Design Questions/Accessibility

1. What, in your opinion, is the best tool to use to determine appropriate color contrast?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) the only thing I do in this area is use a plugin to scan where things are not accessible; the Wave plugin or the Monsido plugin are good for this. There might be some extensions to use while designing in one of the links referenced here: Images and Accessibility

2. Is color contrast an issue for photos and graphics when type is not used?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) not sure quite how to answer this--do you mean in a case where the image is not used to communicate information at all? If the image is purely decorative and the user can still complete all steps I suppose then there wouldn’t be any ADA violations?

3. What size/resolution should we build our graphics in order to accommodate the ability to resize to 200% without loss of quality”?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) I have no idea

4. Should we be providing alt text descriptions on all of our images for the web and email? If so, would the content writers provide the copy?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) this one would go to Traci or Alexis; it’s a process question that marketing will need to determine and there isn’t a single right way to do it.

5. Can you explain what a “keyboard focus indicator” is and how it relates to building graphics for the web?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) I don’t know a lot about keyboard focus indicators. I just Google these terms when I come across them or go directly to WebAim. Here’s the official explanation on this: WebAIM: Keyboard Accessibility

6. Should we completely avoid using text in web graphics unless it is live text?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) I don’t think I can really make that call; so long as it is accessible and usable then I don’t have an issue with either way. It seems like it would be simpler to work with images that don’t have text in the graphic because there are so many different device sizes to consider and test for, but primarily I am concerned with the end result and the user experience, not the execution.

7. What is meant by “text spacing” when referring to content accessibility?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) I don’t think I’ve seen that specific term before but looks like it just means ensuring the content is readable for users.

8. Is True Text the same as live text?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) haven’t seen that term before. I looked it up and I think so.

9. Is link text coded in? For example, can a “Learn More” button have link text which is more descriptive for screen readers, like “Learn more about our pricing structure”?

@Catherine Foss (Unlicensed) yes, it’s possible to set up that way, but then your sighted readers lose the additional context…it’s just as valuable for someone viewing the page in the traditional sense to get an indicator of where they are going to click as for someone who is accessing from a screen reader.