I work at a government/educational institution, which means we are required, by law, to provide a level of accessibility in all our communications, not just web pages, but other kinds of electronic communication too(emails, video content, ect).
I keep reaching for these links to share to colleagues and hope they help you create content that everyone can enjoy.
Basics
- ADA stands for “Americans with Disabilities Act”
- “Section 508 of the Workforce Rehabilitation Act went into effect specifying the requirements for accessible Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that each federal agency needed to follow.” Section508.gov
- Section 408 Standards, but refers 508 prior to March 2017
- ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications
Links
Health and Human Services
Color Contrast/Blindness
- Colour Contrast Analyzer (Win/Mac)
- Color Blindness Simulator (Win/Mac/Linux)
- Disability Simulator
- High Contrast
Free Browser Tools
- Accessibility Insights from Microsoft.
- aXe : Accessibility Engine Plugin More Dev focused, but a great tool.
- Lighthouse from Google (great audits from inside your devtools, uses the aXe engine)
- Site Improve: Accessibilty Checker Plugin for Chrome
- WAVE Accessibility Plugin for Firefox and Chrome This is the one we use the most, and share with our web content authors for them to use. (easiest to get started with)
- NoCoffee: Vision Simulator for Chrome – Blindness is a spectrum, with a variety of presenting challenges.
Paid Tools
- Site Improve Service – We have a subscription to this, and we have installed the Drupal Module as well.
Other Tools
- a11y Command Line Tools (tutorial)
- Automated Accessibility Testing Tool
- Pa11y tools (variety of tools, command line, web service, continuous integration helper)
- Koa11y Desktop App
- Accessibility Dev Tools from Google
Screen Readers
- Chromevox – Chrome browser – Free
- Guide Windows $795
- JAWS Windows $1200-$900
- Narrator – Included in Windows 10 operating system
- NVDA Windows Free/open source
- VoiceOver – Included in for Mac/phone/tablet Apple Operating systems.
- WebAnywhere Browser based – Free
- ZoomText Windows Magnifier and Screen Reader $600
- Additional Free Screen Readers
- Wikipedia List of Screen Readers
Additional Useful Sites & Articles
- https://a11yproject.com/
- Intro to Web Accessibility
- Essential Accessibility: How to Comply
- Essential Accessibility: WCAG 2.0 Checklist