BILL TYLER 11.APRIL.2015

A11Y 3 COMMON MISTAKES OF WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY

ABOUT ME 30+ yrs. of UI/UX Design & Development 12+ yrs. in medical devices 12+ yrs. in plans & providers 2X dot-com survivor Started web 1996 Started accessibility 2002 Material presented represents 1+ yr. of ongoing research & analysis at Optum Technology

AGENDA • Background: Accessibility (A11y) & WCAG 2.0 • A11y: Usual Process • 3 A11y Mistakes: #1, #2 & #3 • What to Do: Demystify WCAG 2.0 & A11y • A211y: Moneyball Approach • Examples: 5 Crits Reviewed • Q&A

A11Y Accessibility

11 Letters

ACCESSIBILITY AFFECTS A PERSON NEAR YOU

About 1 in 5 Americans have one or more diagnosed psychological or physical disabilities

LIVE LONG ENOUGH AND

YOU will be “disabled” in some way

A11Y TODAY

“COMMON KNOWLEDGE”

USUAL PROCESS NO ONE THINKS ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY …except the accessibility expert

OFTEN A REVIEW BY AN A11Y EXPERT OR QA …at the end of the development

ALL ISSUES DIRECTED TO DEVELOPERS TO FIX …or with help from an a11y expert FINAL RESULT: “SORT OF ACCESSIBLE SITE”

TYPICAL A11Y PROCESS

ADD A11Y HERE QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

NO!

ACCESSIBILITY IS NOT

• “MAGIC PIXIE DUST” • A “MYSTERIOUS” PROCESS • A LAST PASS • A FEATURE • “SPECIAL CODE” • LIMITED TO JUST ONE ROLE

WE FOUND 3 COMMON MISTAKES

1. OWNERSHIP: Developer 2. ISSUES: Code 3. ENTRY POINT: Coding

WHAT TO DO?

WHAT TO DO

ANALYZE A11Y …or WCAG 2.0

WE WCAG 2.0

WCAG 2.0?

WCAG 2.0 Web Content

Accessibility Guidelines Version 2.0

WCAG 2.0 WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES v2.0

• International Standard from W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium) • Covers Sect. 508 – U.S. Government Standard

• Both now (1998) and future (2015?) versions • Used and/or referenced by many other countries

STRUCTURE

• 4 Principles • 12 Guidelines • 61 Success Criteria (SC or “Crits”)

• 3 Levels from A (lowest) to AAA (highest) • Hundreds of Techniques

More on WCAG 2.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/

Cn u spk WCAG?

wcag2madeeasy.com

A11Y TARGET:

WCAG 2.0

AA Conformance

AA CONFORMANCE =

38 A & AA CRITS

23 AAA – OPTIONAL

• Not required, “Extra Credit,” Goals

THE NEED:

ANALYZE THE 38 A & AA CRITS

MEET THE “SQUEEGEE”

SQUEEGEE Demystifying WCAG criteria with 3 questions

THE 3 SQUEEGEE QUESTIONS

WHOSE, WHAT & WHERE

SQUEEGEE QUESTION #1

WHOSE IS IT? WHO “OWNS” EACH CRITERION & RELATED ISSUES?

WHO OWNS THEM? 1. A11Y SPECIALIST 2. BUSINESS OWNER 3. INTERACTION (IX) DESIGNER – Wireframes

4. VISUAL (VX) DESIGNER – Comps, Style Guide

5. CONTENT AUTHOR – Text, Audio & Video

6. DEVELOPER – HTML, CSS, JavaScript

7. QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA) TESTER Note: YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary) • There may not be 1:1 relationship between roles & people. • One person may have multiple roles; one role may be split amongst multiple people

WHOSE IS IT? SQUEEGEE: OWNERSHIP RESULTS

PRIMARY OWNERSHIP IX Designer: 37% (14) Content Author: 24% (9) Developer: 21% (8) Vx Designer: 16% (6) Business Owner: 3% (1)

WHOSE IS IT? SQUEEGEE: OWNERSHIP DEFINED

PRIMARY OWNER The Role with most concern/expertise on subject - One and only one

SECONDARY OWNER Role(s) with major influence on criterion

CONTRIBUTOR (IMPACT) Roles that affect indirectly or are not deeply involved

WHOSE IS IT? EXAMPLE: COLORS

PRIMARY OWNERSHIP Vx Designer has final say on color selection

SECONDARY OWNERSHIP IX Designer’s wireframes use colors

CONTRIBUTOR Business Owner brand guidelines provide palette

IF OWNERS DON’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY

THEY LEAVE THEIR DECISIONS TO CHANCE OR DEVELOPERS

SQUEEGEE QUESTION #2

WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT REALLY?

IS IT “NEW” TO OWNER?

SHORT ANSWER IS (usually): NO.

WHAT IS IT REALLY? SQUEEGEE: TYPE RESULTS PRIMARY TYPES Best Practices: 53% (20) Primarily A11y: 39% (15) User Stories: 8% (3)

WHAT IS IT REALLY? SQUEEGEE: TYPES DEFINED 53% BEST PRACTICES

• Team members probably already know and do them • May just need to revise or apply more of them

39% PRIMARILY A11Y • Team members may not know these • A11y Experts train them to help fill in the gaps

8% USER STORIES/STANDARD REQUIREMENTS

• Team members already DO these • Nothing changes (at all)

• Except, maybe, some details

SQUEEGEE QUESTION #3

WHERE IS IT ENTERING? WHAT DESIGN DECISIONS OR DELIVERABLES “INTRODUCE” IT?

