Procuring accessible software for e-learning: how ATAG can help

A presentation at WPCampus 2021 Online by Hidde de Vries

Hidde de Vries Joshue O’Connor Accessibility Specialists at W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). w3.org/WAI

Planning, designing, developing, testing, advocating training… w3.org/WAI w3.org/WAI

WCAG UAAG ATAG web content browsers/UAs authoring tools w3.org/WAI

Why authoring accessibility matters (besides content and browsers) • Include more teachers and more students • Teachers can fix accessibility problems before their content goes live w3.org/WAI

Authoring tools: tools that create web content w3.org/WAI

Authoring tools: tools that can improve lots of accessibility at once w3.org/WAI

WYSIWYG editors Course creators / LMS CMS “Save as HTML” Wikipedia “New Tweet” Form generators Site builders w3.org/WAI

LMS • The LMS itself • Plugins form builders, surveys, custom field managers, cookie banners, event management tooling, social buttons, et cetera • Themes w3.org/WAI

ATAG at a Glance ATAG at a Glance ・ https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/atag/glance/ w3.org/WAI

Part A: Editing experience (teachers) Part B: Output (students) Photo left: Austin Public Library (Flickr), photo right: source of Wikipedia page for “Content Management System” w3.org/WAI

Enquire about ATAG when procuring authoring tools w3.org/WAI

Part A of ATAG Accessibility of the editing experience w3.org/WAI

Part A is about ensuring the authoring tool interface is accessible w3.org/WAI

Edit teas A.1.1.1 Can you resize text within the WYSIWYG editor? w3.org/WAI

A.2.1.1 Are controls labeled? • accessible to users of assistive technologies w3.org/WAI

A.3.1.1 Does it works with keyboard only? • visible focus • can use all controls w3.org/WAI

A.4.1.1 Does it help authors avoid and correct mistakes? • spelling • can confirm changes w3.org/WAI

Part B of ATAG Support the production of accessible content w3.org/WAI

Good LMSes can… Can create accessible content, help avoid inaccessible content w3.org/WAI

Good LMSes can… Help teachers make their courses more accessible w3.org/WAI

B.1.1.2 When content is generated, it is accessible • nested according to HTML spec • no empty links w3.org/WAI

B.1.1.2 When content is generated, there is a prompt for required accessibility information • caption for a table • alt text for images in a carousel • labels for form fields w3.org/WAI

B.1.1.2 When content is generated, there are automated accessibility checks w3.org/WAI

B.1.1.2 When content is generated, manual checks are suggested • check if heading structure makes sense • verify if centrally managed image alternatives apply in this use case w3.org/WAI

<ul><li>List item</li></ul> B.2.1.1 Allows for creating accessible content • for each image field, there is an alt text field • for each video player field, there is a captions upload button w3.org/WAI

B.2.4.1 Have accessible templates for common use cases w3.org/WAI

B.2.5.1 Provide accessible UI components “pre-authored content” w3.org/WAI

lorem ipsum dolor sit B.3.1.1 Warn user when they introduce a colour contrast issue w3.org/WAI

lorem ipsum dolor sit ! Not enough contrast Use a background color, larger text or a bolder font. B.3.1.1 Warn user when they introduce a colour contrast issue w3.org/WAI

<button type=”button”>Swbmit</button> B.3.1.1 Swbmit Add a spellchecker to content fields w3.org/WAI

<button type=”button”>Submit</button> B.3.1.1 Submit Add a spellchecker to content fields w3.org/WAI

B.3.1.1 Report readability levels w3.org/WAI

B.4.2.1 Provide accessible examples w3.org/WAI

The ‘right’ CMS can… Encourage more accessible content w3.org/WAI

The ‘right’ CMS can… Be a personal accessibility assistant w3.org/WAI

Conclusion • LMS need to be accessible to everyone • this includes students as well as teachers with disabilities • ask vendors for more or improved accessibility • use the ATAG standard to develop and/or procure LMS w3.org/WAI

Hidde de Vries
@hdv

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Web accessibility is easier when you do it earlier, and using tools that support accessibility is critical. This starts with purchasing decisions: which suppliers do you choose for accessible e-learning, plug-ins and integrations? How can you tell which tools will work? The W3C’s ATAG standard has a number of useful recommendations to help distinguish between accessible and inaccessible tools. In this session, you’ll learn more about applying this standard to increase accessibility across the board.

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Resources

The following resources were mentioned during the presentation or are useful additional information.

Web Accessibility Initiative

The website of W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative, where you can find information about planning, designing, developing, testing, training and advocating  for web accessibility.
ATAG At a Glance

A high level overview of the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG), version 2.0.

Procuring accessible software for e-learning: how ATAG can help

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Resources

Web Accessibility Initiative

ATAG At a Glance