Digital accessibility watch April - May 2024

First of all, I encourage you to contact ARCOM if you find inaccessible sites that do not comply with the law (fr): https://www.temesis.com/blog/saisir-larcom-concernant-laccessibilite-dun-site-est-ce-efficace/, because the more there are of us, the more weight it will have!
Then, the release of a draft of WCaG 3.0 is still awaited and scrutinized: https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/wcag3-intro/
Here are some reactions:

• https://www.deque.com/blog/w3c-unveils-174-new-outcomes-for-wcag-3-0/
• https://cerovac.com/a11y/2024/05/perfect-timing-for-new-wcag-3-guideline-considerations/
• https://www.w3.org/blog/2024/the-wcag-3-working-draft-update-is-ready-for-your-review/

Let's not forget that May 16 was GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day), everything is here: https://accessibility.day/
But, even after 25 years of the release of WCAG 1.0, well https://cerovac.com/a11y/2024/05/wcag-after-quarter-of-a-century-we-still-need-more-awareness/
good reading!

Accessibility in laws and standards #

• Everything about the WCAG 2.2, 2.4.11 Focus not obscured (minimum) criterion: https://www.r.com/how-to-test-2-4-11-focus-not-obscured-minimum/
• EAA European Accessibility Act, what is it?: https://www.deque.com/blog/european-accessibility-act-eaa-intro/
• Examples and solution for criterion 2.5.7 Dragging movements, useful: https://sparkbox.com/foundry/understanding_implementing_wcag_dragging_movements_accessibility
• Details on EN 301549 https://www.deque.com/blog/301549-improve-accessibility/

Feedback and accessibility #

• Banking, security, and a11y sites https://www.nicchan.me/blog/when-security-and-accessibility-clash/
• AI and generation of accessible code, YES but check the result https://tetralogical.com/blog/2024/02/12/can-generative-ai-help-write-accessible-code/
• Accessibility overlays powered by AI are far from being a miracle solution https://archive.is/2024.04.07-041851/https://www.ft.com/content/3c877c55-b698-43da-a222-8ae183f53078#selection-1575.126-1580.0
• The a11y how much does it cost for the administration in Luxembourg, must read: https://accessibilite.public.lu/fr/news/2024-05-14-memoire.html
• REX on the implementation of a native brand identity app, pretty: https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2024/04/04/gov-uk-id-check-app-building-an-accessible-digital-identity-app/
• Github improves its a11y, step by step: https://github.blog/2024-05-07-how-were-building-more-inclusive-and-accessible-components-at-github/
• Quick-wins a11y for devs https://www.tpgi.com/quick-and-dirty-accessibility/

Accessibility strategy #

• AI in web accessibility tools https://www.tpgi.com/what-ai-can-do-for-and-to-existing-web-accessibility-tools/
• Exotic Unicode characters for fake bold or italics (fr): https://access42.net/caracteres-unicode-reseaux-sociaux-accessibilite/
• Myths about the a11y of dark modes https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/dark-mode-accessibility-myth-debunked/
• Key steps to creating an inclusive corporate culture: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2024/04/19/building-a-culture-of-accessibility/

Test accessibility #

• A nice a11y test dashboard based on axe-core (fr): https://www.temesis.com/blog/dashboard-des-tests-automatises-daccessibilite/
• Test the a11y for content creators: https://blog.pope.tech/2024/04/01/a-complete-guide-for-content-creators-to-start-making-accessible-thrilled/
• Conduct a11y user tests when the environment is not: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2024/04/conducting-accessibility-research-inaccessible-ecosystem/
• Presentations of the advantages/disadvantages of some emblematic a11y testing tools and methods: https://mn.gov/mnit/media/blog/?id=38-621624
• Update of the W3c "easy checks": https://www.w3.org/WAI/test-evaluate/easy-checks/
• Conference on opensource automated solutions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-13Ic75zts
• We've already said it but you have to be careful with autotests: https://cerovac.com/a11y/2024/04/beware-automatic-tools-over-report-accessibility-issues-and-steal-your-time/
• Series of 3 articles on choosing and using an automatic tests library: https://dev.to/steady5063/choosing-your-accessibility-ui-testing-library-1o09