WHERE IS IT COMING IN? SQUEEGEE: ENTRY POINT RESULTS

PRIMARY INTRODUCTION POINTS Wireframes: 50% (19) User Story/Standard Req.: 24% (9) Style Guide: 18% (7) Code: 5% (2) Content: 2% (1) Design Comps: “0%”

WHERE IS IT COMING IN? SQUEEGEE: ENTRY POINTS DEFINED 50% WIREFRAMES

• Structure of interface 24% USER STORY/STANDARD REQUIREMENTS

• Definition of functionality 18% STYLE GUIDES

• General site presentation 5% CODE

• HTML, CSS, JavaScript 2% CONTENT

• Text (small & large), terminology, video, audio 0% DESIGN COMPS

• Feature presentation design

SO… AGAIN…

WHAT’S GOING WRONG?

THE PROCESS IS WRONG

ADD A11Y HERE QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

LIKE USABILITY…

ACCESSIBILITY SHOULD BE BUILT-IN AT THE START …& NOT AN AFTERTHOUGHT

A211Y

OUR SOLUTION:

A211y Assigned

Accessibility

11 Letters

A211Y IN A NUTSHELL:

ASSIGN EACH WCAG SUCCESS CRITERION TO APROPRIATE TEAM ROLES

A211Y: EXISTING SITE TRIAGE

Existing site that needs to be made accessible -- OR -- Issues wait until the end of a new site Whatever the case QA or A11y testing happens after development is complete Issues assigned to primary owner

• Where they belong • To those who created the

issue • To those who know & care

more about the decision

QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

A211Y: NEW SITE (IDEAL PROCESS)

In the ideal process issues resolved earlier by owners during design Owners more aware of issues & standards More “pairs of eyes” aware of potential issues kicking deliverable back to owners Fewer issues make it to testing

QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

A211Y: SPRINT PROCESS

Style Guide: Address system-wide design issues (visual, interaction, content,

implementation)

Epic & User Stories (& backlog): Create & Groom

to adequately address a11y needs & requirements

Wireframes & User Stories

(Requirements): “Design in” accessible

interactions Design Comps: Review (against style guide) to prevent inaccessible

presentation Review text & non-text

content appropriateness, technical barriers and level

of distraction

Review code and interfaces for technical

implementation issues & possible accessibility

barriers

A211Y: SQUEEGEE EXAMPLES

A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 1.3.3 SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS EXAMPLE: “Press the green button on the right” PRIMARY OWNER: Content Author SECONDARY OWNER(S): None CONTRIBUTOR(S): None TYPE: A11y, “Best Practice” ENTRY POINT: Content NOTES: • Rare instance of single owner, no secondary

owner or contributor • Example of a “Never” event

A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 2.2.1 TIMING ADJUSTABLE EXAMPLE: “Session timeout in 2 minutes. Do you want to continue? Yes / No” PRIMARY OWNER: Business Owner SECONDARY OWNER(S): IX Designer CONTRIBUTOR(S): None TYPE: Standard Requirements ENTRY POINT: User Story / Requirements NOTES: • Business Owner’s only primary ownership criterion • Rare Standard Requirement case

A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 2.4.5 MULTIPLE WAYS EXAMPLE: Search, Site Map & Tree navigation

PRIMARY OWNER: IX Designer SECONDARY OWNER(S): None CONTRIBUTOR(S): None TYPE: Best Practice, Standard Feature ENTRY POINT: Wireframes (primary), Long Content

NOTES:

• One of several IX Designer-only primary criteria

A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 4.1.2 NAME, ROLE, VALUE EXAMPLE: “Cool (RIA) Widgets” PRIMARY OWNER: Developer SECONDARY OWNER(S): IX Designer CONTRIBUTOR(S): None TYPE: Best Practices, A11y ENTRY POINT(S): Code (primary), Wireframes NOTES: • Developer is primary since implementation is critical

and IX Designer may not provide all details • IX Designer should identify key field properties

A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 1.4.3 COLOR CONTRAST EXAMPLE: “Blue on light blue”

PRIMARY OWNER: Vx Designer SECONDARY OWNER(S): None CONTRIBUTOR(S): Business Owner (Branding) TYPE: A11y (possibly best practice) ENTRY POINT(S): Style Guide (primary), Comps

NOTES:

• One of several Vx Designer primary ownership crits • Vx Designer has no secondary ownership

SO…

TO

SUMMARIZE

MISTAKE #1: OWNERSHIP WHOSE IS IT?

Developers ONLY own 1 in 5 a11y issues (criteria) IX Designers are #1

MISTAKE #2: ISSUES WHAT IS IT?

Over 50% of a11y issues are existing best practices A11y-specific is 40%

MISTAKE #3: ENTRY POINT WHERE IS IT (ENTERING)?

50% of a11y issues enter in wireframes Coding: 5%

FIX EARLY FIX OFTEN

Current (Don’t)

QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

QA / A11y Testing

Developers

Content Author

Visual (Vx) Designer

Interaction (IX) Designer

Business Owner

Triage Site

New Site

A211Y: SQUEEGEE: OTHER INFO

FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE • Every page • Often • Rare • “Never”

ESCALATION TO A11Y SME SCOPE

• Core / Common (site-wide) • Page / Feature • Content (CMS)

DESIGN ELEMENTS AFFECTED • Visual Design • Semantics • Forms • Keyboard / Control • Standards • Design Patterns • Content • Time-Based Media (video, audio)

HOW IMPLEMENTED

• Content • (Code) Libraries • Page Templates • HTML • CSS

Q&A BILL@BILLTYLER.NET @BILLTYLER

THANK YOU