Talk presented at the Sydney Joomla Day discussing some of the basics of accessibility in Joomla and how to include some accessibility approaches in your site builds.

1. Web Accessibility and Joomla
[on a budget]
Aimee Maree Forsstrom

2. Accessibility
WCAG 2.0
WAI-ARIA
Separate Guidelines
Australian Government requires WCAG 2.0

3. Joomla and Accessibility
http://www.joomla.org/accessibility-statement.html
Sadly out of date
http://ux.joomla.org/forum/Accessibility
Accessibility Forum discussion

4. Joomla out of the box
● Use Hathor
● Image alt tags and title tags
● Site information
● Per Page meta-tags
●

5. Javascript Myt h
● Javascript is accessible
● It depends on you code it
● Alot of examples and library's on web are
written without accessibility in mind
● It is always good to test your site with javascript
turned off in the browser

6. Accessibility Myth
● Accessibility dose not mean:
– Bad Design
– Higher development costs
– No Java-script allowed
– Removal of features
– Hard to achieve
– Not really my targeted audience

7. Third Party?
● Third party extensions and themes might not
meet your standards of accessibility
● WYSIWYG code can be full of nasties use
features with care
● People adding content? Formatting of content
is important for maintaining accessibility

8. Accessibility Extensions?
● Pretty dismal
● Most deal with font resize
● Only 7 extensions
● http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/style-a-
design/accessibility

9. Screen Reader Module
● Includes a screen reader button no your site
● If people need screen readers they are going to
have one and not need this option
● http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/style-a-design/
accessibility/24061

10. Basically
● Don't look to extensions to help save you with
accessibility
● They don't really cover accessibility needs
● There really is not one size fit all extensions for
accessibility

11. So?
● A lot of it is left up to you
● There is no magic one stop solution
● Consider what level of accessibility is important
to you [Gov – WCAG 2.0]
● Think about accessibility needs when choosing
extensions

12. Vanilla Joomla
● Joomla provides a lot out of the box
● What can you get out of Joomla without third
parties

13. Form Worries
● Forms can be troublesome
● WAI ARIA is nice but requires more complex
modification
● Nice easy win is to ensure that labels are
added to all form fields
● Use field groups with section names to group
together areas of a longer form

14. Font Reszie Button
● Most the time they don't work
● When testing font resize you need to test at
least X sizes plus and minus the default
● Browsers take care of this feature
● Test across all browsers
● Adjust CSS to handle
● Be mindful of budget restraints

15. Always use alt on images
● Built into Joomla
● Write a meaningful description
● Dont need to make it too long unles your trying
to explain something in detail
● Try and use more then one word
● Make sure it relates to the image

16. Meaningful link texts
● Dont just use “read more” for more links
● “more about [title]” instead of “read more”
● Dont use “Click Here”
● “Open Brochure” instead of “Click Here”
● Use words that describe what the link is
● Try tabbing through link options does it make
sense?

17. Colours
● Think about colour contrast and effects in blind
people
● Look to websites for guidance on colour
schemes
● Can you and your friends read it?
● Provide a High Contrast CSS option

18. Think about your title structure
● Dont just use Heading tags for styling purposes
● If you need an increased font down the page
use font-size attribute
● Structure should be lineal >> H1 always first
and only one then H2 >> H3 >> H4 ...

19. Search Engine Friendly URLs
● Helps Robots read your site pages
● Helps Humans of all shapes and sizes read
and remember page urls
● Out of the box
● Easy to enable

20. Where to from here
● Depends on the budget
● Purchase themes that cater for accessibility
● Develop a theme that caters for accessibility
● Implement some easy fixes
● Next time... think about accessibility from the
get go :D

21. ‘Listen’ with the volume turned
off
● Does your website supplies subtitles or written
transcripts for video and audio content?
● Do you produce video content? Can you add
subtitles?

22. Accessed site without a mouse?
● Navigate through your website without a mouse
● Can you tab your way to clear navigation?
● Do the navigation titles make sense?
● Try out a screen reader NVDA – Windows,
Voiceover – Mac, Built in reader – Linux

23. Budget Worries
● Use what Joomla has out of the box
● Accessibility as a first thought not an after one
● Don't be lazy use meaningful descriptions on
titles, alt tags, navigation, text links
● Purchase a template that contains
accessibility elements
● Go for quick wins
● Accessibility = Better SEO = Budget Win

24. SEO and Accessibly
● Content Before SideBars - generate
“maincontent” part first then “left” and “right”
sidebars
● Place a “Skip to navigation” at top of page
● Ensure images have alt-tags
● Use explanatory text links
● Navigate using the “tab” key only

25. Take aways
● Include alt tags on images
● Think about colour contrast
● Design with font size increase/decrease in mind
● Think of your title structure {h1, h2, h3}
● Have meaningful link text
● Search Friendly URLS

26. Check your websites
● http://wave.webaim.org/
● HTML w3c validation
● Css HTML W3c validation
● Check the site in text mode using Lynx
http://lynx.isc.org/current/
● Read up on accessibility information
http://www.accessiq.org/
● http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/

27. Questions?
Aimee Maree Forsstrom
@aimee_maree