Presentations about accessibility
Podcasts, slides, videos and more
Sandi Wassmer — Inclusive design is for everyone
Inclusive Design is currently the domain of people who design physical things, like product designers and architects, but Sandi Wassmer is firm in her belief that Inclusive Design applied in the online environment just makes sense.
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Damien McCormack — Accessibility means business
Over 4 million people in Australia have a disability. As a result they may use the web in a different way to you: a keyboard instead of a mouse; a screen reader instead of a screen. Accessibility is the way that you can tap into this large and growing audience.
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Scott Hollier — Boosting new media accessibility
This talk focuses on the efforts engaged by W3C and its members to promote and improve web standards and in particular HTML 5 with mechanisms to allow people with disabilities to access multimedia content, including audio and video.
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WCAG2 — Gian Wild
So WCAG2 — version 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines as set out by the W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative — has been released as a Candidate Recommendation. What does that mean for Australia? There are many issues that were addressed in WCAG1 which have been left up to policy makers and developers in WCAG2. This session will highlight these issues and talk about what kind of impact they will have on your development and on your audience.
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Ruth Ellison — Integrating accessibility into design
Web Directions South 2008, Sydney Convention Centre, September 26 2.40pm.
When developing websites or web applications, we often follow the principles of web standards, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and other accessibility guidelines. But is this enough? In this session, Ruth will look at how we can develop accessible web products by taking a holistic approach to web accessibility. She will look at different ways of incorporating accessibility into the design process to produce accessible and useful user experiences. This presentation will focus on the user experience design process by drawing on examples and learnings from Ruth’s work in Government.
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Derek Featherstone — Accessibility beyond compliance
Web Directions South 2008, Sydney Convention Centre, September 25 10.45am.
New technologies for web applications open up interactions to a highly sophisticated level. Learn how these new technologies can help designers move beyond simply complying with accessibility rules to create applications that work for everyone.
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Lisa Herrod — Usability: more than skin deep
A presentation given at at Web Directions Government, Old Parliament House, Canberra, May 19 2008.
Web Usability is far more complex than user testing and interaction design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface.
We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a more holistic approach you will soon see why usability is more than skin deep.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Derek Featherstone – Real World Accessibility For Real World People
A presentation given at Web Directions North, Vancouver Canada, January 30 2008.
When we follow the principles of web standards, we write valid HTML and CSS, unobtrusive JavaScript and follow WCAG and other accessibility guidelines. This simple act goes a long way to creating an accessible web site, application or service. At the same time, many sites that don’t utilize all that is good and wholesome about web standards perform surprisingly well when they are used by people with disabilities.
How can we get the best of both worlds to create standards-based solutions that are highly usable for real people (including those with disabilities) in the real world?
In this session, we’ll dissect several examples from real sites and apps to learn about accessibility problems that arise from design and development decisions and what we can do to create a more accessible user experience for all people, regardless of their ability.
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Joe Clark — Accessibility in the Design Process
A presentation given at at Web Directions North, Vancouver, February 7, 2007.
When people talk about incorporating accessibility into the design process, they usually refer to selecting colours that correspond to somebody else’s ‘accessible’ contrast ratio or using a large enough font size. Trivial, really.
But the design process — observation, ideation, evaluation, refinement, and presentation — gives us many opportunities to build accessibility in from the very start. We’ll look at some real-world examples of Web-based services (like a transit-system route planner) and classic accessibility problems (like masses of old PDFs) and use those examples to build in accessibility from the ground up.
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Jeremy Keith & Derek Featherstone — Web Apps — Ajax Kung Fu Meets Accessibility Feng Shui
A presentation given at at Web Directions North, Vancouver, February 7, 2007.
Where can you find Ajax enlightenment? At the mystical point where a kick-ass application connects perfectly with the Flow of the best user experiences. Let Masters Jeremy and Derek guide you there.
You seek to infuse your work, whether an app or a web site feature, with the power of Ajax. But, taking the wrong path at the beginning of your project will lead to frustration for visitors, rather than a graceful, intuitive experience. True Masters start with the right questions: When is Ajax an enhancement? When is it a hindrance? How can its energy be channeled elegantly? This insightful session will be grounded in real-life examples and demonstrations, revealing the impact of the choices we make. Above all, you’ll learn the strategical thinking and higher perspective that will ensure a brilliantly user-centered web site.
Where can you find Ajax enlightenment? At the mystical point where a kick-ass application connects perfectly with the Flow of the best user experiences. Let Masters Jeremy and Derek guide you there.
You seek to infuse your work, whether an app or a web site feature, with the power of Ajax. But, taking the wrong path at the beginning of your project will lead to frustration for visitors, rather than a graceful, intuitive experience. True Masters start with the right questions: When is Ajax an enhancement? When is it a hindrance? How can its energy be channeled elegantly? This insightful session will be grounded in real-life examples and demonstrations, revealing the impact of the choices we make. Above all, you’ll learn the strategical thinking and higher perspective that will ensure a brilliantly user-centered web site.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Andrew Downie and Grant Focas — Javascript and other coding for good or evil
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
When Version 2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines is finally released, the status of Javascript will be quite different to that assigned to it in Version 1.0 back in 1999. Back then, Javascript was to “degrade gracefully”. Currently AJAX offers increased usability for visual users, but may detract from accessibility. In future, use of JavaScript will be encouraged but, of course, must enhance rather than detract from accessibility. During this presentation, Andrew and Grant will demonstrate how Javascript, when implemented well, offers enhanced accessibility. By way of balance, they will also present examples of scripting that causes problems. Importantly, they will provide corrections to the errant coding.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Lisa Herrod — Usability: more than skin deep
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2007.
Web Usability is far more complex than User Testing and Interaction Design alone. And while interface design is an important consideration, there’s more to a usable site than what’s on the surface. We all know the importance of accessibility and web standards, so let’s take that knowledge one step further and into the realm of usability. In this session Lisa Herrod will redefine the common definition of usability by introducing a greater focus on accessibility and web standards. By taking a more holistic approach you will soon see why usability is more than skin deep.
See the slides and hear the podcast »
Gian Sampson-Wild — Managing accessibility compliance for the Commonwealth Games
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2006.
Melbourne recently hosted the 18th Commonwealth Games. Gian Sampson-Wild worked as the accessibility specialist for the Games for over two years, responsible for a variety of issues including the accessibility compliance of the web site and training of on-site and off-site developers such as Ticketmaster7 and Microsoft. Management at the Commonwealth Games were particularly cognisant of the precedent set by SOCOG and therefore made accessibility a priority. Gian will talk about the accessibility issues relevant to such a major event, such as creating accessible versions of venue maps and ensuring HTML fragments provided by third parties did not contravene accessibility requirements. See the slides and hear the podcast »
Derek Featherstone — Accessibility 2.0
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 28 2006.
Using the current state of web accessibility as our launch point, Derek will explore some of the fundamental issues that are holding us back from an accessible web that truly makes a difference to people with disabilities. See the slides and hear the podcast »
Derek Featherstone — Designing for Accessibility
A presentation given at Web Directions South, Sydney Australia, September 29 2006.
A combination of practical “how-to” examples alongside several “how-not-to” cases from real accessibilty assessments and testing sessions. See the slides and hear the podcast »