9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The web is about information accessibility

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's really a basic human freedom that we

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
are just really beginning to talk about in

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the last decade.  It's important

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
therefore that everybody have this freedom

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
any freedom that's only allocated to a few

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is not really a freedom.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The web is about information and  it's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
important that people can access the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
information that they need in order to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
complete a workflow or get their job done

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
finish a task.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think the web should be accessible to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
everyone all the time. I grew up with it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
being easily accessible to me. It's how

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I learnt information easily. I can't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
imagine someone not being able to just

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
google something instantly, and getting

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
what they need.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think websites should be accessible

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because...the web is founded kinda on this

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
idea of sharing information and if you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can't share information or if some people

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can't see it , then it's not truly being shared.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000


9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We all have different abilities and

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
disabilities, and if we're all going to be

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
able to get the same content and interpret

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it in a somewhat similar fashion, it has

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be given to us in that way and

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
accessible so that we can actually reach

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Accessibility is important for a number of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
reasons.  For one, there are laws that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
apply.Another is, it can relate to our

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
reputation. And a third is thatby paying

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
attention to it, we create a more

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
inclusive educational environment.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think we are really good as developers

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
at being...focusing on the 80% case.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Focusing on how do we make every 4 out of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
every 5 of our users happy. How do we

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
build things for those group of people,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because the last 20% is always hard. But I

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
say that the web is for 100%. It's for

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
everybody, which is what Tim Burners-Lee

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
said.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm definitely am very moved by this

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
notion of inclusiveness. I mean I think

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that, for me it's a part of who I...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this is important to me. But  there's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
also just the sort of,  the notion of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of having everybody's contributions to the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sort of...the knowledge.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Big challenge is, to escape your own

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
viewpoint. And to not make the assumption

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that everyone sees the web the way you see

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it, on the device you see,  the way

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you use it. And so when you're creating

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
web pages, that's the biggest challenge,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is getting outside of where you're sitting.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The biggest obstacle to accessibility,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I think is...is pure knowledge.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's really about putting yourself in the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mind of a person with disabilities.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A person who has, who has no motor skills

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has no hands, has a lack of vision, has a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
lack of hearing. May have a

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
cognitive disability. To be able to put

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
yourselves in their shoes and understand

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
how are they working with the thing that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I'm building or designing right now,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can they use it?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The alternative is, you build something

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
someone says "oh no it's not accessible!"

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and so you go back and try to fix it but

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you probably have been doing the wrong

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
thing at many places  you know you may

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have hundreds of images with no alt text,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you may have navigation that's very confused

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or you are relying on libraries that...

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
open internet explorer

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's just that the technologies aren't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
going to figure out.  And so that's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when someone says, it's too much, too

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
expensive, too much work. Well just do it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from the beginning and it'll...it'll probably

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
get a quality product with less work.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Accessibility is important to incorporate

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
earlier on because if you don't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
incorporate it early on, you will

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
incorporate it later at greater expense,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with a certain amount of time you don't

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have, with a certain amount of money you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
don't have, to try to make it better.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Accessibility, unfortunately like

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
everything else in design and web design

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has to be done from the very beginning.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So whether you're designing for different

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
devices, whether doing for different kinds

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of human abilities, all those things have

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to be thought of from the very beginning

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and built into your concept of what your

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
your plan is. Of course nobody wants to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
take time at the end. We're almost there,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we just want to get it out, and that's the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mistake many of us make. It's like

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
"I'll just get it out, then I'll go back and fix it."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
No. Doesn't ever happen. There's always

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
a next project.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The first step in getting an accessible

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
site, is to work with the management, so

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they understand the value of making it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
accessible, and also helping them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
understand that  we can do pretty

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
much anything they want and be accesible.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If you just talk about accessibility, it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
may not be immediately appreciated as

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
something important to do. But if you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
start talking about quality and  the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
overlap of search engine optimisation and

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
accessibility and things of that nature

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that...that will tend to get people's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
attention more.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When I started, I was a designer and I

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
wanted to make things pretty. And you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
don't think about anything besides the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
aesthetics. And what I soon realised was

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that when you have something that works

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it already looks good, right, so that's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where I started to move towards things

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
being functional then the beauty came

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
along after that.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I don't believe that making a site

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
accessible inhibits creativity. In fact

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I would argue it ..it helps creativity, it

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
improves creativity.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Good accessible design often closely

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
relates to good usable design. And we

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
found a really close parallel between good

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
mobile design, mobile for mobile devices

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the simplicity and clarity of good

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
accessible design.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Safari

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
skip to primary content.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000


9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In page link. Current Student. Future Student.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Menu Item. Accessible Technology.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So they are all inter-related

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and basically if you're making a really

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
complicated site with lots of stuff on it.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When you're doing, using different methods

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
all over the place.  You're probably

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
not building that great a site anyway.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The way we create websites today, has

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
improved from 10 years ago. We're not

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
using in-line styles, we're not only

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
designing for 1 screen size. So the

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
developers and designers are forced to

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
design for every person and every device.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
We can't go backwards, we can't become

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
limited again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Primarily what you can do as a designer

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to  to check for accessibility is

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
making sure that you have good headings.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Good proper headings and headings

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
structure  good labels on inputs

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
good labels on buttons and links

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so making sure you're using the right tags

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the second best thing I would say,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
at least that I do  are checking

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with the keyboard, just looking to see

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
keyboard navigation, making sure there's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you know there's good focus, indicators

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and that you don't get the focus trapped

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
anywhere.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The heart of the challenge in  sort of

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the development world is that many

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
developers you know look around and find

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
open source libraries with really cool

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
stuff. So they find ways to make things

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bounce across the screen, or make things

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
get big and small and so on. And it just

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
doesn't enter their mind to evaluate them

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for accessibility.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
When you're looking at a java script

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
library or a content management system,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
piece of code that you would like to use,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you need to look both at, does it do what

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you want for the web and does it also,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is it also accessible? In other words,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
does it do it for you and for everybody.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So as soon as you build something, you go

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
back and you check it and check it over

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and over again. On multiple browsers, on

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
multiple machines. You know I'll even call

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
people you know overseas,and say "hey can

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you can you find it, can you check it, is

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it working for you? Oh ok good you know.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And now they have tools out there where

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
you can check on every single browser out

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there. In the past, that was really

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
important, it still is.  We have a few

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
browsers, we have a handful of browsers

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we use, we need to check it on every

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
possible system and platform