Web Accessibility Cookbook, Manuel Matuzovic
O’Reilly Media, coming in September 2024
Frontend developers have to consider many things: browser compatibility, usability, performance, scalability, SEO, and other best practices. But the most fundamental aspect of creating websites is one that often falls short: accessibility. The Web Accessibility Cookbook provides you with dozens of recipes to help you avoid these failures. Read the first two chapters now online with a 10-day free trial.
Online pre-publication, then paperback, ebook
A11Y Unraveled: Become a Web Accessibility Ninja, by Dimitris Georgakas
Apress, 2023
Make designing and developing accessible websites fun and straightforward by deciphering information that is often confusing. This book examines how web professionals can ensure a website is as accessible as it can be, meeting the needs of its audience. The main focus is on web accessibility and, WCAG 2.1 and 2.2 guidelines.
Paperback, ebook
Inclusive Design Communities, Sameera Kapila
A Book Apart, 2022
Whether you’re a student, educator, practicing designer, manager, recruiter, mentor, or organizer, you’ll learn to notice subconscious bias, interrogate your values, and actively create welcoming spaces for all. Inclusive Design Communities will empower you to build the design industry you want to see—the one we all deserve.
Paperback, ebook
Giving a Damn About Accessibility, Sheri Byrne-Haber
UX Collective, 2021
Many accessibility guides out there are either too prescriptive (making it seem like a checklist), too aspirational (painting a utopian picture that doesn’t drive action), or too charity-driven (driving the point that people with disabilities are to be pitied). This handbook is a little different.
PDF download, SoundCloud audio
Structured Negotiation: A Winning Alternative to Lawsuits, Second Edition, Lainey Feingold
A11y Books, 2021
Stories and strategies from 25 years of collaborative advocacy for accessible technology and other issues.
Paperback, ebook
Accessible Vue, Marcus Hermann
Leanpub, 2021
From disclosure widgets to accessible routing and automated tests to modal dialogs, Accessible Vue provides you patterns, strategies, tools, mindset and vocabulary for building inclusive apps in our favorite JavaScript framework.
Ebook, online
Inclusive Components, Heydon Pickering
Smashing Magazine, 2019
At its heart, “Inclusive Components” is a detailed, practical handbook for building fully accessible interfaces. The book examines common interface patterns — accordions, tables, tabs, toggles and everything in-between — through the lens of inclusion. The result is a dozen of fully accessible and robust patterns we author, plug in, and use daily.
Hardcover, ebook
Inclusive Design for a Digital World, Regine Gilbert
Apress, 2019
For a long time, the concept of accessibility has been limited in terms of only defining physical spaces. However, change is afoot: personal technology now plays a part in the everyday lives of most of us, and thus it is a responsibility for designers of apps, web pages, and more public-facing tech products to make them accessible to all. Our digital era brings progressive ideas and paradigm shifts – but they are only truly progressive if everybody can participate.
Paperback, ebook
Accessibility and Inclusive Design: Why They’re Not the Same, Derek Featherstone
SitePoint, 2019
In this case study, Derek Featherstone outlines some painful lessons learned while building an accessible video player, and outlines the inclusive design approach that should have been taken from the outset.
Online
Approachable Accessibility: Planning for Success, Martine Dowden, Michael Dowden
Apress, 2019
This book makes the topic of web accessibility as approachable as possible to help every web professional become an accessibility advocate at their companies, on their projects, and in their communities. This discussion will go beyond the buzzword to explore the impact our designs and decisions have on real people, along with the ethical, legal, and financial incentives for accessibility prioritization.
Paperback, ebook
Practical Web Inclusion and Accessibility: A Comprehensive Guide to Access Needs, Ashley Firth
Apress, 2019
You’ll be guided through a broad range of access needs, the barriers users often face, and provided practical advice on how your sites can help rather than hinder. Going beyond advice tailored solely for developers, this book offers potential improvements for designers, developers, user experience professionals, QA and testers.
Paperback, online
Form Design Patterns, Adam Silver
Smashing Magazine, 2018
Without forms, the web is a passive experience where content is just consumed. But with forms the web can be collaborative, creative and productive. Forms are at the center of every meaningful interaction, so they’re worth getting a firm handle on.
Hardcover, ebook
Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy, Greg Gay
Digital Education Strategies, The Chang School, 2018
Digital accessibility skills are in high demand, as the world becomes more aware of barriers in digital content that prevent some people from participating in a digital society. These are essential skills for web developers, and essential knowledge for organizations that want to ensure their web content is reaching the broadest audience possible.
