Eric Meyer

In addition to my talk at Write the Docs, I created the sketchnotes, which are posted here: https://lnkd.in/g5Jmej-v

33

3 Comments

A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Web Accessibility Audit https://buff.ly/4ew4vfu The idea of an accessibility audit might sound overwhelming, especially if you’ve never conducted one before. But if you’re serious about making your digital content accessible to everyone, it’s an essential step. In this guide, you’ll learn how to audit your website or application to verify accessibility and uncover how audit data can help you make meaningful improvements that benefit all users. Whether you aim to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or create a more inclusive experience, this is where it all begins. Let’s dive into each step so you can better understand this intricate process. Source: A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Web Accessibility Audit – TPGi (https://buff.ly/4euqQKb)

9

1 Comment

Weekend Reading: From Accessibility to AI to Architecture the A to A of front end dev this week https://buff.ly/3XFpENo This week a roundup of some recent things I think you might find valuable. Some accessibility, some AI, and some thoughts on architecture. All the sort of thing we’ll be covering at our upcoming Developer Summit, in Sydney at the end of November (https://lnkd.in/gqRens99 bird ends in 3 weeks so don’t miss out! Setting up a screen reader testing environment on your computer - accessibility (https://buff.ly/3zEk6dZ) - a11y (https://buff.ly/3Y5x4Lr) - screen reader (https://buff.ly/3N52Dyx) When you’re designing and developing for accessibility, performing manual testing using a screen reader is important to catch and fix accessibility issues that cannot be caught by automated accessibility testing tools. In this article, which is a _modified_, text-only excerpt from the Practical Accessibility course, we’re going to walk through the process of setting up your screen reader testing environment, from downloading virtualization software if you need it, to installing screen readers, and setting up keyboard configuration. We’ll also learn what screen reader and browser combinations are most relevant for your testing work. Source: Setting up a screen reader testing environment on your computer (https://lnkd.in/gBtRDDDf) A comprehensive guide to setting up a screen reader testing environment on your computer from one of our favourite speakers ever Sara Soueidan, taken from her comprehensive and highly recommended course on accessibility. A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Web Accessibility Audit - accessibility (https://buff.ly/3zEk6dZ) - a11y (https://buff.ly/3Y5x4Lr) The idea of an accessibility audit might sound overwhelming, especially if you’ve never conducted one before. But if you’re serious about making your digital content accessible to everyone, it’s an essential step. In this guide, you’ll learn how to audit your website or application to verify accessibility and uncover how audit data can help you make meaningful improvements that benefit all users. Whether you aim to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or create a more inclusive experience, this is where it all begins. Let’s dive into each step so you can better understand this intricate process. Source: A Step-by-Step Guide to Conducting a Web Accessibility Audit – TPGi (https://lnkd.in/gvF5e32d) Speaking of accessibility, here’s a detailed guide to running an accessibility audit from the folks at TPGi. The Rise of the Design Engineer - design engineering (https://lnkd.in/g8swmpfZ) Having a Design Engineer (aka UX Engineer) …

8

I submitted a talk about UX patterns and needs that lead me to turn off Drupal. It's not an anti-Drupal talk, it's an anti-end-user-complexity-and-training-requirements, talk. There are many great Drupal sites and use-cases. Straight forward content collection and body field presentation, is not one of them. I'm not sure this talk will be accepted, but I figured I'd at least try and put into words the pursuit of content creator joy that we are going for. Less screens, less 'previews', less training, less new process; more of adapting to the workflows users are familiar with and present to us less as "challenges" and more as requirements to improve adoption and success in ownership.

13

6 Comments

Here are the tools that I use to automate the tedious parts of tech writing so I can focus on the fun parts. The tedious part of a tech writer's job is repeating. They copy and paste the same text to re-format it, they repeat file copying and deleting to produce final files, they repeat other tasks that aren’t actually writing content. https://lnkd.in/ee29Mcbn

7

This screenshot is the agenda for Figma's 2024 Config closeout from 7:30-8:30P. Does that last session with Jason Ballard really say what I think it says? #RewirewithAI #futureHuman #buildingHumans #buildingHumansinFigma

One morning I woke up and discovered that the sepia mode was no longer available in the mobile Pocket app. I share my experience and thoughts on color modes in my blog. https://lnkd.in/dxXaAQDk #accessibility #a11y #accessibleColors #colorThemes #darkMode

20

1 Comment

Tooltips and Toggle Tips experiment I recently developed a tooltip web component using data-attributes to enhance testing capabilities and ensure accessibility. Additionally, I created a toggle tip component as part of this experiment. This project is a deep dive into making these components as accessible as possible. While these are not yet production-ready, they are useful for testing purposes—if you like them, then feel free to use. 😁 Customisable tooltip web component (POC) https://lnkd.in/gBevSzzg Customised toggle tip web component (POC) https://lnkd.in/gvhYsPVe #WebDevelopment #Accessibility #WebComponents #Innovation #Testing

