Accessibility Nuts and Bolts NERCOMP November 15, 2017

Overview Where to Start What to Test Who Does The Testing How to Test

Where to Start

On VPATS Is a self report (in many cases) Intended to be an initial vetting tool Quality greatly varies They can be flat out wrong “Meets with exceptions” means “Not Accessible” Mixed availability

What to Test

Re-defining “Place of Public Accommodation” Institutional Webpage Internal portal LMS MOOC/SPOC Mass communication/ Social Media Databases Registration Library databases Print release stations Online tutoring/advising Webinar platforms Course/Lab simulation software Course specific infrastructure Physical amenities with digital/online components

What else? (Examples?)

Factors to Test/Inspect For Color/Contrast Fonts Keyboard access Form fields Alt Tags Captions Heading/navigation structures Descriptive text/audio

Color/Contrast Best tool to use: EvalAccess 2.0, web accessibility and color checker Never use color alone to convey information Use a symbol or graphic that will work in a monochromatic environment To test if the color contrast is effective, print it on black and white printer with the background color included Beige, yellow and orange can be confused with red and green

Fonts Nothing smaller than 12pt font Best tool to use: A user and/or EvalAccess 2.0, web accessibility Nothing smaller than 12pt font Avoid Serif fonts (monotype corvisa) Choose Serif fonts (Veranda/ Arial) Allow the text to be manipulated for resizing purposes by the user Set a default font size in the style sheet Font should not be smaller than 12pt font

Who Does the Testing?

Performing the Accessibility Tests Experts In-sourcing: IT staff, DS staff, dedicated staff member Out-sourcing: Consultant (Perkins, Carroll, WebAIM, etc) Users In-sourcing: Students, faculty/staff (users, trained), DS staff (users, trained), dedicated staff member Out-sourcing: Students (SWD, Sw/oD), workstudy

How To Test

Process Overview: “Beginner” testing The 6 Simplest Web Accessibility Tests Anyone Can Do Unplug your mouse/turn off trackpad Turn on high contrast mode Turn off Images Check for captions or transcripts Click on field labels Turn off CSS http://www.karlgroves.com/2013/09/05/the-6-simplest-web-accessibility-tests-anyone-can-do/

Process Overview: “Expert” testing Tool-guided evaluation Screening Tool-based inspection Code Review http://www.w3.org/wiki/Accessibility_testing

Tool-guided Eval: Where to Begin Automated testers Examples: WAVE, Achecker, FAE, CynthiaSays, etc. PROs Efficiency vs Volume, Presence vs Absence, Starting point, Oversight detection. CONs Incomplete, Quality of alt text, Forms, Applications of color, Device dependent applications http://www.karlgroves.com/2011/06/12/the-problem-with-automated-testing-tools/

Screening Use AT to access site or content to emulate experience of end user Employ experienced AT users to check site or content (mistakes or inexperience with AT do not necessarily mean that something is inaccessible) JAWs Resource Resource - http://webaim.org/articles/jaws/ Training - http://www.freedomscientific.com/Services/TrainingAn dCertification

Screening Tools Screen readers JAWS – industry standard NVDA – open source screen reader Fangs screen reader emulator

Fangs

Tool-based Inspection Lots of tools for lots of testing; use of multiple tools is encouraged Examples of tools include Page structural inspectors, (X)HTML inspectors, color contrast checkers, Readability checkers, etc. Browser features/plug-ins – Web Developer in Chrome; Firefox W3C features

Code Review

Code Review If anything, can utilize “inspect element” to verify alt tags:

Wrap Up Resource Guide: https://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/ https://www.w3.org/WAI/Resources/  https://pages.18f.gov/accessibility/