I gave this presentation at the Silicon Valley Code Camp about mobile accessibility. I tried to reach all audiences by showing what can be done with mobile technology for accessibility, how the operating systems stack up, and the common problems with solutions. I also included instructions on enabling the screen reader for iOS and Android.
Continue Reading Mobile Accessibility
The Google Accessibility team recently invited Android developers from around the Bay Area to spend an afternoon learning how to make their applications accessible. The event showed these developers how easy it is to make their applications as accessible as possible. One of the tools featured was Android Lint. I was so impressed by the functionality that I made the following video: Android Accessibility Solution in 30 Seconds
Continue Reading Android Accessibility Testing and Fixing in 30 seconds
I do a lot of accessibility testing on Android and iOS devices and need to turn the screen readers on and off regularly. While iOS allows you to triple-click the home button, that simplified function is not yet available for Android. However, you can make it much easier by placing a shortcut to the accessibility panel onto the Android desktop. This short tutorial will walk you through it with a Google Nexus 7 
Continue Reading Creating a Shortcut for Accessibility Settings on Android
I recently helped do some testing on the new version Yahoo! Mail for iPads and was stumped by an aria-label not working as expected. It was one of those gotcha moments, when you realize a confusion with a fundamental process. Are you wondering why your aria-label is not being announced?
It’s tempting to use the aria-label attribute in situations where the visible text is not adequate. For instance, you may use a background image to represent a value and you’d like the user to know that value via an aria-label on the parent.
This basic test page will walk through the simple assumption and show how the aria-label is meant to be used.
Ruth Ellison created this presentation about cognitive disabilities. It’s difficult to design for these users due to the wide spectrum of disability impact and what helps one person may cause problems for another. However, there are some solid suggestions in this presentation that will help you create a more accessible web site.
Continue Reading Design for users with Cognitive Disabilities