Accessibility affects nearly everyone in every industry, including you. Why? Because software is being used on more devices than ever before — often under non-optimal conditions — by people of all ages, many of whom have differing capabilities. You undoubtedly fit into one or more of these categories, as well as your users. Achieving “practical accessibility” means to ensure that a system works for everyone who is likely to use it (including users with disabilities), on a reasonable range of devices and situations, and complies with applicable standards and laws. This course provides practical testing strategies to confirm that a system complies with US Rehabilitation Act Section 508. It also shows how to verify that a system is accessible across a broader range of users and situations so that it can fulfill today’s sophisticated expectations for all users.
Participants will learn:
What software accessibility is
Who and what it affects
How it applies to traditional software and web-based systems
Disabilities that affect users and devices (temporary, situational, and chronic)
Magnitude of the issue and opportunities
Standards that are used to determine software accessibility compliance
Federal, state, industry, and international laws
W3C web standards
Assistive technologies
Identifying the range of compliance desired or required
How to test for accessibility
Setting test priorities
Manual inspection and testing
Automated validation assistance
Key user trials and acceptance testing
Practical approaches to increasing accessibility
Early involvement in the software development process
Expertise pooling
Raising awareness that accessibility features are present
Standards and best practices
Where to get more information (for developers, testers, and managers)