Readers in the U.S. may be familiar with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requiring government agencies to provide people with disabilities with equal access to electronic information and data. ANDI is an accessibility inspection tool designed specifically to check for compliance with Section 508 standards, but one that will prove useful for anyone concerned about web accessibility. ANDI...

Interaction designer Karwai Pun designed this series of six helpful posters that provide guidelines for creating websites and other web-based publications that are accessible to people with disabilities. Visitors can explore and download these posters courtesy of the UK Government's Digital Service blog. Individual posters provide dos and don'ts on web design for those who are on the autism...

One of the things a website designer or administrator needs to keep in mind is the user experience of their site's visitors, including those visitors who may have visual, hearing, motor, or cognitive difficulties. WAVE, a free web accessibility evaluation tool developed by WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind), provides a simple way to check the accessibility of a web page's content. After entering...

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provide a set of recommendations describing how to produce websites that are more accessible for people with disabilities and that work well across a range of devices. These guidelines specify the minimum levels of contrast between text and background colors necessary for pages to be easily readable. The WebAIM Color Contrast Checker provides an...

Accessibility Unlocked has three primary goals. First, to create a community and network for disabled developers. Second, to curate resources that explore the local challenges and opportunities within Australia and New Zealand. And third, to further accessibility success by connecting abled and disabled developers. In short, the team works to broaden "the profile, awareness, connections, and...

Color Oracle is an easy-to-use app that ensures a user's content is accessible to individuals with color vision impairments. In other words, the app assists creators in making "graphical work [that] is readable by the widest possible audience." The free simulator is compatible with macOS, Windows, and Linux. The Usage tab demonstrates how the simulator works. First, a user's art is converted into...

Based on the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, this toolkit ensures developers are creating accessible online content. The left-hand panel allows readers to quickly navigate through five sections, or users can browse across content using the search bar in the top-right corner. Of course, the Introduction section is a great place to begin. Here, readers will learn...

"What is web accessibility?" Find an answer, along with plenty of tips and tools to cultivate the practice, on Web Axe. Formerly a podcast and blog, and now focused on the latter initiative, Web Axe is a great resource for anyone responsible for creating online content. Unfortunately, web accessibility has actually decreased in recent times, so it is more important than ever to design with...

In addition to its clever name, the A11y Project garnered praise for its user-friendly web accessibility primers. Especially notable is the site's fillable checklist based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Here, readers can self-audit their web-based content and find ways to improve accessibility in the digital sphere. And, all of the site's materials further an important mission; after...

Content creators want everyone to be able to access their work, and businesses want their products available to as many people as possible. This useful web accessibility checklist, created by Vox Media, outlines specific criteria for designers, engineers, project managers, quality assurance, and editorial teams to build accessible content. Experienced readers can use the checklist with their teams...