The following articles and videos will help you understand the basics. Many of them cover the same material from different angles or levels of depth.
Accessibility 101
- The Web Accessibility Basics by Marco Zehe on Marco’s Accessibility Blog.
- Getting Started with Web Accessibility by Monika Piotrowicz at The Pastry Box.
- Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility by Karwai Pun on Gov.UK.
- Designing for Inclusivity: How and Why to Get Started by Allison Shaw at the Invision Design Blog.
- Exclusive Design by Vasilis van Gemert is a thesis describing what design would be like if we designed not inclusively, but exclusively for people with disabilities. It’s a long read, but covers a lot of ground about our current assumptions.
- Mythbuster’s Guide to Accessibility by the US Digital Service puts a governmental lens on accessibility.
- 14 easy ways to make your website more accessible by Carl Cahill and Joss Cook.
- Common Accessibility Mistakes and How To Avoid Them by Ben Robertson outlines four of his own principles for developing accessible websites.
Critical Techniques everyone should know
- Read Can you reach anything that’s interactive using the tab key? to learn how to navigate a website with only your keyboard.
- Read Can you use a screen reader to access the page content? to learn how people with screen readers use the web (and how you can learn if required).
In-Depth Training Classes
- Online Self-Paced Web Accessibility Classes by Deque – These include training classes specific to various roles as well as the full curriculum for IAAP certification preparation
Videos
- Extreme Design by Derek Featherstone at An Event Apart explains how designing for accessibility needs helps us think of extreme scenarios that result in a better design for everyone.
Books
- Apps for All: Coding Accessible Web Applications by Heydon Pickering
Articles
- Accessibility Support site -indicates accessibility support built in for various components.
- Paint the Picture, Not the Frame: How Browsers Provide Everything Users Need by Eric Bailey on A List Apart outlines some major browser functionality that is sometimes recreated by developers, such as a scroll-to-top pattern, scrollbar designs, scrolling, highlighting, text resizing, high-contrast themes, moving the focus, the clipboard, and browser history, that really probably shouldn’t be messed with unless you’re going to be incredibly thorough and consider a wide array of inclusive use cases.
Testing Guides & Checklists for accessibility
I think the best accessibility checklist is the one you make yourself, but these might get you started.
- Checklist by The A11y Project
- Accessibility testing guide by Alphagov
- Comparing Manual and Free Automated WCAG Reviews by Adrian Roselli
- Accessibility Checklist by Andrew Hick
- WCAG Cheat Sheets and Checklists by WebAxe