Technical points in accessibility #

• Everything about the aria-label, an essential: https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2024/05/22/not-so-short-note-on-aria-label-usage-big-tabl-editing/
• When to use tabindex="0"?: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2024/04/04/when-to-use-tabindex-0/
• The popover attribute, a library included: https://web.dev/blog/popover-api?hl=fr
• Squarespace and a11y, where are they?: https://theamycarney.com/2024/04/02/observations-on-squarespace-accessibility/
• Aria-level, where are we?: https://adrianroselli.com/2024/05/level-setting-heading-levels.html
• Aria poorly done, a11y all crazy: https://marcus.io/blog/best-intention-barriers-aria
• Why WCAG 1.4.4 text resize is important: https://scribe.rip/airbnb-engineering/rethinking-text-resizing-on-web-1047b12d2881
• How to deal with a long text alternative? In short: https://adrianroselli.com/2024/04/long-alt.html
• Improve small adjustments to the a11y: https://brucelawson.co.uk/2024/drive-by-accessibility-tweaks/
• Skip links are good (especially when they are visible): https://cerovac.com/a11y/2024/04/wcag-bypass-blocks-skip-to-content-improve-user-interaction-speed-and-even-prevent-pain/
• Swiping a gesture based on a path, depends on the context on: https://www.tpgi.com/is-swiping-a-path-based-gesture/
• Links and buttons with image, watch out for voice commands, read: https://www.tempertemper.net/blog/images-as-the-first-thing-in-a-button-or-link

Assistive technologies #

• Live regions, how they work or not: https://tetralogical.com/blog/2024/05/01/why-are-my-live-regions-not-working/
• Use role="alert", must read: https://scribe.rip/@askParamSingh/understanding-the-role-of-aria-role-alert-best-practices-and-common-issues- 5edefa2d016c
• Live regions and screen readers, do it right (fr): https://access42.net/live-regions-aria-restitution-lecteurs-ecran/
• Decorative images and image recognition of generative AI, the problem: https://html5accessibility.com/stuff/2024/05/27/alt-left/

Mobile app, mobile web #

• Evinced offers its own mobile accessibility repository based on WCAG 2.2, it's called MCAG and it's really not bad (and open source!): https://getevinced.github.io/mcag /
• iOS “Screen curtain” vs “Hidden screen” match on Android, iOS winner: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Yjn1swLOStU
• [iOS ] Demonstration of using the native braille display on iPhone/iPad: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFjDI3yRCxs
• [Android ] Developer friends, the latest version of Android Studio Koala includes accessibility shortcuts to facilitate your tests during the development phase: dark theme, font size, screen size, application language and TalkBack: https://developer.android.com/studio/preview/features?hl=fr
• [Android ] After the great app for learning to develop accessible in swiftUI on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/swiftui-accessibility-techs/id6474141089, here is the Android version for the interfaces in Jetpack Compose: https://github.com/cvs-health/android-compose-accessibility-techniques
• The Appt Foundation has just published a best practices manual for mobile accessibility - to consult without delay!: https://appt.org/en/handbook

Ergonomics, UI & UX #

• Awareness of a11y for ux/ui: https://www.usabilis.com/accessibilite-numerique/
• Neurodiversity and UX - essential resources for cognitive accessibility: https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/neurodiversity-and-ux-essential-resources-for-cognitive-accessibility/
• user tests, how many? very informative: https://makeitfable.com/article/fable-webinar-recap-scoping-your-accessibility-research-study/

Resources #

• Subtitle with Youtube, the tutorial: https://blog.pope.tech/2024/05/24/a-complete-guide-for-adding-captions-to-youtube-videos/
• Render a11y a PDF with Acrobat, complete: https://blog.pope.tech/2024/04/25/how-to-check-and-fix-pdf-accessibility-issues/
• 16 lessons from a11y for GAAD, essential: https://www.semanticfish.com/gaad-2024/lessons
• A11y podcasts for the GAAD, nice (fr): https://ideance.net/blog/2117/podcasts-accessibilite-numerique-gaad/
• Describe an image, well done: https://cloudfour.com/thinks/write-alt-text-like-youre-talking-to-a-friend/

Others #

• Contrast-color CSS property explained but isn't a browser job?: https://ericwbailey.website/published/contrast-color-is-a-good-thing-but-also-solving-the-problem-at-the-wrong-layer/
• 9 signs that do not deceive about the quality of your frontend (with a11y in it): https://angelika.me/2024/04/13/9-signs-your-frontend-code-has-quality-issues/
• A very detailed article on the different ways to make images responsive: https://danburzo.ro/responsive-images-html/
• Improving accessibility through the use of LLMs (Large Language Models), by Sheri Byrne-Haber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wdNcy7yPCc
• The WCAG is like a road, a white line to follow and safety rails so as not to crash: https://yatil.net/blog/wcag-2-guidelines-and-guardrails
• Plain language guide: https://evolvingweb.com/blog/plain-language-guide-how-write-inclusive-digital-content-2024:::