by Jonathan Hassell
No Comments » Filed under: BS8878, Case studies, GAAD, Video

What success in embedding accessibility looks like – video interview with GAAD’s Jennison Asuncion

Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD) has arrived again. To celebrate, we’re publishing a video interview with Jennison Asuncion – one half of the team who created the idea, and a good friend of Hassell Inclusion. Jennison’s a well-known advocate for accessibility, who now heads up accessibility at LinkedIn. Watch the video to find out: why Jennison is so passionate about accessibility; how he and Joe Devon came up with the idea behind GAAD; how he embedded accessibility into the ways of working at his old employer – a bank in Canada; and how BS 8878 can help other organisations to do the same. Check it out here…

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by Jonathan Hassell
1 Comment » Filed under: Accessibility Case Studies, Content Management Systems, Hints and tips, Podcast

Which of Drupal and WordPress is the most accessible content management system? – Digital Accessibility Experts Podcast 5

Most websites these days are created via some form of Content Management System (CMSes). There are lots of CMSes out there. So how do you choose the right one for you? One thing you could think about is how well the CMS allows you to create websites that are accessible. Graham Armfield in our team has been working to make WordPress accessible for years. And Mike Gifford, who has been leading accessibility work on Drupal, is another good friend of ours at Hassell Inclusion. So in this month’s podcast we’ve put them together to discuss their work. Check it out here…

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by Jonathan Hassell
No Comments » Filed under: Accessibility aids for users, Accessibility standards, BS8878, Inclusive Design, WCAG 2.1

What’s new in Accessibility in 2019 – standards, authoring tools, frameworks and design thinking

In my final blog on advances in the Accessibility Ecosystem in 2019 I complete the picture, discussing advances in: disabled people’s awareness of, access to, and training in using assistive technologies (ATs); standards for developing software (websites and apps) to work with those ATs; updates in the accessibility of Content Management Systems & JavaScript frameworks; updates in the embedding of accessibility into design patterns and design thinking; and how new standards for embedding accessibility into team processes bring it all together. Check it out…

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by Graham Armfield
No Comments » Filed under: Effective website creation, Hints and tips, Native element accessibility, Technical How-To

Figure and figcaption – extended alternate text for screen readers?

The usual way of making images accessible for people who can’t see them is to provide alternative text using the alt attribute of the element. However, in many websites, images are presented with caption text to explain to sighted users what the image is showing. This is effectively an alternative text for the image, but there’s no ‘programmatic’ linkage for screen readers to pick up. HTML5 introduced the <figure> element as a container that could be used for images, and <figcaption> for their alternative text. So could this be used as a good way of handling images with captions, for everyone?

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by Jonathan Hassell
2 Comments » Filed under: Accessibility business case, Accessibility legislation, BS8878, Video

An international perspective on the business case behind accessibility – video interview with Axel Leblois

After many years, it feels like the business case for accessibility and inclusive design is becoming better understood and acted upon in businesses. This is a clip from an interview I captured with Axel Leblois from G3ict when he was in London a few years ago, where he speaks about the 3 key reasons organisations believe getting involved with accessibility is good business sense, from his perspective as the lead of the UN’s global initiative for accessible ICT. Check it out here…

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by Graham Armfield
2 Comments » Filed under: Accessibility standards, Effective website creation, Hints and tips

Collecting dates in an accessible way

There are many different ways to collect dates from users in website forms. But what’s the best way to do that in a way that’s accessible to everyone? In this post we look at a variety of methods, look at the pros and cons of each, and present our view on the best practices for collecting dates. Check it out here…

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by Jonathan Hassell
No Comments » Filed under: Accessibility aids for users, Accessibility Case Studies, Accessibility training, Podcast, Product Management

The one small thing people in each digital job role could do in 2019 to improve accessibility – Digital Accessibility Experts Podcast 4

At Hassell Inclusion we believe that each member of a digital development team has a role to play in ensuring that the products they create are accessible. However, often people don’t understand the accessibility requirements that they need to deliver in their role. While it’s not that difficult for designers, developers, content authors and testers to find specific accessibility requirements for their work in WCAG, it’s much harder for a governance manager, test strategy manager or social media manager to find out how accessibility plays into what they do. We may be a couple of months into 2019 now, but New Years’ Resolutions are still on our minds. So for this podcast, we sat down as a team to discuss one small thing people in each role could change or add into their work to really make a difference to the accessibility of the products that they work on. Small changes in what you do can make big changes to the accessibility of your products. Check it out here…

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by Jon Gooday
2 Comments » Filed under: Accessibility standards, Accessibility testing, Technical How-To, WCAG 2.1

Common pitfalls and misunderstandings in accessibility auditing

At Hassell Inclusion we deliver a huge amount of accessibility training to organisations all over the world. Our Head of Training, Jon Gooday, has had the honour of training over 70 accessibility auditors over the last five years. In this blog, he gives an overview of some of the most common mistakes and pitfalls that auditors tend to get wrong that impact the quality of their findings…

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by Jonathan Hassell
No Comments » Filed under: Accessibility testing, Accessibility training, Case studies

Scope Website case study: Train-Test-Support strategy – spend your money on training not audits

Scope, the disability equality charity in England and Wales, asked us to help them make sure their new site worked for every single one of their users, and to demonstrate that great design and great accessibility can go hand in hand. Find out how our Train-Test-Support strategy helped them efficiently deliver on their goals, while empowering their team to keep the site accessible in the future…

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by Graham Armfield
2 Comments » Filed under: Effective website creation, Hints and tips, Native element accessibility, Technical How-To

Is input type=”date” ready for use in accessible websites?

One of the ‘new’ HTML5 elements – input type=”date” – was intended to simplify the collection of dates on websites, and to reduce user errors whilst doing so. So is it well supported? And does using it help make forms more accessible? We took date inputs for a test drive with different browsers and assistive technologies to see how usable the control is now. Here are the results…

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