Even though WCAG 2.0 was written before smartphones put mobile accessibility in the public eye, WCAG 2.0 was written to be forward-thinking and has proved to be so. During this session, you’ll learn about available mobile accessibility resources from the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative. You’ll also learn about the new work going on in the Mobile Accessibility Task Force to create and update techniques for WCAG in mobile websites and native apps.
MOBILE ACCESSIBILITY ON THE MOVE
1. Mobile Accessibility on the Move MOBILE ACTIVITY IN W3C WEB ACCESSIBILITY INITIATIVE (WAI)
2. Mobile Has Increased Exponentially US smartphone ownership has increased 25% to 143 million and tablet ownership has increased 55% to 71 million Mobile is more than just phones Phones Tablets TV Remotes Videogame controllers Other devices
3. Mobile Internet Use Has Increase 93% Smartphones and tablets have caused Internet use to increase 93% since 2010 according to comScore. According to Pew Internet Research, 91% of the adult US population owns a cellphone. The breakout is as follows: ◦ 56% of US adults are smartphone adopters. ◦ 35% of US adults have a cellphone that isn’t a smartphone. ◦ 9% of US adults don’t own a cellphone at all.
4. US Smartphone Demographics Among all major US demographic groups, smartphone ownership has increased significantly according to Nielsen 70% 81% 50%
5. Mobile Challenges All of Us Smaller everything! ◦ Screens ◦ Keyboards ◦ Fonts ◦ Touch areas Reliant mostly on touch Access on the go – noisy environments, one-handed access, bandwidth issues
6. Mobile Provides New Opportunities ◦ Cheaper ◦ Portable ◦ Connect anywhere – WIFI and cellular coverage ◦ Reach a network of people easily ◦ Key assistive technology is built in ◦ Allows custom experiences with geo location, environmental awareness, proximity sensors, accelerometer, camera, microphone, screen orientation etc.
7. What is Mobile Accessibility? Ability to use device and applications effectively despite challenges
8. Mobile Accessibility Impacts Everyone Aging Eyes One handed Fat fingers Busy Eyes and Hands Outside light Noisy, public spaces
9. What is W3C WAI? Web Accessibility Initiative under the W3C WAI develops strategies, guidelines, resources to make the Web accessible: ◦ Accessibility support in W3C technologies ◦ Guidelines for implementing accessibility ◦ Methods for evaluating accessibility ◦ Developing resources for education and outreach ◦ Coordinating with research and development ◦ Standards harmonization
10. W3C WAI & Mobile Accessibility Existing accessibility guidelines and standards provide guidance on mobile accessibility ◦ WCAG 2.0 was designed to be forward-compatible, and is proving to be so ◦ UAAG 2.0 includes mobile in guidelines for user agent and user interface accessibility ◦ IndieUI Events is new work toward web apps independent of device or input method ◦ Many additional W3C and WAI resources that support mobile accessibility See more at www.w3.org/wai/mobile
11. Mobile Accessibility Taskforce The objective of the Mobile Accessibility Task Force is to produce techniques, understanding and guidance documents as well as updates to existing related W3C / WAI material that addresses the mobile space. Creating mobile techniques for WCAG using HTML5, ARIA, CSS and JavaScript ◦ Draft WCAG Techniques ◦ Draft Understanding WCAG 2.0 Developing design guidance or mobile web accessibility best practices ◦ Gap Analysis Discussion: BBC Mobile Guidelines ◦ Gap Analysis Discussion: Funka Nu Mobile Accessibility Guidelines ◦ Gap Analysis Discussion: IBM Accessibility Guidelines ◦ Accessibility Concerns in Responsive Design for Mobile Reviewing existing resources, including those outside of W3C Task Force Homepage: www.w3.org/WAI/GL/mobile-a11y-tf/
12. How WCAG 2.0 Applies to Mobile WCAG 2.0 was designed to be flexible. It’s Principles can be applied to different types of web sites, different technologies and different devices.
13. Perceivable 1.3.2 MEANINGFUL SEQUENCE: WHEN THE SEQUENCE IN WHICH CONTENT IS PRESENTED AFFECTS ITS MEANING, A CORRECT READING SEQUENCE CAN BE PROGRAMMATICALLY DETERMINED. (LEVEL A)
14. Operable GUIDELINE 2.1 KEYBOARD ACCESSIBLE: MAKE ALL FUNCTIONALITY AVAILABLE FROM A KEYBOARD Source: www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?1649
15. Understandable GUIDELINE 3.2 PREDICTABLE: MAKE WEB PAGES APPEAR AND OPERATE IN PREDICTABLE WAYS. ◦ Navigation patterns are different 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions: Labels or instructions are provided when content requires user input. Which layout is better for mobile?
16. Robust GUIDELINE 4.1 COMPATIBLE: MAXIMIZE COMPATIBILITY WITH CURRENT AND FUTURE USER AGENTS, INCLUDING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES Source: caniuse.com/#search=aria
17. Standards for Web Applications on Mobile Standards for Web Applications on Mobile: current state and roadmap ◦ Quarterly update on the open web platform ◦ Links to all the standards and APIs that are being developed for mobile
18. UAAG Mobile Examples As the web is increasingly becoming the platform for interoperable applications, the need for accessibility guidelines for the user interface is also increasing. Setting preferences for text display (1.4.1) Ben chooses the larger text for font size in the mobile settings dialog box so that it is easier to read with his low vision. Note: This requires that the mobile OS reveals the system font setting to the app developer, which is not yet available on all mobile platforms. Open on Request (1.8.9) Ray’s mobile device automatically opens location links and calendar dates found on web pages in native apps available on the device. When he returns to the browser, focus on the original link is maintained so he knows his location, even though he cannot see the page. Multimodal keyboard operation (2.1.1) Karen cannot easily use the onscreen keyboard to navigate Web pages on her mobile phone because of muscle weakness. Instead, she uses gestures to move between elements on the page. As focus moves from one element to another, there is a visible focus indicator. Move viewport to focus (1.8.2) Lee typically views web content on her mobile phone at a high level of zoom, frequently positioning elements outside the viewport. When moving between focusable elements, the viewport automatically scrolls to the element currently in focus. See more at: www.w3.org/TR/IMPLEMENTING-UAAG20/mobile
19. Events for User Interface Independence Events for User Interface Independence (IndieUI) First Public Working Draft ◦ specifies a layer between device input abilities and what the user wants to do, such as ◦ scrolling a view ◦ canceling an action ◦ adding a value to a widget ◦ selecting a range, etc. so that the device can infer what action the user wants — no matter what the modality (keyboard, mouse, touch, gesture, speech) or the raw input (e.g. a 3 finger swipe custom gesture) — and send the appropriate event to the web application
20. W3C WAI Mobile Page Summary of all the resources related to mobile accessibility See more at: www.w3.org/WAI/mobile/
21. W3C WAI Mobile Task Force MOBILE ACCESSIBILITY TASK FORCE www.w3.org/WAI/GL/mobile-a11y-tf/ MOBILE A11Y TF WIKI www.w3.org/WAI/GL/mobile-a11y- tf/wiki
22. Questions?