Thinking about Digital Accessibility

It is sometimes difficult to remember, but most digital resources have not really been around that long. What we affectionately call &quote;the Internet&quote;, more accurately known as &quote;the Word Wide Web,&quote; is younger than the 30 year-old Americans with Disabilities Act, and digital accessibility is younger than that. With the rise in demand for access, and the massive migration to online resources in 2020, designers and engineers are eager to ensure their digital resources are accessible, but they are often at a disadvantage from the lack of information and rapid technological changes they face. In this book, we explore what accessibility looks like in an interface, stumbling blocks that act as barriers to designing or building accessible interfaces, and steppingstones that can be used in the journey to accessibility. Plain language accessibility guidelines, plain language content guidelines, and guidelines useful in determining if an interface has been universally designed all find a place in the discussion that will take the interfaces you design and build from usable to accessible.