Category Archives: tool

Get support from the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk

I knew Microsoft are doing great things in the Accessibility sphere but this Disability Answer Desk is a step further. In their own words: We want to get you the support you need for Microsoft Windows, Office, Xbox, and Skype. We can also help answer questions related to your Microsoft account and billing. Just selectContinueContinue reading “Get support from the Microsoft Disability Answer Desk”

Tip: How to Convert Image Text to Text

…to convert a text image to text: 1. Upload the text image to Google Drive2. Once the file is uploaded, use the contextual menu (right-click or two fingers on touchpad)3. Select “Open with Google Docs”4. A new Google Docs file is created, with the image at the top of a new Google Docs file. TheContinueContinue reading “Tip: How to Convert Image Text to Text”

ING open sources Lion: A library of performant, accessible & flexible Web Components

Lion aims to make your life a little bit easier, by taking the groundwork of feature complete, accessible, performant, and framework agnostic components out of your hands! Check out the repo at ing-bank/lion. As some of you may already know, ING has a long and rich history of building Web Components, starting out with the PolymerContinueContinue reading “ING open sources Lion: A library of performant, accessible & flexible Web Components”

Apple’s Voice Control in iOS13 is the real deal

A friend on Twitter asked my impressions on Voice Control. That prompted me to finally install iOS13 and give it a go. I am very enthused by the result. Voice Control acts just like most Apple products do – they do what they say and they show thought and attention to detail. It’s a gameContinueContinue reading “Apple’s Voice Control in iOS13 is the real deal”

Teach Access Portal

“The Teach Access initiative has launched a set of best practices for the disciplines responsible for making mobile apps and websites accessible. This tutorial will provide basic training for developers and designers, with more disciplines to come. If you are new to accessibility, you’ve come to the right place – the tutorial will help youContinueContinue reading “Teach Access Portal”

Assistive Technologies I Test With

Based on a Q&A question on how I (a non-accessibility professional) test accessibility July 19, 2018 After a recent talk on Accessibility, I was asked during the Q&A about what Assistive Technologies (AT) I test with while I’m developing. Such a good question! I hadn’t ever thought about what I actually test with and asContinueContinue reading “Assistive Technologies I Test With”

‘Chat gadget’ to help deaf people with speak-to-text conversation device

… Jari Hazelebach created his SpeakSee system of colour-coded microphones to look like sleek iPhone accessories, which clip onto clothing and transcribe words via wifi into text on a tablet or smartphone screen via an app. … The first hard-of-hearing Londoner to try the £300 device said it could help make business meetings and conversationsContinueContinue reading “‘Chat gadget’ to help deaf people with speak-to-text conversation device”

Functions to Add ARIA to Tables and Lists

… Generally when I write and present things, I provide techniques, ideas, examples, and experience to address issues. When I write copy-paste-ready code, with a few older exceptions, I write generic code not tied to a framework nor library. … I have, however, written a couple vanilla JavaScript functions that you can drop into yourContinueContinue reading “Functions to Add ARIA to Tables and Lists”

Siri Shortcuts stands to be a boon for people living with disability – Lifekludger

I watched the Apple WWDC presentation this morning and was excited to see the announcement of Shortcuts. Siri Shortcuts Streamline the things you do often with shortcuts. Siri can now intelligently pair your daily routines with third-party apps to suggest convenient shortcuts right when you need them. So if you typically pick up a coffeeContinueContinue reading “Siri Shortcuts stands to be a boon for people living with disability – Lifekludger”

Getty Images – The Disability Collection

The Disability Collection: Getty Images announced their partnership with Oath and the National Disability Leadership Alliance to create a collection of authentic images of disabled people. The disability collection currently has 34 assets, with plans to add more. Curated by (Lifekludger) Read full article at Source: Getty Images

WICG/focus-visible: Polyfill for `:focus-visible`

Based on the proposed CSS :focus-visible pseudo-selector, this prototype adds a focus-visible class to the focused element, in situations in which the :focus-visible pseudo-selector should match. … Curated by (Lifekludger) Read full article at Source: GitHub – WICG/focus-visible: Polyfill for `:focus-visible`

