media, websites, documents, audio/video, etc.

5 About Me: Some Current ProjectsI created the ‘Document Accessibility Directive’ for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. I am a member of the W3C Accessible Online Learning Community Group. I am part of the Microsoft Office Accessibility Group and the Microsoft Mac Outlook Accessibility Group, collaborating with Microsoft to improve accessibility of their products.

6 What Is A Website?

7 Websites Can Be Many thingsWebsites can be public or private facing and they can include: Training systems or an LMS (Moodle, Canvas, etc.) ’Intranets’ (internal websites/portals) SharePoint Interfaces

8 Why Make Websites Accessible?

9 Why Would You do That? )https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/3b/d9/be/3bd9be39a8d23210a6b07e82c89d865e.jpg

10 Accessibility Is important: The NumbersOne billion people, or 15% of the world’s population, have some form of disability. [WHO and World Bank Disability Report 2011] In Canada, 13.7% of the adult population identify as having a disability. [Statistics Canada Report 2012] In Manitoba one of out of six people, or 14% of the population, identify as having a disability. [Statistics Canada Report 2006] All of these figures will only rise as our population ages.

11 Accessibility Is important: It Is PersonalAccessibility isn’t just numbers on a page, it impacts all of us. Almost all of us will have a disability in our lifetimes, if we are lucky enough to live to be an elder. All of us know, or will know, someone with a disability in our lifetimes.

12 Accessibility Is important: Usability & SEOThe more accessible you make your website, the more usable it becomes for everyone. Plus as an added bonus, search engines love it! So it helps with search engine optimization (SEO).

13 Accessibility Is important: it is The Law!In Manitoba, we now have the Accessibility for Manitobans Act (AMA).

14 The AMA Covers WebsitesThe AMA includes the Information and Communications Standard. Focuses on barriers to access to information. Access can be through websites or documents on websites. It will likely be based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Everything I talk about will help you satisfy the WCAG guidelines!

15 Who uses Your Website?

16 Websites are Accessed in Different WaysEveryone views your websites in different ways. Viewers may be using a computer, laptop, device, tablet, smartphone, etc. to view your website. Viewers may be using assistive technology to use your website, or they take longer to view it. Let’s look at ‘who’ and ‘how’…

17 Your Audience: People with Visual DisabilitiesPeople with visual disabilities (low vision, macular degeneration, people who are blind, etc.) May use screen reader software (JAWS, NVDA) to read the website, because they can’t see it. May use a magnifier at 200% to read the website.

18 Screen Reader Simulation Example

19 Magnifier (200%) Example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnifier_%28Windows%29

20 Macular Degeneration Simulation Example

21 Your Audience: People with Hearing DisabilitiesPeople with hearing disabilities (Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing, etc.). May use amplification software to increase audio on a website.

22 Your Audience: People with Physical DisabilitiesPeople with physical disabilities (no use/limited mobility of hands or limbs, may not have arms or hands, arthritis, Lyme disease, etc.). May use keyboard only to navigate websites, and not use a mouse or track pad. May use text to speech software, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking.

23 Your Audience: People with Cognitive DisabilitiesPeople with cognitive, neurological and/or learning disabilities (ADHD, ADD, Dyslexia, brain injury, etc.). May use apps or programs to help, such as colour changing apps. May use text to speech software, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking. May use screen readers to read a website to them.

24 Colour Changer App Example

25 What Makes an Accessible Website?

26 1: Layout, Design & ContentThe layout, design and content of your website should be ‘calm’ and easy to read and understand.

27 1: Content The following will help to make the content easy to read and use: Limit italics and use bold instead Explain acronyms Plain language when possible

28 1: Layout and Design The following will help to make the layout and design easy to use: White space Bullets and numbered lists Keep paragraphs short Align text to the left side

29 1: Layout And Design ExampleLeft Aligned White Space Short Paragraphs List

30 2: Colour Not everyone can see colour!Don’t use colour alone to convey information. Watch your colour combinations.

31 2: Colour Used for Information ExampleColour and Asterisk NOT Colour Alone

32 2: Poor Colour Combinations Examples

33 3: Links Links must be descriptive.The link text must tell viewers what the link is, if it is taken out of the page. What is being linked to? Is it a website, document, etc.? All viewers want to know where they are going! Viewers who use a screen reader to read your web pages use a shortcut to hear the links all at once.

34 3: Links on a Web Page Example

35 3: Poor Link Descriptions in Screen Reader

36 3: Good Link Descriptions in Screen Reader

37 4: Headings/Titles When you produce a website, each web page has a title, sub title(s) and paragraphs of text. It is similar to a book with a title, chapters and paragraphs.

38 4: Headings/Titles DetailsYou need to make sure that everyone knows the titles (main title, sub titles, etc.) exist, and that they know how important the titles are within a web page. You must make those titles into signposts for people who are blind and using a screen reader. If there are no signposts, the person has no clue what is going on in the website (think about a book without a title or chapters!).

39 5: Images Images can be photographs, clip art, a chart, an illustration, etc. Not everyone will see this image. Always provide a ‘text alternative’ for it, so there is an explanation of the image in words. First thing to do is ask ‘is this image important?’.

40 5: Important Images Does the image ADD to the meaning and context of the words on the website? If yes, it is an important image. Provide a text alternative that indicates what the image is and why it is important. Put this in the code (alt attribute) or text near the image.

41 5: NoN Important Images Does the image NOT add anything to the meaning or context of the words on the website? If true, it is a non important image. These are just decoration, or they back up what the text already says. We indicate this ‘non importance’ in the code (alt attribute).

42 6: Audio Not everyone can hear audio, or wants to hear audio.You need a text transcript. Make sure the player is accessible!

43 7: Video Not everyone can hear or see the video, and some don’t want to hear or see the video. You need a text transcript and captions. You also need audio description for people who can’t see actions in the video. Don’t forget sign language! It can be someone’s first language. Make sure the player is accessible!

44 7: Video Captions, Audio Description & Transcript

45 Thank You! Questions? Lisa Snider Senior Accessibility Consultant Everything Accessibility (800)