In many situations, accessibility (or lack thereof) seems related to common beliefs. This practical website lists the most popular ones and debunks some of the myths related to them.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024Users with visual impairments rely on screen readers to tell them what is on the screen. Generally, this works well for regular text, but other types of content can be harder to predict — until now. This deep dive explains how screen readers output special characters and offers best practices for using them more effectively.
The notion that "AI" will negate the importance of accessibility is wrong. Instead, addressing accessibility demands human-centric solutions tailored to real-world scenarios. While current technology offers tools to foster accessibility, adhering to established guidelines can effectively address user needs without significant alteration.
Accessibility doesn't just happen in an ableist world. The mechanisms and automatisms are not tuned to produce accessible content, code, or designs. As a designer, developer, project manager, or in any role, you must focus on accessibility and do it intentionally. It will not happen automatically every day of the week.
Apple iOS 18.0 introduces new accessibility features such as Eye Tracking for iPad and iPhone and Music Haptics, which enhances music accessibility through vibration feedback. These updates, which include speech-to-text enhancements and vehicle motion cues in CarPlay, aim to benefit a diverse user base. Their introduction coincides with Global Accessibility Awareness Day.
Airbnb improved its website's accessibility by implementing font scaling, allowing users to adjust text size independently from page zoom. Unlike browser zoom, which can create layout issues on smaller screens, font scaling only affects text elements, providing a better user experience for those with low vision. Airbnb used rem units for font sizing, as they are relative to the root element and provide more consistent scaling than em units.
Apple has announced upcoming accessibility features leveraging AI and machine learning, such as Eye Tracking for iPad, iPhone navigation using the front-facing camera, and Vocal Shortcuts that enable Siri to execute tasks via custom sounds. Other upcoming features include Music Haptics for tactile music feedback and advanced speech recognition for atypical speech patterns.
Mozilla has trained a model that can run in the browser and automatically generate alt text for web images.
Mattel aims to make 80% of its games color-blind accessible by the end of 2024 and 90% by 2025, starting with Uno, which will include symbols for color identification. Partnering with ColorADD, Mattel will update other games like Blokus, Dos, Phase 10, Skip-Bo, and Ker Plunk, adding instruction sections for color-blind players and a badge on accessible game packaging to benefit an estimated 300 million color-blind people worldwide.
Creating an accessible drag-and-drop list is challenging due to conflicts with screen reader navigation and the need for clear movement announcements. Overriding default key bindings and using separate elements for keyboard and mouse interactions can help resolve these conflicts. Adding a debounce to announcements and providing a move dialog for voice control users also improves the overall accessibility and user experience.
Assistive technology includes more than screen readers. It encompasses various tools like screen magnifiers, voice control, and Braille displays. Misusing "AT" to mean only screen readers can narrow the scope of accessibility and exclude other essential tools and disabilities.