Beyond Inclusion: The Importance of Accessible Web Content and Design

Contributed by Rachel Naegele

Overview

This presentation covers the basics of web accessibility and how we can approach this concept in practice. Web accessibility is defined as the ability to access, perceive, understand, and navigate web content regardless of disability category. Some categories of disability include: *visual *auditory *motor *cognitive

Key Takeaways

In this presentation we learn that 15% of the global population lives with a disability and 26% of the United States population lives with a disability. These people are woefully underserved in the web environment and there are many simple ways to make the web more accessible to this group. From only using one header tag per page to making sure to use alt-attributes for images, technical communicators can design with accessibility in mind. The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) developed the WCAG international standard for accessibility. There are three levels of conformance: *A (lowest) *AA (mid-range) *AAA (highest) We can choose a conformance level, audit a segment of a site for compliance, and then publish an accessibility statement so that visitors know what to expect from the site.Learn more about WCAG standards here!

Reflection

This presentation provoked much thought about how I can go about designing content in the future. It furthers my interest in audience analysis and learning about disabilities in general so I can better predict how to serve those audiences in my professional life. Being aware of folks who use small screens, the aging population, folks with temporary disabilities, and those with situational limitations were groups that I had previously not considered in as much depth, so I am thankful that this presentation brought these to my attention.