What’s New In DevTools (Chrome 65)  | Google Developers

New features coming to DevTools in Chrome 65 include: Local Overrides New accessibility tools The Changes tab New SEO and performance audits Multiple recordings in the Performance panel Reliable code stepping with workers and asynchronous code Read on, or watch the video version of these release notes, below. Note: Check what version of Chrome you’re running at chrome://version. If you’re runningContinueContinue reading “What’s New In DevTools (Chrome 65)  | Google Developers”

Screen Sizes | Viewport Sizes and Pixel Densities for Popular Devices

We built screensiz.es to help you quickly find the screen specifications of the most popular devices and monitors currently on the market.The size data comes from Wikipedia, and for a better understanding of Pixel Density, check out this great post by Teehan+Lax.Our “popularity” guesstimates are derived from annualized monthly Google queries (from AdWords traffic estimator),ContinueContinue reading “Screen Sizes | Viewport Sizes and Pixel Densities for Popular Devices”

Best Color Contrast Checkers for Accessibility Testing

Whether you are designing, developing, testing or auditing, a contrast ratio checker is the best way to ensure your site or app passes accessibility criteria. As a designer you can use a simple value checker to plug in foreground and background color value as you use them. You could also use other tools to check final design designsContinueContinue reading “Best Color Contrast Checkers for Accessibility Testing”

GitHub – pa11y/pa11y: Pa11y is your automated accessibility testing pal

Pa11y is your automated accessibility testing pal. It runs HTML CodeSniffer from the command line for programmatic accessibility reporting. … Curated by (Lifekludger) Read full article at Source: GitHub – pa11y/pa11y: Pa11y is your automated accessibility testing pal

Inclusive – Microsoft Design

Inclusive Design at Microsoft It’s in our mission statement: empower every person on the planet to achieve more. Designing for inclusivity opens up our experiences and reflects how people adapt to the world around them. … Our inclusive design principles Recognize exclusion Exclusion happens when we solve problems using our own biases. As Microsoft designers, we seekContinueContinue reading “Inclusive – Microsoft Design”

Accessibility Testing: Checkers & Development Tools Review

Tools of the Trade In a different article, I outline the basics foundations of accessibility standards: “Understanding s508 & WCAG 2.0”. To further expand this, let’s look at various development tools to help author accessible content conformant to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (“WCAG”) 2.0 standards. Getting Started For a primer or refresher on whatContinueContinue reading “Accessibility Testing: Checkers & Development Tools Review”

The Potential of IoT Technologies for People with Disabilities

While being able to dim your lights, lock your doors, and adjust the thermostat using voice commands or a simple interface on your smartphone may seem like convenient novelties to some, for disabled individuals these can be essential to maintaining a safe, healthy, enjoyable home life. For example, a quadriplegic who cannot physically open theirContinueContinue reading “The Potential of IoT Technologies for People with Disabilities”

Four Free Tools for Automated Accessibility Testing of Web Apps

Designing and developing for web accessibility has become a requirement of modern computing. Depending on the content and complexity of your project requirements, it can also be a very difficult pursuit. Two colleagues of mine have already written excellent articles exploring the need for and design of accessible web sites: Designing Accessible Software – BreakingContinueContinue reading “Four Free Tools for Automated Accessibility Testing of Web Apps”

At this month’s WWDC, Apple unveiled refined accessibility tools

… …for all the focus on refinement, there also is a cavalcade of new stuff to be excited about. As it pertains to accessibility, some obvious highlights for me are the 10.5” iPad Pro and the corresponding iPad-centric enhancements in iOS 11. I’m also psyched for smaller niceties too, such as the ability to automatically enter Reader View in SafariContinueContinue reading “At this month’s WWDC, Apple unveiled refined accessibility tools”

How a Smart Home Empowers People with Disabilities

… While advances in personal technology continue at a rapid pace, at times their designers seem to forget about the population that could perhaps benefit from it the most. Stabelfeldt says just the ability to charge a phone with a wheelchair didn’t even exist until a few years ago. But features like Apple’s “Home” appContinueContinue reading “How a Smart Home Empowers People with Disabilities”

JAWS screen reader gets more bight

Freedom Scientific has recently released JAWS 18.0.2738, which incorporates several important improvements made between the JAWS February 2017 release and this mid April 2017 update, plus dozens of less revolutionary but very practical enhancements. JAWS (Job Access With Speech) is the world’s most popular screen reader, developed for computer users whose vision loss prevents themContinueContinue reading “JAWS screen reader gets more bight”