August 10, 2017 — AccessibilityOz has just released the Rooted in Rights web site, a fully accessible WordPress site which won the Australian Web Award for Accessibility. Gian Wild talks about how to make a site accessible to people with disabilities and compliant with US regulations, including WCAG2. Incorporating accessibility into your web site build is important and can often mean the difference between an accessible and an inaccessible site at launch. Specific stages require accessibility intervention, including design, template, and final site launch. Suitable tasks and training is also covered.

July 21, 2017 — “Web accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with, or access to, websites by people with disabilities.
When your website is accessible, all users can access your content and functionality no matter their abilities. Visually-impaired users can visit your website using a screen reader. Those who can’t use a mouse can navigate your site using a keyboard or other input device. Most accessibility features will also improve your SEO. When your site is inaccessible, research shows you could be excluding up to 20 percent of your users.
This talk will cover:
▪ The basics of accessibility and why it’s important
▪ Common accessibility issues
▪ Legal requirements
▪ How to test the accessibility of themes and other products before you buy
▪ How to test and support accessibility in your projects

June 29, 2017 — With the arrival of the so-called European Union “Accessibility Directive”, there has been a lot talk lately about the accessibility of the modern web. The public sector is hustling to comply with the requirements to meet the directive as soon as 2020. Most common guidelines to comply with the requirements of the directive are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

The guidelines, while extremely useful and comprehensive, aren’t the Holy Grail of accessibility. G-Works undertook a large project with the national centre for accessible literature and publishing in Finland, Celia, to create a new user interface for Celia’s library system. The criteria was to push the boundaries of accessibility not only to create a accessible service but to take it to the next level. While doing this, we noticed that the WCAG is not perfect – and has, in fact, some contradictions.

The topic will focus on telling about accessibility in general, effects of the directive, what to take into account while designing accessible web services and some tips for the coders as well.

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June 22, 2017 — With the REST API now in WordPress core the sky is the limit. The way we developers work will change: how we build themes, how we interact with the database, how we setup plugins. This will effect the way users experience a website. What about accessibility? How to make dynamic and Javascript driven content available for everyone? Let me give you an overview of the pitfalls and give you workarounds and some possible solutions. This talk will be for developers and will include screen reader demos and code examples.

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June 21, 2017 — Adrian is a member of the W3C Web Platform Working Group, W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications Working Group, and W3C Accessibility Task Force.

We can all pretend that we’re helping others by making web sites and software accessible, but we are really making them better for our future selves. Learn some fundamentals of accessibility and how it can benefit you (whether future you from aging or you after something else limits your abilities). We’ll review simple testing techniques, basic features and enhancements, coming trends, and where to get help. This isn’t intended to be a deep dive, but more of an overall primer for those who aren’t sure where to start nor how it helps them.

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June 19, 2017 — During this session, we’ll hear from a three person panel on the importance of web accessibility, and how it affects users and businesses. Our panel will discuss various aspects of accessibility with WordPress, and will take questions. We will experience a screen reader and listen to what a user actually hears when navigating both an accessible and a non-accessible website. We’ll explore the most common types of disabilities that can impede usability, checkout out some techniques to improve accessibility, and look at WordPress specific solutions that can help.

Takeaways:

An overview of WCAG 2.0
Tools for testing accessibility
5 easy changes to make TODAY to help with your website’s accessibility
How to better accommodate disabilities and create more accessible web experiences.
WordPress specific tools that can be used to make accessibility better.
How to sell accessibility to your clients
Who has to be accessible by law and the fines associated
Organic UX and SEO benefits

June 16, 2017 — As a UX Designer for a voting company – one of the most challenging tasks I face is creating design tools which are accessible for those with disabilities. In this process, I have quickly realized that designing for those with disabilities goes far beyond following a checklist of government requirements – often, it simply requires some common sense. In many cases, thinking about designing for those with disabilities has improved my designs for a much larger (general) audience. During this talk, I will share some of my insights, lessons learned and experiences with user testing for voters both with and without disabilities. My goal is to provide those in attendance some inspiration to consider how discovering design solutions for those for disabilities can also improve user experiences for a much larger audience.

June 6, 2017 — We can all pretend that we’re helping others by making web sites and software accessible, but we are really making them better for our future selves. Learn some fundamentals of accessibility and how it can benefit you (whether future you from aging or you after something else limits your abilities). We’ll review simple testing techniques, basic features and enhancements, coming trends, and where to get help. This isn’t intended to be a deep dive, but more of an overall primer for those who aren’t sure where to start nor how it helps them.

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May 30, 2017 — The accessibility of a website is significantly affected by the underlying HTML, CSS and javascript that developers use to create it. But it is also possible to impact upon the accessibility of a site at the design stage – both the visual design, and the interactive design or UX. And it’s not just about colour schemes either.

In this presentation I will outline a few key points to keep in mind when you are designing your next beautiful website or theme. I will illustrate the points with some good (and bad) examples.

Good design and web accessibility can go hand in hand – come and find out how.

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May 27, 2017 — Lots of people think website accessibility is a “nice to have” feature when in reality it’s a “must have” feature. In this session, we’ll demystify the WCAG 2.0 guidelines and show how when you make websites accessible it benefits everyone. You’ll be well on your way to being an a11y ally!