IT Accessibility: What Web Developers Have to Say
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0:01 - 0:03The web is about information accessibility
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0:03 - 0:05It's really a basic human freedom that we
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0:05 - 0:07are just really beginning to talk about in
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0:07 - 0:09the last decade. <ahm> It's important
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0:09 - 0:11therefore that everybody have this freedom
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0:11 - 0:14any freedom that's only allocated to a few
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0:14 - 0:14is not really a freedom.
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0:14 - 0:18The web is about information and <er> it's
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0:18 - 0:20important that people can access the
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0:20 - 0:22information that they need in order to
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0:22 - 0:24complete a workflow or get their job done
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0:24 - 0:25finish a task.
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0:26 - 0:28I think the web should be accessible to
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0:28 - 0:30everyone all the time. I grew up with it
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0:30 - 0:34being easily accessible to me.<Erm> It's how
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0:34 - 0:37I learnt information easily. <Erm>I can't
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0:37 - 0:39imagine someone not being able to just
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0:39 - 0:41google something instantly, and getting
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0:41 - 0:42what they need.
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0:43 - 0:46I think websites should be accessible<ah>
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0:46 - 0:49because...the web is founded kinda on this
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0:49 - 0:51idea of sharing information and if you
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0:51 - 0:53can't share information or if some people
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0:53 - 0:55can't see it , then it's not truly being shared.
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0:55 - 1:05<music>
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1:11 - 1:12We all have different abilities and
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1:12 - 1:14disabilities, and if we're all going to be
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1:14 - 1:17able to get the same content and interpret
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1:17 - 1:19it in a somewhat similar fashion, it has
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1:19 - 1:21to be given to us in that way and
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1:21 - 1:23accessible so that we can actually reach it
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1:23 - 1:25Accessibility is important for a number of
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1:25 - 1:28reasons. <ah> For one, there are laws that
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1:28 - 1:33apply.<ah>Another is, it can relate to our
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1:33 - 1:36reputation. And a third is that<ah>by
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1:36 - 1:39paying attention to it, we create a more
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1:39 - 1:41inclusive educational environment.
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1:41 - 1:44I think we are really good as developers
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1:44 - 1:48at being...focusing on the 80% case.
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1:48 - 1:51Focusing on how do we make every 4 out of
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1:51 - 1:53every 5 of our users happy. How do we
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1:53 - 1:54build things for those group of people,
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1:54 - 1:58because the last 20% is always hard.
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1:58 - 2:01But I say that the web is for 100%.
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2:01 - 2:03It's for everybody, which is what
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2:03 - 2:04Tim Burners-Lee said.
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2:04 - 2:06I'm definitely am very moved by this
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2:06 - 2:08notion of inclusiveness. I mean I think
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2:08 - 2:11that, for me it's a part of who I...
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2:11 - 2:14this is important to me. But <erm> there's
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2:14 - 2:19also just the sort of, <erm> the notion of
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2:19 - 2:24of having everybody's contributions to the
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2:24 - 2:25sort of...the knowledge.
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2:25 - 2:28Big challenge is, to escape your own
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2:28 - 2:31viewpoint. And to not make the assumption
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2:31 - 2:33that everyone sees the web the way you see
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2:33 - 2:36it, on the device you see, <erm> the way
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2:36 - 2:39you use it. And so when you're creating
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2:39 - 2:41web pages, that's the biggest challenge,
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2:41 - 2:44is getting outside of where you're sitting.
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2:44 - 2:47The biggest obstacle to accessibility,
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2:47 - 2:50I think is...is pure knowledge.
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2:50 - 2:52It's really about putting yourself in the
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2:52 - 2:53mind of a person with disabilities.
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2:53 - 2:57A person who has, who has no motor skills
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2:57 - 2:59has no hands, has a lack of vision, has a
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2:59 - 3:02lack of hearing.<Ahm> May have a
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3:02 - 3:04cognitive disability. To be able to put
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3:05 - 3:06yourselves in their shoes and understand
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3:06 - 3:08how are they working with the thing that
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3:08 - 3:10I'm building or designing right now,
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3:10 - 3:11can they use it?
