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Accessibility for designer: where do I start?

 1 year ago
source link: https://stephaniewalter.design/blog/accessibility-resources-tools-articles-books-for-designer/?ref=sidebar
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Accessibility for designer: where do I start?

Articles, resources, checklists, tools, plugins and books to design accessible products

When talking about accessibility, especially to designers, I’m often asked “where should I start if I am interested in the topic and want to learn more?”. If you know my content, you know I’m hoarding many resources. So, here we are: I put together (and will update) this list of resources, articles, blog posts, and checklists to help you, designers, get started on your “building more accessible products” journey.

Last update: April 2023

Here’s the outline to jump to a section:

About what went on that list, why, what did not, and what language I use

A lot of accessibility issues can be prevented in the design phase. So, this list focuses mostly on designers. I won’t go into details on accessibility for developers, it would deserve its own list one day. I also do not recommend things I haven’t read or watched. And I do not recommend things I haven’t used and or tested. I value quality over quantity. So, this list is, of course, non-exhaustive. There are tons of content out there on the topic. Some aren’t here because I read or tried them and didn’t think they brought enough value to me, my work, and my readers as well. Some are not here because I don’t know about them. If you have a tool or resource that you think is missing, reach out by email and I will check! Also, inclusive design resources and PDF (or general document accessibility) are beyond the scope of this article too, but I’ll put a list at the bottom to dig into those topics.

Also, I will use “disabled people” in this article to refer to anyone with a disability, visible or invisible. For more detail as to why, Kitty Giraudel explained it better than I could.

Understand how disabled people use the web

A first step in your journey towards accessibility and designing for accessibility is to understand how people with different disabilities use the web. Here you go:

Making the case for accessibility

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You will need to convince people to give you time, and budget to train yourself and your team for accessibility. Here are some resources that should help convince people that products and services need to be accessible:

Getting started – the bear minimum you can do (and not do)

A few articles on the basics, aka, the minimum things you can do

Design accessibility checklists and cheatsheets

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People love checklists: they help process a lot of information in an easier way. It’s also a good way to get, an introduction to a topic. Then you learn where you need to dig further. So, to get you started, here are some accessibility checklists

So, if you want something like “checklists” maybe (sounds like a memory refresher)

Example of 2 pages of the checklist and of the Figma and Sketch file

If you need help with accessibility documentation, I have my own A4 “Checklist – Accessibility & Interactions Documentation for Designers” that comes with some Figma and Sketch annotation kits, to help you document accessibility in the design phase.

Get the Checklist and Annotation kit

More “technical” checklists: WCAG and ARIA checklists

Accessibility training, videos, and books

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Free Accessibility Training

Free videos on accessibility

Paid Training

For more freehand paid training you can check Digital Accessibility Training Courses Roundup and the Course List on the W3C site

Books

Help to design accessible components

Some tools and plugins to help you design accessible products

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Let’s start with the basics: if you want to learn what designers can need to be careful about with accessibility, check my full article on the topic: A Designer’s Guide to Documenting Accessibility & User Interactions. And, there are tools that can help us design and document accessibility:

Testing accessibility: automated, manual, and testing with disabled users

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The accessibility of your site, product, a mobile app can be tested, from automated tests to usability tests with disabled users.

Automated Accessibility audit tools

Let’s start with automated testing. Keep in mind that automated tests is never enough. They will miss some issues (and might bring issues that are not real ones). So, don’t just stop at automated tests, always have humans test it too. Here are a couple of tools you could use to do a first automated accessibility test:

How to test your websites yourself

Speaking of human testing things, here are some resources to help you test sites yourself:

How to test your website with disabled people (usability testing)

I highly encourage you to test your sites with disabled users. This will bring you a lot of information on issues they might have and that you need to correct. Here are some guidelines and places to help get started:

More places to find content about accessibility

Resources on Native Apps Accessibility

Some people often look for accessibility best practices for native apps. First, WCAG is device agnostic. So, WCAG criteria apply. But there are a few extra specific guidelines for native apps. Here are a few places to get you started:

Resources on Inclusive design

While accessibility focuses on users with specific disabilities, inclusive design has a bigger scope. It’s a set of methods and tools designed for everyone, taking into account disabilities, environment, socio-economical background situation, race, gender, and anything that might influence how and why they use a product or a service and how. Here are a couple of resources to help you start digging into this, very big topic:


report

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