Resources for Accessibility
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1: level AA is the compliance level ASU websites and apps must comply with.
- ASU web a11y audit tool: step-by-step tool to learn accessibility testing (other than with assistive technologies; see info on those below).
Semi-automated accessibility audit tools are helpful and often used to prove or disprove compliance. However, for development purposes, keep in mind that they catch only 20-30% of issues:
- Siteimprove Accessibility Checker: recommended browser extension for Chrome and Edge
- WAVE: Chrome and Firefox browser extension
- Test with Chrome DevTools, Lighthouse and axe: if you're already a Dev Tools fan
- Tota11y: lightweight but good for non-devs
Other useful tools include:
- Paul J. Adam’s accessibility bookmarklets
- W3C Nu HTML Validator: HTML validation; add the WCAG Parsing bookmarklet to filter out non-accessibility issues
- WebAIM Color Contrast Checker
Assistive Technologies
We recommend developers at least learn a little about the most popular technologies and maybe try them out once. At a minimum, use mobile speech recognition technologies like Siri and Google Assistant.
The BBC's immensely helpful and comprehensive Testing with assistive technology is a very good overview.
Screen readers
Desktop: VoiceOver (Mac)
Desktop: JAWS (Windows)
- Surfing the Internet with JAWS series, especially the videos on web elements, tables, keyboard shortcuts, and forms
- JAWS Inspect: screen reader testing without the screen reader; a bit expensive but worth it if you test a lot with JAWS
- WebAIM's guide to JAWS
Desktop: NVDA (Windows)
Mobile: Android TalkBack
Mobile: iOS VoiceOver
Speech Recognition
You can put money on it: Speech recognition is the next big thing. These days, it gets better by leaps and bounds. Be prepared is all we're saying. :)
Voice Control for Mac OS and iOS
- How To Use The iPhone’s New Voice Control Feature: when mainstream Business Insider gets excited about an accessibility feature... yeah, voice is a thing.
- Everything you can do with Voice Control on iPhone and iPad (and also good)
- Closing The Gap on Voice Control: Voice Control is on the Mac as well
Voice Access for Android
- Completely hands-free control with Voice Access for Android: Android users are just as excited about adopting speech recognition
- PCmag's Need a Hands-Free Android Experience? Turn On Voice Access
- Computerworld's Android Voice Access Demo
Dragon Naturally Speaking (Windows)
The leader for over 20 years, but with Apple and Android joining the field....watch out.
Good luck!