ACCESSIBILITY TESTING: Try the Windows Narrator Screen-Reading App

Windows Screen Narrator

Check out the Microsoft Windows Narrator screen-reading app, available via the Windows 10 & 11 operating systems.

To stop/start the Narrator, use the keyboard combo Windows + Ctrl + Enter.

The app also automatically draws a box by default to indicate visible focus.

Windows Narrator works in the whole environment, not just with browsers.

Click here to access the complete Windows Narrator Guide.

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PDF Accessibility Remediation How to Fix 40 Common Errors

Whether you have limited experience with the PDF remediation process, are expanding your knowledge on how to remediate PDFs, or simply need a resource that can help remind you how to fix a frustrating error, the info provided in this e-book can help.

Download now.

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ACCESSIBILITY TESTING: How to Enable Keyboard Accessibility on a Mac

Illustration of keyboard tab keys

Did you know that keyboard accessibility is NOT enabled by default on a Mac?

As a result, your accessibility and screen reader test results will be inaccurate.

Check out Deque University’s tutorial on how to enable System Preferences and Safari Preferences for keyboard accessibility on the Mac.

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Instant Download!

PDF Accessibility Remediation How to Fix 40 Common Errors

Whether you have limited experience with the PDF remediation process, are expanding your knowledge on how to remediate PDFs, or simply need a resource that can help remind you how to fix a frustrating error, the info provided in this e-book can help.

Download now.

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ACCESSIBILITY TESTING: taba11y Chrome Extension

Illustration of keyboard tab keys

Tab order is important for a wide range of website visitors, from keyboard-only to screen reader users. By ensuring that the tab order is logical, you can provide a great user experience for as many people as possible.

taba11y is a Chrome extension that calculates the tab order of all elements on a web page and displays it visually, either by drawing a path or by highlighting the elements.

taba11y visual sample of tab order

Add the taba11y extension to your Chrome browser now.

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Instant Download!

PDF Accessibility Remediation How to Fix 40 Common Errors

Whether you have limited experience with the PDF remediation process, are expanding your knowledge on how to remediate PDFs, or simply need a resource that can help remind you how to fix a frustrating error, the info provided in this e-book can help.

Download now.

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ACCESSIBLE EPUBS: Use the Ace by DAISY App Testing Tool

Epub Icons

Are the EPUB files you are creating really accessible?

Ace by DAISY is a free, open source EPUB accessibility checking tool which has been created to assist in the evaluation of conformance to the EPUB Accessibility Specification.

Available for Windows, MacOS and Linux

The Ace by DAISY App is a desktop application for Windows, MacOS and Linux, allowing EPUB accessibility testing directly from your desktop, helping to ensure your EPUB content conforms with the EPUB Accessibility 1.0 specification.

Download the Ace by DAISY App and find further developer’s notes, along with installation instructions.

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBILITY TOOLS: Take a Bite Out of Testing with A11ygator

Illustration of Smiling Alligator

Making online content available to every user is the most important requirement for a website. Accessible design takes effort.  You must learn about the specific guidelines and build these rules into your design and content. You must also be prepared to conduct a lot of manual testing.

How can a web developer test a website to get an initial baseline on the items that need to be fixed so they are accessible?

Check out A11ygator, a simplified dashboard where you can type a website URL to check and get an accessibility report.

a11ygator interface

A11ygator uses Pa11y under the hood. You can select the WCAG standard and the wait time – the time to wait before A11ygator actually starts to test, useful for websites that may take some seconds to render the content.

Also, you will get a screenshot of the actual page that A11ygator has tested, plus the ability to download the report in JSON format.

Take A11ygator for a spin.

RESOURCE

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE CONTENT: Readability Analyzer

Illustration of different types of printed books

Here are three tips to follow when creating accessible website content:

– Keep it simple.
– Keep it short.
– Keep it clear.

To accommodate users with learning disabilities, reading disorders, or who speak English as a second language, it is suggested that you write content at an 8th grade reading level.

How can you test the readability of your content?

Use Readability Analyzer, a free online tool that can help you estimate the readability of a passage of text using the Flesch Reading Ease, Fog Scale Level, Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level, and other metrics.

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBLE MAPS: Color Advice for Cartography

Color coded countries on world map

Need help determining the correct color contrast for maps?

ColorBrewer to the rescue!

Created by Cynthia Brewer, Mark Harrower and other pros at The Pennsylvania State University, ColorBrewer is a diagnostic tool for evaluating the robustness of individual color schemes in maps.

Full use of the tool can benefit your map designs because colors (even very similar colors) are easy to differentiate when they appear in a nicely ordered sequence (such as a legend). The task of differentiating the colors, however, becomes much harder when the patterns on the map are complex, such as in the lower left corner of the diagnostic map.

Screenshot of ColorBrewer diagnostic color contrast tool

Here are two tests you can conduct with ColorBrewer:

TEST #1: Can you easily distinguish every color in the random section of the map (the lower left)? If you have a ten-class map, you should be able to see clearly ten unique colors.

TEST #2: Within each large band of color on the map, we placed several polygons filled with each map color (‘outliers’). For example, if you have a seven-class map, there will be six outlier colors per band, demonstrating the appearance of all map colors with each as a surrounding color. Can you see each outlier clearly? Do all pairs of outliers in the band look different? If not, perhaps you should choose a different scheme or fewer classes.

ColorBrewer also lets you determine color schemes that are colorblind-safe, print-friendly and photocopy-safe. You can also download a Microsoft Excel file with all 165 color schemes in one master file. Color schemes are also available for use on the web as CSS, JSON, and JavaScript.

Try ColorBrewer now.

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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ACCESSIBILITY TESTING TOOLS: Microsoft Accessibility Insights

Microsoft Logo on Web page

Microsoft’s two Accessibility Insights applications are now available as open source code.

The two free tools, Accessibility Insights for Windows and Accessibility Insights for Web, help developers find and fix common accessibility issues early in the software development cycle. They can be used as stand-alone tools or can be integrated through their rules engines into a developer’s build process.

The applications are built on open-source axe technology from Deque Systems, which works with companies to make their websites and mobile apps accessible to people with disabilities. The Accessibility Insights applications are part of Microsoft’s larger inclusion efforts that also involve inclusive hiring and the Department of Homeland Security’s Trusted Tester program.

Read the rest of eWeek’s article Microsoft Now Offers Accessibility Insights as Open Source Code

Download Accessibility Insights for Windows and Accessibility Insights for Web now.

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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TOOL: Easy Way to Test Color Contrast Results Right Now

Accessible Color Contrast Tool Result

Use the free online Accessible Colors Tool to evaluate your color combination using the WCAG 2.0 guidelines for contrast accessibility.

If your combination does not meet the guidelines, the tool suggests the closest accessible combination by modifying the color lightness.

Try the Accessible Color Tool now.

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WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY TESTING & REMEDIATION SERVICES: Mary Gillen is an experienced Website Accessibility Compliance Auditor and Remediator. She can test your website to determine if it meets accessibility standards:

WCAG 2.1: 312 checkpoints covering A, AA and AAA W3 accessibility guidelines
Section 508: 15 US federal guidelines covered by 59 accessibility checkpoints

Find out more about Mary Gillen’s Accessibility Testing & Remediation Services: Websites, PDFs, Office Docs & Videos

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