Digital Accessibility

What is Digital Accessibility?

Accessibility is the practice of making information, activities, and/or environments sensible, meaningful, and usable for as many people as possible. Digital accessibility ensures that all users can perceive, use, and operate web content, software, mobile apps, and other forms of digital media. Accessible means a person with a disability is afforded the opportunity to acquire the same information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as a person without a disability in an equally effective and equally integrated manner, with substantially equivalent ease of use.

Web Accessibility

Web accessibility means that websites, tools, and technologies are designed and developed so that people with disabilities can use them. More specifically, people can:

• perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web

• contribute to the Web

Web accessibility depends on several components working together, including web technologies, web browsers and other "user agents", authoring tools, and websites.

Mobile Accessibility

"Mobile" is a generic term for a broad range of wireless devices and applications that are easy to carry and use in a wide variety of settings, including outdoors. Mobile devices range from small handheld devices (EX. feature phones, smartphones) to somewhat larger tablet devices. mobile accessibility generally refers to making apps more accessible to people with disabilities when they are using mobile devices.

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Accessibility Implementation in Mobility Web Application

Making the Web Application Accessible

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the web. It is responsible for creating and maintaining the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). WCAG defines how to make digital content more accessible and usable for people with a wide range of physical, sensory, and cognitive abilities.

The current version of WCAG (2.1) consists of thirteen guidelines, organized around four principles (POUR) of accessibility: Perceivable, Operable, Understandable, and Robust. Each guideline is accompanied by testable success criteria, which are linked to explanations and relevant techniques

In the mobility web project, the above-mentioned W3C WCAG (2.1) guidelines were taken into consideration for the development of accessibility. 

Within each guideline are success criteria that are specific enough to be testable. These criteria fall into one of three levels: A, AA, and AAA, which build on one another. 

• Level A covers basic accessibility requirements. 

• Level AA is the international best practice and is usually the level required in legislation. 

• Level AAA is considered advanced conformance and sometimes includes elements that are more difficult to implement. 

To meet a particular level, you first have to meet the one that precedes it. To reach level AA, you also have to meet all of the A criteria.

For the initial phase of accessibility implementation, here, we’ve considered only the Level- A  Accessibility implementation.

Open

Accessibility Implementation in the Web Application

Create Perceivable Content

The current implementations,

• Provide text alternatives (‘alt text’) for non-text content

• Provide transcripts for audio and video

• Provide captions for video

• Make sure content is structured logically and can be navigated and read by a screen reader - this also helps if stylesheets are disabled

• Use the proper markup for every feature (for example, forms and data tables), so the relationships between content are defined properly

• Do not use color as the only way to explain or distinguish something

• Use text colors that show up clearly against the background color

• Make sure every feature can be used when text size is increased by 200% and that content reflows to a single column when it’s increased by 400%

• Avoid using images of text

• Make sure your service is responsive - for example to the user’s device, page orientation and font size they like to use

Ensure the Interface Is Operable

The current implementations;

• Make sure everything works for keyboard-only users

• Let people play, pause and stop any moving content

• Do not use blinking or flashing content - or let the user disable animations

• Provide a ‘skip to content ' link

• Use descriptive titles for pages and frames

• Make sure users can move through content in a way that makes sense

• Use descriptive links so users know where a link will take them, or what downloadable linked content is

• Use meaningful headings and labels, making sure that any accessible labels match or closely resemble the label you’re using in the interface

• Make it easy for keyboard users to see the item their keyboard or assistive technology is currently focused on - this is known as ‘active focus’

Make the Website Understandable

The current implementations,

• Use plain English/simple language

• Keep sentences short

• Do not use words and phrases that people won’t recognize - or provide an explanation if you can’t avoid it

• Explain all abbreviations and acronyms, unless they are well known and in common use - for example, UK, EU, VAT

• Make it clear what language the content is written in, and indicate if this changes

• Make sure features look consistent and behave in predictable ways

• Make sure all form fields have visible and meaningful labels - and that they’re marked up properly

• Make it easy for people to identify and correct errors in forms

Build Robust Web Content

The current implementations,

• Use valid HTML so user agents, including assistive technologies, can accurately interpret and parse content

• Make sure your code lets assistive technologies know what every user interface component is for, what state it’s currently in, and if it changes

• Make sure important status messages or modal dialogs are marked up in a way that informs users of their presence and purpose and lets them

• Interact with them using their assistive technology

• Let the user return to what they were doing after they’ve interacted with the status message or modal input

Accessibility Implementation in Mobility Mobile Application

Making the Mobile Application Accessible

In the mobility mobile project, the  W3C WCAG (2.1) guidelines together with the capabilities that are allowed through the React Native Accessibility Development Properties have been taken into consideration for the development of accessibility.

Accessibility Implementation in the Mobile Application

Create Perceivable Content

Screen sizes are small, so it is best to not include too much information at once. Adapt the layout for the proper screen size and try to eliminate the need for horizontal scrolling. Make sure the option for zoom or magnification helps to make the information more readable and that the app is optimized for the zoom functionality of each browser. Use a proper amount of contrast in the design due to the fact that people are more likely to be outdoors on mobile apps than desktop applications.

Ensure the Interface Is Operable

Use keyboard control for touchscreen devices, optimize touch target size and spacing, and use proper touch screen gestures, making them obvious and as easy as possible to carry out. Place buttons where they are easy to access when the device is held in different positions.

Make the Mobile App Understandable

Support multiple layout orientations that automatically shift when the user changes the way they position or hold the device (whether it be landscape or portrait layout). Keep a consistent layout across the pages of the app. Make sure to position the most important elements above the fold (before the need to scroll). This makes it easier for those with visual impairments. Group the operable elements that perform a certain activity together. This will make the touch target space larger, benefiting those with dexterity impairments. Make sure it is clear that an element is actionable by using conventional box shapes or checkboxes, colors, convenient positioning, call to action, etc. Provide tips and instructions for touch screen gestures that explain how to use them when the user first needs to learn them, and keep them somewhere handy so the user can refer back to them.

Build Robust Mobile App Content

Set the keyboard to match the type of data required in the field. For example, if a user is asked to enter their email address, have a keyboard that includes an underscore as well as other typical symbols used in email addresses. This facilitates data entry for the user and helps prevent errors and ensures proper formats. Provide multiple, convenient methods for data entry. One such way would be to enable speech to fill out an entry. Don’t require more text to be entered than necessary.