AUDIO: Make It Stop! Make It Stop!

Too loud sound. Furious young bearded man covering ears with hands and keeping eyes closed while standing against grey background

Got a call from a business owner here on the East Coast, a fellow who sells cement. “Mary, I have a new website, and according to my stats, people come to the site, but don’t stay very long. Can you have a look and let me know if you can tell what the problem is?”

Sure.

When I visited his website. I was immediately accosted by very patriotic but EXTREMELY LOUD John Philip Sousa marching music blaring through my computer speakers. So loud that my Black Labbie Gracie woke from a deep sleep and started running around my office…barking, barking and barking. The sudden unexpected noise was so shocking I couldn’t hit the browser’s back button fast enough to make it stop!

What a racket!

What does this have to do with accessibility?

Jeepers creepers, people, don’t automatically start any audio when a home page loads. Always give the user the option to listen.

If an audio file a visitor has selected plays longer than 3 seconds, you have to give the user a way to turn it off.

Mr. Cement did not like my suggestion of ditching the loud music. He thought my advice was un-American.

Sigh.

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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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TOOLS: Accessible Procurement Toolkit for RFPs

RFP Proposal Concept

RFP BOILERPLATE FOR ACCESSIBILITY

Check out this online tool for government procurement. Developed for Mandate 376 in Europe, U.S. companies may use it as a start for developing their own RFP accessibility responses.

Check it out >> http://mandate376.standards.eu/procurement-stages/writing-a-call-for-tenders/wizard/technical-requirements/

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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 FORMS: Calling All Radio Buttons

Radio Buttons Illustration

To be recognized by screen readers, radio button groups need: 1) a fieldset, 2) a legend, and 3) labels.

Legend text is announced along with the label text for radio buttons inside a fieldset, which makes it easier for a screen reader user to understand each radio button choice.

CODE EXAMPLE:

<form>

<fieldset>
<legend>Choose the sandwich you want to order:</legend>

<input type=”radio” name=”sandwich” value=”ham” id=”sandwich_ham”>
<label for=”sandwich_ham”>Ham</label>

<input type=”radio” name=”sandwich” value=”tuna” id=”sandwich_tuna”>
<label for=”sandwich_tuna”>Tuna Fish</label>

<input type=”radio” name=”sandwich” value=”cheese” id=”sandwich_cheese”>
<label for=”sandwich_cheese”>Cheese</label>

</fieldset>

</form>

BROWSER VIEW

Sample of Grouped Radio Buttons with Fieldset and Legend

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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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