Introduction

What is Web Accessibility?

Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that the can be used by all, no matter of their abilities. More specifically, people can:

• perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the WebA
• contribute to the Web

Our existing suite of components have been tested and are AA compliant providing you with the ideal foundation. Once you have completed your build, additional accessibility testing should be undertaken to ensure the component/page remains accessible.

“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

Developer responsibilities

Developers are responsible for the technical accessibility of a website. By following web and platform standards, developers can reinforce best practice and support for users of assistive technology.

Developers should be familiar with accessibility principles and guidelines, including those they would expect to be covered by design documents or by other teams.

To ensure compliance with accessibility principles and guidelines, we must ensure the basics are followed. Five key areas that we should be mindful of when building are:

1. Heading (Semantic) structure

Headings communicate the organisation of the content on the page.

2. Links

All buttons and links must be clearly worded indicating their function, making it clear to the user what will happen when the button/link is selected. External links (Links that will take the user out of the current site) must be indicated to the user. This should be done by means of appropriate title text and possibly through a visual indication such as an icon in context with the link.

3. Keyboard access

Ensure that all content can be accessed with the keyboard alone.

4. Alt text

Every image must have an alt attribute. This is a requirement of HTML standard (with perhaps a few exceptions in HTML5). Images without an alt attribute are likely inaccessible. In some cases, e.g. purely decoration the images may be given an empty or null alt attribute (e.g., alt=""). Background images are excluded.

5. Dynamic content

When dynamic content and interactions is used, two items must be evaluated to determine its impact on accessibility:

1. Is the event used to trigger a change device independent? If the mouse is required, then it is not fully accessible.
2. Is the dynamic content or functionality itself accessible? If assistive technologies cannot adequately access dynamically triggered content or functionality, then it is not fully accessible.

Additional information and tools

Below is a selection of reference guides and tools that can be used ensure compliance (through testing) of accessibility standards across your build.

Information

Screen readers

Testing