Accessibility for developers

Alistair Duggin, Head of Accessibility at the Government Digital Service talks about 'Understanding Accessibility', covering the challenges website users face with accessibility. He also covers how this is approached at GOV.UK, testing and gives some top accessibility tips.

Transcript

1. Accessibility for developers Alistair Duggin
 Head of Accessibility
 Government Digital Service
 @dugboticus
2. GDS Alistair Duggin Who am I?
3. GDS @dugboticus
4. GDS Lead fronted developer and accessibility champion on London Olympics 2012 Alistair Duggin
5. GDS Alistair Duggin Tech lead on BBC Weather App
6. GDS Alistair Duggin Lead fronted developer and accessibility lead, Money Advice Service
7. GDS Alistair Duggin Frontend developer on Pension Wise, HM Treasury
8. GDS Alistair Duggin What is Government Digital Service?
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14. GDS Alistair Duggin Shared digital platforms - Pay - Verify - Notify
15. GDS Alistair Duggin What is accessibility?
16. GDS Alistair Duggin Accessibility = no barriers The inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to websites and services, by people with disabilities.
17. GDS Alistair Duggin Accessibility is about people Accessibility means designing for the range of abilities your audience has
18. GDS Alistair Duggin Accessibility is dependant on • content • design • code
19. GDS Alistair Duggin Accessibility means ensuring that people can successfully use a service - regardless of impairment or technology
20. GDS Alistair Duggin Accessibility has 4 characteristics • Perceivable • Operable • Understandable • Robust
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26. GDS Alistair Duggin Why accessibility matters
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28. GDS Alistair Duggin This is for everyone We build our digital service for all our citizens. Everyone needs to be able to use them - regardless of ability and technology used to access them.
29. GDS Alistair Duggin 1 in 5 people have a disability
30. GDS Visual impairments 2 million people in the UK have significant sight loss 360,000 people are blind or partially sighted
31. GDS Auditory impairments 12 million people in the UK with some kind of hearing loss 900,000 people are severely or profoundly deaf
32. GDS Cognitive impairments 6.4 million in the UK have dyslexia 700,000 are on the autistic spectrum
33. GDS Alistair Duggin “1 in 6 adults struggle to read” The Reading Agency
34. GDS Mobility impairments 577,000 people receive benefits as a result of having problems with mobility
35. GDS The prevalence of disability rises with age 6% of children are disabled 16% of working age adults 45% of adults over State Pension age 1 in 2 people will be disabled at some point in their lifetime
36. GDS Ageing population 12 million people of state pension age The number of people aged 60 or over is projected to rise by over 50 percent in the next 25 years
37. GDS Alistair Duggin Everyone experiences impairments https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/design/practice
38. GDS Alistair Duggin Designing for disability benefits everyone
39. GDS Alistair Duggin If people struggle to use a website they will go elsewhere
40. GDS Alistair Duggin Equality Act 2010 We have a legal obligation to provide equal access to people with disabilities
41. GDS Alistair Duggin Who is everyone?
42. GDS Don’t design for the fictional average user • Good vision • Full hearing • Good mobility (uses a mouse or touch screen) • Good literacy skills
43. Example of people with visual impairments GDS Alistair Duggin
44. I am colour blind and cannot perceive the difference between some colours GDS Alistair Duggin
45. I have low vision and need to increase the text size in my browser GDS Alistair Duggin
46. I have low vision and need to change the appearance using my browser GDS Alistair Duggin
47. I have low vision and need to use a screen magnifier to make things bigger and cannot read text that has poor contrast GDS Alistair Duggin
48. I am blind and use a screenreader GDS Alistair Duggin
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50. Example of people with hearing impairments GDS Alistair Duggin
51. I am hard of hearing and struggle to hear most things GDS Alistair Duggin
52. I am Deaf; British Sign Language is my first language and I find English hard to read and write GDS Alistair Duggin
53. Example of people with motor impairments GDS Alistair Duggin
54. I have a mild motor impairment so struggle to use a mouse with fine control GDS Alistair Duggin
55. I have a medium motor impairment so have to use a keyboard instead of a mouse GDS Alistair Duggin
56. I have a motor impairment and am unable to use a mouse or keyboard so use speech recognition software GDS Alistair Duggin
57. Example of people with cognitive impairments GDS Alistair Duggin
58. I have dyslexia and struggle to process written text and spell GDS Alistair Duggin
59. I am on the autistic spectrum and struggle to process information GDS Alistair Duggin
60. I have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and find it hard to concentrate GDS Alistair Duggin
61. I have a learning difficulty and need thing to be simple and easy to understand GDS Alistair Duggin
62. I have a poor memory and get easily confused GDS Alistair Duggin
63. GDS Alistair Duggin How do you make a website accessible?
64. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 are inclusive design best practices - code - design - code GDS Alistair Duggin
65. GDS Alistair Duggin The WebAim Checklist is a great introduction to WCAG 2.0 http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist
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67. Can everyone perceive my content/interface? GDS Alistair Duggin
68. GDS Alistair Duggin Text has good legibility and readability • size • contrast • line height • line length
69. GDS Alistair Duggin Information is not communicated by colour alone
70. Provide text alternatives for images GDS Alistair Duggin
71. GDS Alistair Duggin Provide transcript and captions for video with sound
72. GDS Alistair Duggin Make sure every feature can be used when text size is increased by 200%
73. GDS Alistair Duggin Make sure your content is in a logical order in the code
74. GDS Alistair Duggin Use the most HTML appropriate elements
75. Make dynamic content available to screen readers GDS Alistair Duggin
76. Can everyone operate the interface? GDS Alistair Duggin
77. GDS Alistair Duggin Ensure all content and functionality is available to a keyboard
78. GDS Alistair Duggin Allow people the time they need to complete something
79. GDS Alistair Duggin Ensure link text helps a user know where they will be taken
80. GDS Alistair Duggin Ensure headings are useful and hierarchical
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82. GDS Alistair Duggin Ensure page titles are unique and descriptive
83. Can everyone understand the content/interface? GDS Alistair Duggin
84. GDS Alistair Duggin Use plain English and keep content short, clear and simple
85. GDS Alistair Duggin Use headings and lists to break content into manageable chunks
86. GDS Alistair Duggin Ensure the language of your content is provided
87. GDS Alistair Duggin All form fields need associated labels
88. GDS Alistair Duggin Provide helpful error messages
89. Is my interface robust? GDS Alistair Duggin
90. Make sure your HTML is valid GDS Alistair Duggin
91. GDS Alistair Duggin Use WAI-ARIA when needed
92. Following the principles of progressive enhancement makes you get lots of accessibility for free GDS Alistair Duggin
93. Check your website with an automated accessibility testing tool GDS Alistair Duggin
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95. GDS Alistair Duggin Do manual checks
96. Check your websites in a range of assistive technologies GDS Alistair Duggin
97. GDS Alistair Duggin Technical vs usable accessibility
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100. GDS Alistair Duggin Find out more about accessibility
101. We have an accessibility blog https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/ GDS Alistair Duggin
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105. Thanks! Alistair Duggin
 Head of Accessibility
 Government Digital Service
 @dugboticus