1. Testing for Accessibility with Common Screen Readers
Hadi Rangin, University of Washington
Robert Beach, Kansas City Kansas Community College
Lucy Greco, University of California, Berkeley
Terrill Thompson, University of Washington
Karen McCall, Karlen Communications

2. Preview Technical vs Functional Accessibility
Definition of “Accessible”
IT Accessibility Standards
Basic Accessibility Considerations
Tools & Resources

3. Technical accessibility
Is the coding practice according to the standard (WCAG)?
Ensures assistive technologies can effectively interact with the application
“Does a particular button in the user interface present itself in a way so that it can be understood by, and interacted using both visual and non-visual means?”
Limitation: does not take a holistic view of determining if the pieces of an application work together and if the end user can complete the task effectively in a timely fashion.

4. Functional accessibility
Can the end user accomplish a task to effectively and efficiently use an application, regardless of coding technique?
“Can a user successfully compose and send an to a desired recipient?”
Functional accessibility success if the task can be completed by various mode of interactions (mouse, keyboard & AT)

5. Technical vs Functional Accessibility
Accessible techniques are required, but not sufficient
Usability with accessibility consideration
Both aspects are necessary in developing an accessible application

6. Definition of “Accessible”
“Accessible” means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, & enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective & equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use. The person with a disability must be able to obtain the information as fully, equally & independently as a person without a disability.

7. IT Accessibility Standards
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (1999)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (2008)
Section 508 Standards
Published in 2000 to accompany Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (requires federal agencies to procure accessible IT)
Covers a broader scope of IT, not just Web
Many states & higher education institutions have adopted either WCAG 2.0 or Section 508 as their own standard for IT accessibility

8. Screen readers: Magic or confusing tool?
SR made for end-user
100s of functions to assist end-users
Complicated algorithm to compensate for lack of accessibility features
SR can be sometimes used to verify issues but not to determine issues
Not designed for accessibility testing
Bottom-line: Don’t use it for testing unless you know what you are doing

9. Things We Should Consider before Testing (1/2)
Understand the basics of coding practice
Focus on Functional accessibility
Familiarize yourself with Universal Design in your accessibility solutions
Differentiate between your personal preferences and accessibility solutions

10. Things We Should Consider before Testing (2/2)
Utilize developer & accessibility tools for technical accessibility
SR can help you partially with technical accessibility
Work-around is not an accessibility solution
Don’t get lost in your testing and evaluation
Be constructive in your report

11. Consistency Visual consistency Functional consistency
Proper use of elements

12. Keyboard Operability Be able to navigate to all focusable elements
Be able to fully perform all applicable functions
Links, Forms controls, Menu, Expand/collapse, Carousel, Modal, Custom widgets, etc.
Be able to always to see the visual focus indicator
Logical tab order
Shortcut keys alone do not make application accessible

13. ARIA Landmarks Integrity of ARIA landmarks throughout the application
No orphaned content
Meaningful labels

14. Heading Structure
Hierarchical
Meaningful
Inclusiveness

15. Lists Group relevant items
Use appropriate list type (ordered, unordered & definition lists)

16. Links Meaningful link text Not short, not long, not empty
Distinctive hover effect and keyboard focus
Link vs button
Alt text for icon links
Links to external resources

17. Forms Meaningful form control labels Required
Verification and error handling

18. Data Tables Simple vs complex data tables
Cell and column/row headers (association)
TH/SCOPE technique
ID/HEADERS association technique
Can be tested nicely with screen readers

19. Graphics Meaningful text for informational graphics
Keep stylistic graphics in the background, so screen readers ignore them:
CSS background images
alt=""
role="presentation"

20. Color Contrast
Adequate color contrast between foreground (text or graphic) and background
WCAG 2.0 Level AA has very specific requirements:
A 4.5:1 contrast ratio for normal sized text
A 3:1 contrast ratio for large text (at least 18 point or 14 point bold)

21. Tools How to use keyboard-only AInspector Toolbar
WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
How to use keyboard-only
Color Contrast Checker
WC3 Markup Validator

22. Resources WCAG 2.0 Guideline
Accessible Widgets Best Practices with ARIA
Examples of Accessible Widgets
W3C Notes on using ARIA in HTML

23. More Resources NVDA Keyboard Commands JAWS Keyboard Commands
JAWS Keyboard Commands
keystrokes.htm
VoiceOver: Getting Started

24. Questions?