4

1 Comment

#CoDesign according to the #NDIA #NDIS Doesn't look like #CoDesign. No mention of #UNCRPD in *OUR* (ie #NDIA's) #CoDesign principles. A little hint: the #UNCRPD is *THE* design determinant. #CoDesign *CAN'T* happen without explicit commitment to #UNCRPD. Explains why the #NDIS Bill breaches #HumanRights The #CoDesign Advisory Group - which "provides strategic advice to the NDIA on the implementation of co-design and engagement processes in the disability community" -  hasn't met in 9 months. As I explained in my recent article, #CoDesign has been weaponised. https://lnkd.in/d8VMKkvZ Take a look. #NothingAboutUsWithoutUs #RoboNDIS #ClassAction #RoyalCommission robondis.org Mark Toomey Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP FSyI SRMCP Karen Kline Samantha Connor Mark Sweeney Nick Avery Graham Taylor Tara Hannon Muriel Cummins Georgia van Toorn Dr George Taleporos (GAICD, PhD) Shirley Humphris Peter Gregory Jordon Steele-John #BillShorten David Pocock Vinod Ralh Paul Flintoft 👇 👇👇 https://lnkd.in/dKq7mdzZ

6

3 Comments

👁️   "What are the effects of component-based architectures? They mean that developers no longer have to know HTML to write HTML. When it comes to accessibility, this is not a good thing. The vast majority of accessibility lives in the markup. Not understanding which elements to use or what is even valid to do in the language is always going to cause accessibility barriers." #a11y #HTML #react #JavaScript https://lnkd.in/eyx3T4Aw

5

1 Comment

Last night I watched Zone of Interest a German movie with English subtitles that were, at times, illegible with white text on a light background. This low contrast made it hard to read (and the subject matter made it hard to watch). It made me think of a post that Lawrence Shaw sent me this week - WebAIM's latest report looking at 1 million website homepages for the most common accessibility issues. In her post Laurie says “96% of errors fall into six categories. These common errors have been the same for the last 5 years” For more than 20 years at Bowen Craggs accessibility has been one of the important factors we look at in our annual ranking of corporate websites. We are not accessibility experts but strongly believe good accessibility is vital for success. We originally based our scoring on WebAIM’s WAVE tool which, as well as the WCAG standard, have been around for years. How can it be that a huge number of simple errors persist & have shown no sign of changing over the years? We have standards, we have tools & we have the moral motivation to do the right thing for society.  But that aside, why would you let down a big chunk of your customers, employees, job seekers, partners, investors visiting your website? And it’s a bigger chunk than you think. Val Ashton digital engagement manager at Unilever told me “1 in 7 people have a disability” that’s 15% of your audience! The WebAIM report says low contrast text is the biggest failure of WCAG guidelines. I assume this is for the same reason that movie subtitles are hard to read on some backgrounds - aesthetics 😡 I asked my designer friend Lydia Thornley what she thought & she agreed this was most likely a misguided design choice. I went on to suggest that the other common failures: missing alt text, missing form labels and empty links were a technical failure rather than the fault of designers. She disagreed “Design is there to get people to read the words”. Good design makes a product useful and understandable as well as looking good. She added “If you get information right for someone with ADHD, you might also get it right for someone who is time-poor like a journalist” (or a sleepy movie-watcher on a Saturday evening). So the failure to describe images, transcribe video, make forms easy to understand and label links with text that makes you click them is a failure of the organisation to take communications seriously. It's the responsibility of the copywriters, user experience designers AND of their colleagues, managers and board members to think and act inclusively. The online world must be available to all regardless of their ability, age, cultural or socioeconomic background. “This is for everyone” as Tim Berners-Lee once said. Developing digital services for a wide range of human diversity, ensures that everyone can participate fully and equally. It includes creating content and communities that support diverse voices and perspectives. #Inclusive #digitalaccessibility  

11

4 Comments

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

2

Attention-grabbing one-liner (counterintuitive, controversial, or ragebait). Negative space. Recycled copypasta or BS story time. Pander, pander, pander: underdog good, status quo bad. Wow, unexpected success! Whiff of common sense. Meaningless call to action. Question? (Optional: Plug for a course or service.)

1

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!

19

1 Comment

Friendly reminder: names/architecture/conventions/syntax matter. The specifics matter less than you might think, but it's crucial to make decisions, stick to them, document them, and cultivate shared understanding. #frontend #uxdesign #designsystems #uidesign #digitaldesign #development

117

6 Comments

🌟Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)! Does AI know? As someone who's blind, I can't stress enough how important it is for everyone to take accessibility seriously—not just today, but every single day. Accessibility shouldn't be a one-time campaign or an afterthought. Let's remember Accessibility is important every day. It needs to be integrated into every step of development and production. Let's work together to create a world where everyone has equal access to information and technology. #GAAD #AccessibilityMatters #InclusiveDesign #EverydayAccessibility #A11y

24

The Promise and Pitfalls of Web Accessibility Overlays for Blind and Low Vision Users #accessibility #overlays #research research paper (PDF) https://lnkd.in/e4gQZi5V

43

2 Comments