Presentation given at UNC CAUSE 2013

1. Making IT Accessibility Accessible
(And Fun?)
Greg Kraus
(Temporarily Able Bodied)
University IT Accessibility Coordinator
North Carolina State University
@gdkraus

2. The Problems with Accessibility
• Accessibility can be hard to understand
• People are afraid they are going to mess it up
• Non-technical people are often the ones
needing to fix the problems
• Accessibility is not fun
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

3. Typical Accessibility Audit Report

4. Please Go Fix the Errors in Here

5. Aristotle
• “If you want to become a major league
baseball player, you cannot simply wake up
one day and declare yourself a baseball player,
capable of hitting a curve ball. You must
become habituated in the ways of being a
baseball player through a lifetime of practice.”
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

6. How to Learn To Be a Major League
Baseball Player
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Start easy
Gradually build skill over time
Learn to see patterns and know how to react
Reactions become intuitive and natural
Practice
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

7. What Accessibility Needs
• Achievable goals
– broken down into manageable tasks
• A way for everyone to be able to take
responsibility for accessibility
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

8. Four Strategies
•
•
•
•
Quick Training Videos
Accessibility Handook
IT Accessibility Quick Guides
Accessibility Scan/Game
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

9. Quick Training Videos
• Short (5-10 minute) videos
• Each video covers 1 specific topic
• (Usually) give you something actionable you
can do
• http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/trainingvideos
/
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

10. Quick Training Video Example
• Microsoft Word Headings
– http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbVl4IYqmIU
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

11. Some Quick Training Video Topics
•
•
•
•
•
•
Accessibility Evaluation Tool Tutorials
Using Headings in Microsoft Word
Using Headings in Google Docs
Accessible Math on the Web
Skip to Main Content Links
Language Attributes for Screen Readers
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

12. IT Accessibility Handbook
• Resource for Web developers
• Takes you through the steps for designing
accessibly
– Gives you a way to think about accessible design
• http://go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-handbook
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

13. Section 508
• Procurement and development requirement for
Federal agencies
– (You don’t have to follow Section 508, unless you have
to follow Section 508)
•
•
•
•
Released in 1998
16 criteria
381 words long
Does not tell you how to technically do any of it
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

14. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
2.0 (WCAG 2)
• Standard published by the Web Accessibility
Initiative (WAI) within the W3C
• Released in 2008
• 14,000 words in the standard
• 300,000 words of support documentation
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

15. This is what they see

16. But this is what they want

17. Accessibility Handbook
Step 1: Understand legal accessibility requirements
Step 2: Choose the most appropriate technology
and document format
Step 3: Start with some of the basics
Step 4: Plan your document structure
Step 5: Plan your user interactions
Step 6: Design alternate ways for users to access
your content when the content is dependent on a
single human sense

18. Accessibility Handbook Demonstration
• http://go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-handbook
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

19. IT Accessibility Quick Guides
• What about content creators?
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

20. IT Accessibility Quick Guides – What
They Do
1. Overview of NC State’s accessibility
responsibilities
2. Profiles of commonly used technologies on
campus
3. Overview of how to build it accessibly
4. How to check if it is accessible
5. Where to get more information
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

21. IT Accessibility Quick Guide Demo
• http://go.ncsu.edu/accessibility-quick-guide
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

22. IT Accessible Game
• Can accessibility be fun?
• Should it really be a game?
• Isn’t accessibility a human right?
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

23. Gamification
• Gamification [n]: the use of game design
elements in non-game contexts
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

24. Competing in a Marketplace of
Demands
• Prioritizations
– “Keeping the lights on”
• Production services to run and maintain
– Security and Compliance
• This impacts everyone, not just “those people”
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

25. Gaming Principles
• A good game…
– Lets everyone play, regardless of skill level
– Lets you improve skills over time
– Gives you instant feedback
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

26. We’re Not Talking About Wheelchairs
with Lasers

27. Make a Game Everyone Can Play
4
5
11
1
7
10
8
6
9
2
3

31. Mario Didn’t Save the Princess in
World 1-1

32. Prioritization
• 4 = fatal error, user cannot interact at all with the
element
• 3 = significant error, user can only partially
recover or it causes a significant hardship
• 2 = significant error, but user can usually mostly, if
not fully recover
• 1 = minor annoyance
• 0 = usually can ignore
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

33. Level 4
• Missing alternative text
• Unlabeled form element
• No keyboard event for an equivalent mouse
event
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

34. Level 3
• A form control has more than one label
• Page auto refreshes
• No skip to main content link
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

35. Level 2
• Spacer image does not have an alt attribute
• Pages have unique titles and don’t say
“Untitled Document”
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

36. Level 1
• Invalid code
• Heading levels are skipped
• No titles for frames
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

37. Level 0
• No alternative content for iframes
• Contrast ratio to pass WCAG 2 Level AAA
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus

38. Weighted Errors Corrected
500,000
450,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
431,227
317,659
190,311
138,294
88,029
19,641 3,111
642
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
0
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov

39. Weighted Errors Corrected With
Contests
500,000
450,000
400,000
350,000
300,000
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
431,227
317,659
317,659
190,311
642
Mar
138,294
98,537
88,029
50,488
19,641 3,111
16,829
0
Apr
Aug
May
Jun
Jul
Sep
Oct
Nov

40. Demonstrate System
• http://accessibility.oit.ncsu.edu/accessibilityscan/
Greg Kraus
@gdkraus