Online, ebook
Accessibility for Everyone, Laura Kalbag
A Book Apart, 2017
You make the web more inclusive for everyone, everywhere, when you design with accessibility in mind. Let Laura Kalbag guide you through the accessibility landscape: understand disability and impairment challenges; get a handle on important laws and guidelines; and learn how to plan for, evaluate, and test accessible design. Leverage tools and techniques like clear copywriting, well-structured IA, meaningful HTML, and thoughtful design, to create a solid set of best practices.
Paperback, ebook
Color Accessibility Workflows, Geri Coady
A Book Apart, 2017
Color is a powerful tool that affords seemingly endless design possibilities, but we often design with only one type of color vision in mind—our own. Make sure that accessibility and aesthetics go hand in hand with every design you create. Learn what color accessibility is (and why it matters); choose appropriate colors and implement testing; and snag a few key tips and tricks to get your color game plan together.
Paperback, ebook
Inclusive Design Patterns, Heydon Pickering
Smashing Magazine, 2016
We make inaccessible and unusable websites and apps all the time, but it’s not for lack of skill or talent. It’s just a case of doing things the wrong way. We try to build the best experiences we can, but we only make them for ourselves and for people like us.
Hardcover, ebook
Practical Approaches For Designing Accessible Websites, Léonie Watson, Chaals McCathie Nevile, Henny Swan, Scott O’Hara, Marcy sutton, et al
Smashing Magazine, 2015
With the help of this eBook, you will gain a deeper understanding of common accessibility pitfalls and learn to circumvent them to create a better experience for everyone.
Ebook
A Web for Everyone, Sarah Horton & Whitney Quesenbery
Rosenfeld Media, 2014
If you are in charge of the user experience, development, or strategy for a web site, A Web for Everyone will help you make your site accessible without sacrificing design or innovation. Rooted in universal design principles, this book provides solutions: practical advice and examples of how to create sites that everyone can use.
Paperback, ebook
Apps For All: Coding Accessible Web Applications, Heydon Pickering
Smashing Magazine, 2014
Accessibility is not just about addressing specific disabilities, but making sure as many people as possible have access to the same information.
Ebook
A Pocket Guide to Colour Accessibility, Geri Coady
Five Simple Steps, 2013
Learn how to create designs that are accessible to people with colour-blindness without sacrificing aesthetics.
Paperback, ebook
Accessibility Handbook, Katie Cunningham
O’Reilly Media, 2012
Get practical guidelines for making your website accessible to people with disabilities. With this handbook, you’ll learn how to design or develop a site that conforms to Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act—and in the process you’ll discover how to provide a better user experience for everyone.
Paperback, ebook
In closing, I want to mention some favorite books I refer to for inspiration, to help keep my feet on the ground, or to remind me of the basics. They’re not specifically about digital accessibility but they definitely affect the way I think about it. These are my words.
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Design for Developers
Manning, 2023
This is actually a brand new title, in which Stephanie Stimac does an awesome job of expressing modern design and UX principles in terms that developers can understand and act on. I’m for anything that bridges the divide between devs and design, and I firmly believe that will make digital accessibility easier for everyone to implement. -
Responsible JavaScript
A Book Apart, 2021
JavaScript is something I struggle with sometimes, and this book by Jeremy Wagner keeps me focused: “By centering user needs every step of the way—from toolchains to metrics to testing—we can all contribute to a more inclusive, accessible, and resilient web.” It’s not cheap but it’s become my go-to for JS. -
Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited
New Riders, 2014
Steve Krug has been keeping me grounded for nearly 20 years now, with the original edition of this book, through its sequel Rocket Surgery Made Easy and this revised edition. Following his common sense advice on user experience and usability is guaranteed to improve your approach to digital accessibility. Gold. -
HTML Semantics
Smashing Magazine, 2012
This is a free ebook. Semantic HTML is a fundamental plank of digital accessibility, and between them, Bruce Lawson, Niels Matthijs, Derek Johnson, Divya Manian, Jeremy Keith, and Tyler Tate keep me grounded, and remind me why and how we can avoid the div soup that characterizes too much of the web these days. -
Responsive Web Design
A Book Apart, 2011
It took only a few years for Ethan Marcotte’s revolutionary way of looking at flexible web design to become so accepted we don’t even use the word “responsive” any more, it’s just good web design. On the other hand, there are still plenty of sites out there that display poorly in certain viewports because of the way they were designed, creating accessibility headaches along the way. -
The Art & Science of Web Design
New Riders, 2000
This is the book that started it all for me, that made think I could do this for a living, back when Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer ruled, when Photoshop was a pretty simple tool, before Flash and XML. Jeffrey Veen explained it all and made it seem incredibly exciting. I took this book along when he came to Australia for a conference and he signed it for me. To be honest, I still don’t understand everything in it, but the bits I do get are still solid, from UI design, to information architecture, to performance, and usability. And the title still sums up for me everything we do.
Please do add your suggestions in the comments.
