Accessibility for Web Designers: Helping Yourself, Your Clients, and Users

IMPORTANT NOTE: This Meetup will take place via ZOOM only and not at Boulder Digital Arts. Please join the Zoom Meetup on Monday by clicking this link:

https://zoom.us/j/367284721

(Note: You do not have to be a member of the Meetup to join via Zoom, and you do not have to RSVP via Meetup, but maybe let me know in the Comments below if you are planning to join.)

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Most web professionals are at least somewhat aware of web accessibility as a basic concept. However, many of them don't have time to study the topic in-depth and are not aware of the underlying principles that actually make a website accessible or not.

And where would someone even begin? The W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) have served as the primary (and objective) set of criteria for web accessibility since 2008, when WCAG 2.0 was published. However, WCAG 2.1 was released in 2018, and WCAG 2.2 is slated for release in November 2020. It's enough to make your head spin!

In this presentation, Ron Stauffer will discuss how achieving web accessibility is much more than just "checking boxes" on a list of technical success criteria, and how to think of accessibility in a more holistic context. He'll share advice from his experience in helping organizations understand how their websites present barriers for people with disabilities, and what they should do about it.

Information shared in this talk will include:

• A basic introduction to WCAG 2.0 and WCAG 2.1.
• An overview on how to test for web accessibility failures (and how to fix them).
• How and why everyone who designs or builds website needs to have a deeper understanding of the topic, including small WordPress agencies.
• A critical look at "accessibility overlays" and WordPress plugins that promise accessibility "with just one line of code."
• A list of the many kinds of assistive technology (AT) used by people with a variety of disabilities, and real-life examples of the barriers they face on the web.
• Legal cases and lawsuits (such as Robles v. Dominos Pizza LLC), monetary demand letters, and settlements involving public and private entities.

Ron Stauffer is a "web guy" and accessibility consultant who focuses on making the web accessible for his clients. He's spent hundreds of hours poring over the tens of thousands of words in WCAG 2.0/2.1 and tries hard to use "plain English" to explain what they mean. He has helped local businesses, large tech companies, and city and county governments understand their responsibilities to make their web presence accessible and open to everyone. You can see what he's up to at https://liederdigital.com.