Glenda Sims and Karl Groves Host First Web Accessibility Chat (#a11ychat)
Thanks to Deque Systems employees Glenda Sims and Karl Groves for hosting the first web accessibility chat this evening. The topic for the chat was "What is your favorite accessibility testing tool for (fill in the blank)." Great conversation, and hopefully the first of many more #a11ychat events.
Ready to for the first ever #a11ychat with @Karlgroves and @goodwitch...drumroll please. Join in by following #a11ychatQuestion: How do you check that a page has good heading structure?
- The Wave Toolbar by WebAIM is a free Firefox toolbar.
- @goodwitch I use the webdeveloper toolbar for Firefox: outline > headings (w/show element names turned on) #a11ychat
- The Web Developer extension by Chris Pederick is a free Firefox toolbar with multiple features for viewing elements, outlines, access keys and more.
Question: Do we still need skip navigation or skip to main link? If yes, how do you test it?
@goodwitch Unfortunately, "skip" links are still necessary. Browser keyboard navigation generally sucks for sighted users. #a11ychat- @goodwitch A little hesitant to answer this one. Skip links serve a purpose but are usually broken on most sites I see. #a11ychat
@goodwitch I still use skip links (when I can find them). I use keyboard nav myself quite a lot. #a11ychat- @karlgroves Have pretty good data that indicates visible "skip" links hurt a11y for non-keyboard users. > cognitive load, etc. #a11ychat
- Skip links are important for keyboard only users. Learn to make them work in all browsers with Terrill Thompson's blog post: Back to Basics: Skip to Main Content Links.
- @goodwitch If browsers had default keyboard nav by headings and landmarks (per UAAG), I'd say "Good riddance!" to skip links. #a11ychat
- @karlgroves Interestingly, the WebAIM skip link going away soon. Replaced with something like webaim.org/temp/skipcss3.… #a11ychat @dboudreau
Question: What do you use to test JavaScript driven interfaces?
@karlgroves to test javascript I use keyboard alone first. Then I retest using a screenreader #a11ychat What do y'all use?
@karlgroves Usually requires actual live testing w/ keyboard & AT to account for lightboxes, focus management, validation, etc. #a11ychat
Re: testing Javascript, I like developer tools in Windows SDK to test objects name, state, role, value ow.ly/aUlRb #a11ychat- I'm also excited about the aViewer, which will prolly replace object inspector, etc. for testing objects ow.ly/aUlYd #a11ychat
- @karlgroves Re: Javascript, we use keyboard testing and JAWS. Use Firebug to check the code. #a11ychat
Question: How do you test for access keys?
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DeborahEdwards-Onoro@Kevin Probably best way to learn when next #a11ychat will be held is to follow @goodwitch or @karlgroves who host the chat. As well as follow the #a11ychat tag.more2012-05-15T10:30:12.553Z
Kevin N PrinceTwo tools grabbed in 5 minutes - will make sure I'm online next time - how do I sign up ;-)2012-05-15T04:00:30.992Z
- DeborahEdwards-Onoro@Kevin Probably best way to learn when next #a11ychat will be held is to follow @goodwitch or @karlgroves who host the chat. As well as follow the #a11ychat tag.@Kevin Probably best way to learn when next #a11ychat will be held is to follow @goodwitch or @karlgroves who host the chat. As well as follow the #a11ychat tag.more2012-05-15T10:30:12.553Z
- Kevin N PrinceTwo tools grabbed in 5 minutes - will make sure I'm online next time - how do I sign up ;-)2012-05-15T04:00:30.992Z
