Glenda Sims

Thanks so much to folks who came to my talk, Accessible UX: Design for the Rest of Us, last week at SIC! If you missed it, I'll be giving it again later this month at Web Accessibility in Mind: https://lnkd.in/gmQEYd-8 The talk focuses on design best practices to better support people with cognitive disabilities and chronic illnesses that impact information processing and fine motor skills. I don't do design talks often anymore, but this one is near and dear to my experience!

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Today's accessibility pro-tip is somewhat of a repeat: Buying an audit? Always ask for a sample deliverable. If the vendor won't provide you with a sample, walk away. If they do provide you with a sample, take a careful look through it and then ask yourself, “Can I take the information in this deliverable and directly use it to make improvements to the product they audited?” https://lnkd.in/e366Gq95

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If you really want to understand PDF accessibility in depth, then don't miss this glossary. A group of dedicated international experts (The PDF Accessibility LWG hosted by the PDF Association) has compiled this glossary. Does it help you to better understand accessible PDFs? Which terms are you missing? #PDFUA #AccessiblePDF

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Here is a brief note and guidance on creating an accessibility audit report template for your next project. https://lnkd.in/gsBMsrhP #Accessibility #Report #Project #Testing

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This article highlights the importance of providing users a choice and not forcing them into one type of visual experience. Also, there are so many system-level accessibility options that impact color contrast it is important to ensure the app or website is compatible with those accessibility settings too. #accessibility https://lnkd.in/g_3u4BN5

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Accessibility and inclusive design friends - what are your favorite videos to refer people to or use as resources? A lot of the things I use as references are articles or websites, and that means people who learn better from videos aren’t getting information in a way that works for them. If you have videos you recommend then I'd love to hear about them! Anything in the inclusive design or accessibility field is fine - they can be on any topic, for any audience, and they can be short or long. #Accessibility #A11y #AccessibilityMatters #InclusiveDesign

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What a great little app this is! The ScreenReader app helps you with learning VoiceOver. https://lnkd.in/eig96kxS #Accessibility #iOS #Testing #Mobile #VoiceOver

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This article provides guidance on the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) standard 2.4.11, which requires items to not be obscured when they receive focus. #accessibility https://lnkd.in/gN8j9vEK

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Automated accessibility testing is helpful and essential, but it is not a silver bullet and does not replace human accessibility testers. Monika Prasad dives into the details of why we need to invest in a more human-centered accessibility testing approach. https://lnkd.in/guJ36Vdc #Accessibility #Testing

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Yesterday I panned accessibility statements that don't say anything. Today I'll share a tool to create a statement that's substantial and helpful. The W3C has a handy accessibility statement generator. It makes it easy to put together a good accessibility statement. It's a form you fill out. It asks for: * your company's name, website, etc. * what accessibility standard you meet, or intend to meet * whether you meet that standard today, or have work to do * how visitors can reach you regarding accessibility * etc. It creates a statement for you that you can then edit as needed, and post on your website. Use this tool to create an accessibility statement. It'll help you make a statement that's both substantial and helpful, that conveys useful information to people with disabilities and others who care about accessibility. Link is in the comments. #accessibility #law ---- Want to create an accessibility statement yourself? Use the W3C's accessibility statement generator -- link in the comments. Need a little help creating your accessibility statement? Feel free to reach out. (I'm not a lawyer and this is not legal advice).

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AMAZING RESOURCES! How to write text descriptions (alt text) in BBC News articles Includes; Text Descriptions, Decorative Images, Informative Images, Functional Image, Image of Text, Complex Images, Describing People, Captions vs Text Descriptions and a final checklist. Great share Léonie Watson and amazing epic work done by the BBC! https://lnkd.in/eeBqsHd5 #Accessibility #AltText #Technology

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I love the advice here to reach out to five users a week and ask if you can talk for fifteen minutes about your product/service. Likewise, looking for recurring themes is important.  https://lnkd.in/ePM97V32

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This! If it takes up more than 1 line, best to err on the side of accessibility and left-align it. This is one of the things I'm always scanning for (and the Oxford comma, of course). #AccessibleDesign #InclusiveDesign #UIDesign #UXContent

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Accessibility and UX design are deeply intertwined, though they are often approached separately. How can you start weaving accessibility into your process and create a more inclusive user experience? Learn more about accessibility and UX design: https://hubs.li/Q02RdHnD0 #Accessibility #DigitalAccessibility #A11y #UserExperience #UX

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There are no silly accessibility questions - color contrast version! In accessibility we talk a lot about color contrast, and we assume everyone knows what that means. We usually think that if someone isn’t choosing colors with high contrast then they’re doing that on purpose. But none of us were born knowing what color contrast is, so here's a quick intro! When we talk about color contrast we mean the difference between two different colors. Sometimes we mean text and a background color, and sometimes we’re talking about an element (like a button, form field, or focus indicator) with the background color. Other times we might be talking about two colors that are next to each other in a pie chart. In accessibility we use a specific way of determining color contrast. The scores are written as __:1 (like 4.2:1). If the score is higher it means the contrast is higher, and lower scores mean lower contrast. The highest score is 21:1, which is the score black and white get when they’re compared to each other. The lowest score is 1:1, which is the score a color has with itself. There’s a formula to determine the ratio, but my brain shuts down when math is involved, so I’ll link a resource below in case you want to learn more. And we don’t need to know how to calculate the ratio, because there are tools that can do that for us! You can use the tools by getting the code for the colors (usually a hex or RGB code) and inputting it into the fields. The tool will calculate the ratio and tell you whether it’s high enough. If the contrast is between text and a background color then the size of the text matters too. To meet the accessibility standard most companies aim for, the ratio between the colors should be: - 3:1 for large text (it’s considered large text if it’s 18 pt or larger or bold text that’s 14 pt and larger) and also for non-text elements - 4.5:1 for regular or small sized text Generally higher contrast is better, but having white text with black text can be difficult to read, so the goal isn’t to just make everything white and black. Having a color that’s close to white and a color that’s close to black will help make sure lots of people can read it. People can't do something if they don't know it exists, so color contrast is important! Color Contrast Resources: - WebAIM Contrast Checker - https://lnkd.in/e6D6xNEb - Colour Contrast Analyzer (CCA) - https://lnkd.in/e_kAgShu - Contrast plugin for Figma - https://lnkd.in/eGzATeAA - Coolors Contrast Checker - https://lnkd.in/eX9upvSz - How to calculate colour contrast (article) - https://lnkd.in/e9ArEZ8Z - Accessible color palette generator from Venngage - https://lnkd.in/eHACA3Jm #Accessibility #A11y #ColorContrast

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Check out the newest draft of the WCAG 3.0 Guidelines. It is currently in the exploratory phase and the final version will probably be ready sometime between 2026-2028. These new guidelines are meant to apply broadly to devices like wearables and mobile devices, which weren't part of the scope of WCAG 2.0. Content that meets WCAG 2.2 A and AA standards should meet the minimum requirements for WCAG 3.0. The rating system itself is changing too as WCAG 3.0 will use bronze, silver, and gold categories. #accessibility https://lnkd.in/dzQFBmzu

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There's nothing like editing and formatting and coming across an illustration you don't recall making but boy does it fit the bill! (And yes, this illustration is from my forthcoming ebook, The Accessibility Operations Guidebook.) https://lnkd.in/g5ysVS2T #a11y #a11yops

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