While coming up to speed on recent trends on web content accessibility, I came across a number of great resources, which I’d like to share. These resources are especially helpful for developing accessible web content for those with disabilities.
Many of the same principles apply to the overall usability of your site and are considered best practices for any site visitor, including mobile users.
1. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) provides guidelines/standards on making accessible Web content, as well as related best practices for making content mobile-friendly.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is a guide for making Web sites accessible to people with disabilities.
The Mobile Web Best Practices (MWBP) is a guide for making Web sites usable from a mobile device.
Web Content Accessibility and Mobile Web: Making a Web Site Accessible Both for People with Disabilities and for Mobile Devices describes the considerable overlap between the WCAG and MWBP standards, providing additional links about the similarities.
Techniques for WCAG 2.0 describes specific authoring practices, which can help you implement WCAG 2.0 guidelines.
21 new PDF Techniques for WCAG 2.0 provides tips for Producing Accessible PDF Files, with examples from Adobe Acrobat Pro, Adobe Reader 9, Microsoft Word 2007, and other applicable tools. (These tips are from Techniques for WCAG 2.0.)
2. STC AccessAbility SIG
An Accessibility and Technical Communication Blog The AccessAbility SIG is a Special Interest Group, supported by the Society for Technical Communication, which serves as a clearinghouse to match people with products, services, and/or relevant literature, relating to a variety of accessibility needs. The blog for the AccessAbility provides additional links to other Accessibility Blogs.
Accessibility and Usability Topics at #STC11 provides a great list of current topics of interest, relating to accessibility and usability, as to be presented at the STC Summit 2011. (Stay tuned for information about the recorded presentations, available at SUMMIT@aClick.)
3. Boston Internet-Accessibility
The Boston-IA site provides education on the accessibility of electronic information, including these resources:
4. Vendors
Microsoft’s Accessibility Overview lists resources on the latest developments in accessibility, and includes a link to Microsoft’s Web Accessibility Handbook.
Adobe Accessibility provides information and news about accessibility in Adobe products, for people with disabilities.
5. Blog Accessibility
At Blog Accessibility, Glenda Watson Hyatt blogs about how to create a more accessible blogosphere. She also provides a free e-book, with related tips.
So, that’s my round-up of links, on web content accessibility. Do you have any other good resources to share?
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