Accessibility: Best Practices in Drupal Theming

Accessibility: Best Practices in Drupal Theming

William Lawrence
Drupalcon Szeged 2008 Szeged, Hungary József Attila Study and Information Centre 29 August 2008
Overview
- What is accessibility
- Why accessibility matters: A brief history
- When does one consider accessibility
- Who does accessibility, or lack thereof, effect
- Where are the specifications & guidelines
- Some best practices for Accessibility in Drupal
What is accessibility?
- Web accessibility can be defined as the ability of a website to be used by all, irregardless of ability or disability.
- But break that down a bit:
  1. web user agent accessibility
  2. web authoring tool accessibility
  3. web content accessibility
  4. web application accessibility
A brief US legislative history
- 1964: The Civil Rights Act (CRA)
- 1973: The Rehabilitation Act (RA)
- 1986: Section 508 added to the RA
- 1998: The new Section 508. Whoops, teh Internets!
European legislation on accessibility
- EU: The European Union Framework for Accessibility
- UK: Disability Discrimination Act of 1995 DDA supported by the PAS 78: Guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites
- Germany: Barrierefreie Informationstechnik-Verordnung (BITV)
- Italy: Legge Stanca
- Et cetera....
When does one consider accessibility
- Government money = Government laws
- Consequences
  - Litigation: National Federation of the Blind vs Target
- User base
Adaptive technologies
- Most popularly known assistive technologies (AT) are for the blind.
  - Software: Screen readers
    - JAWS
    - Emacspeak
    - FireVox
  - Hardware: Refreshable Braille display
AT: Not just for the blind
- Head mouse
- Foot mouse
- Eye tracking hardware & software
- Sip-and-puff
The specifications & guidelines
- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)'s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
  - User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG)
  - Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG)
  - Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
  - Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA)
Best practices for accessibility in Drupal
- It is professional responsibility to ensure that web content is accessible
- Dos for Themers and developers
  - Standards
    - Semantic HTML
  - Forms
    - Labels
    - Submits & Buttons
  - Images
    - The alt attribute is still very important
  - Skippy links
    - get it. own it.
Best practices for accessibility in Drupal
- Don'ts for Themers and developers
  - Don't lose :focus
    - :focus { outline: 0; }
  - Font size widgets
    - User Agent's Job, not web author's job
  - Drop down & flyout menus
    - Proper Information Architecture
Testing accessibility in Drupal
- Dos for the whole team
  - Run through LYNX
  - Run it through a mobile device
  - Run it through a screen reader
  - Find a local Web Access Group
Thank you!

(cc) Creative Commons

http://quiddities.com/presentations/2008/08/drupalcon-accessibility/
Credits & Resources
- Drupal Accessibility Group
- Joe Clark: Accessibility puts the multi in media.
- Patrick Lauke
- Martin Kliehm
- Bruce Lawson
- Gez Lemon
- Mark Pilgrim
- Opera
- S5: A Simple Standards-Based Slide Show System

Accessibility: Best Practices in Drupal Theming

Overview

What is accessibility?

A brief US legislative history

European legislation on accessibility

When does one consider accessibility

Adaptive technologies

AT: Not just for the blind

The specifications & guidelines

Best practices for accessibility in Drupal

Best practices for accessibility in Drupal

Testing accessibility in Drupal

Thank you!

Credits & Resources