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#StateOfA11y - Why A11y is so important

This article was written over 18 months ago and may contain information that is out of date. Some content may be relevant but please refer to the relevant official documentation or available resources for the latest information.

🤔 What is accessibility and what does it mean on the web?

How can we improve accessibility within our websites?

Is accessibility something we can overlook or put on the back burner?

If you’ve been curious about what accessibility is and how it plays a role on the web, this talk will definitely be one to watch. In this article, I will talk about the key points and takeaways from the #StateOfA11y event hosted by Rob Ocel and Dacey Nolan.

Before we get started, let’s take a look at our panelists!

Stateofa11y screenshot

Hosts

Rob Ocel @robocell
  • Team Lead and Software Architect, This Dot Labs
Dacey Nolan @dacey_nolan
  • Software Engineer, Trainual

Panelists

Marcy Sutton @marcysutton
  • Owner and Lead Engineer, Modern Sole Design
Tim Winfred @Contimporary
  • Front-End & JavaScript Web Developer, Curative
Anna E. Cook @annaecook
  • Senior Accessibility Designer, Northwestern Mutual
Carie Fisher @cariefisher
  • Sr. Accessibility Consultant and Trainer, Deque
Nicolas Steenhout @vavroom
  • Independent Accessibility Consultant
Crystal Preston-Watson @ScopicEngineer
  • Quality & Accessibility Engineer, Salesforce

🔑 Key Takeaways

  • UX promotes effective accessibility. If the UX is poor and fails to deliver on key points, accessibility will also suffer.

  • Want to become effective at writing accessible code? Try going to your favourite websites and using your keyboard to navigate! Once you're familiar with how it works, you can improve your code in accessibility!

  • How does the increase in remote work affect accessibility? Introducing more people to websites and applications to help facilitate effective communication and work.

  • Accessibility exists in many forms and exists beyond the web in more ways than one

  • How do we get better at onboarding ourselves and others into building better accessibility? Documentation.

  • The future of accessibility is: choice. Dark mode, enlarged text, animations. Having a single source of truth is the future!

  • Want to be effective at writing accessible code? Bring it back to the basics! Learn how to write proper HTML!

💭 Have any questions or points to share? Use #StateOfA11y on Twitter and talk with us!

📺 View the replay here for fun stories, great tips, and faces to names! 🤝

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