Thursday, October 6th, 2011
Making a site or application accessible can seem so overwhelming that it can completely stall efforts before they begin. But sometimes simple changes can provide the necessary momentum while resulting in significant improvements for users.
So, in the spirit of small things that make a big difference, here’s a list of fixes for common accessibility problems.
Continue reading Easy Fixes to Common Accessibility Problems
Thursday, August 18th, 2011
Many times ARIA is used as a quick fix for accessibility issues caused when more semantic elements should have been used. For instance, an input could use aria-label when the design for the page does not include a visible label tag. Another common use is role="button" when links are used for actions instead of the semantic button. ARIA roles and attributes provide simple solutions to low-hanging fruit; something developers with legacy code and screen reader users can appreciate.
Monday, August 15th, 2011
Caridy Patiño, the principal frontend engineer for Yahoo! Search Direct, just wrote an article for the Yahoo! User Interface blog on what went into creating an accessible, dynamic search box: Making Search Direct Accessible.
Caridy worked with Victor Tsaran, of the Yahoo! Accessibility Lab, to fine tune the experience of screen reader users typing a search query and being notified of potential results.
Continue reading An Accessible Solution for Yahoo Search Direct
Friday, February 25th, 2011
The most difficult part of building web page forms is validation. It’s best to have some form of instant validation via CSS and/or JavaScript. You also need to validate the responses at the server level for security.
There are plenty of articles on building robust JavaScript and server side validations. There’s even a YUI module for forms: The YUI 3 Form Module — Forms and Validation Made Simple. This article will focus on a set of ARIA attributes that let you define the error message for an invalid input.
Continue reading Use ARIA to define invalid responses for form inputs