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3:11 - 3:14The alternative is, you build something
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3:14 - 3:17someone says "oh no it's not accessible!"
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3:17 - 3:21and so you go back and try to fix it but
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3:21 - 3:22you probably have been doing the wrong
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3:22 - 3:25thing at many places <ah> you know you may
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3:25 - 3:28have hundreds of images with no alt text,
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3:28 - 3:30you may have navigation that's very confused
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3:30 - 3:33or you are relying on libraries that...
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3:33 - 3:34<lady on headphones>open internet explorer
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3:34 - 3:36it's just that the technologies aren't
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3:36 - 3:39going to figure out. <Erm> And so that's
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3:39 - 3:41when someone says, it's too much,
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3:41 - 3:43too expensive, it's too much work.
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3:43 - 3:45Well...just do it from the beginning and
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3:45 - 3:47it'll...it'll probably get a
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3:48 - 3:50quality product with less work.
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3:51 - 3:53Accessibility is important to incorporate
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3:53 - 3:55early on because if you don't
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3:55 - 3:57incorporate it early on, you will
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3:57 - 4:00incorporate it later at greater expense,
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4:00 - 4:03with a certain amount of time you don't have
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4:03 - 4:04with a certain amount of money you
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4:04 - 4:06don't have to try to make it better.
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4:06 - 4:07Accessibility, unfortunately like
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4:07 - 4:09everything else in design and web design
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4:09 - 4:11has to be done from the very beginning.
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4:11 - 4:13So whether you're designing for different
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4:13 - 4:15devices, whether doing for different kinds
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4:15 - 4:18of human abilities, all those things have
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4:18 - 4:20to be thought of from the very beginning
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4:20 - 4:22and built into your concept of what your
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4:22 - 4:23your plan is. Of course nobody wants to
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4:23 - 4:25take time at the end. We're almost there,
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4:25 - 4:27we just want to get it out, and that's the
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4:27 - 4:29mistake many of us make. It's like
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4:29 - 4:31"I'll just get it out, then I'll go back and fix it."
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4:31 - 4:33No. Doesn't ever happen. There's always
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4:33 - 4:33a next project.
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4:33 - 4:36The first step in getting an accessible
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4:36 - 4:38site, is to work with the management, so
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4:38 - 4:40they understand the value of making it
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4:40 - 4:43accessible, and also helping them
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4:43 - 4:46understand that <erm> we can do pretty
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4:46 - 4:49much anything they want and be accesible.
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4:49 - 4:53If you just talk about accessibility, it
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4:53 - 4:55may not be immediately appreciated as
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4:55 - 4:57something important to do. But if you
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4:57 - 5:01start talking about quality and <ah> the
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5:01 - 5:03overlap of search engine optimisation and
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5:03 - 5:06accessibility and things of that nature
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5:06 - 5:07that...that will tend to get people's
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5:07 - 5:08attention more.
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5:08 - 5:12When I started, I was a designer and I
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5:12 - 5:14wanted to make things look pretty. And you
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5:14 - 5:16don't think about anything besides the
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5:16 - 5:20aesthetics. And what I soon realised was
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5:20 - 5:22that when you have something that works
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5:22 - 5:26it already looks good, right, so
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5:26 - 5:28that's where I started to move towards
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5:28 - 5:30things being functional then the beauty
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5:30 - 5:32came along after that.
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5:32 - 5:35I don't believe that making a site
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5:35 - 5:38accessible inhibits creativity. In fact
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5:38 - 5:41I would argue it...it...helps creativity,
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5:41 - 5:43it improves creativity.
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5:43 - 5:45Good accessible design often closely
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5:45 - 5:49relates to good usable design. And we
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5:49 - 5:50found a really close parallel between good
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5:50 - 5:54mobile design, mobile for mobile devices
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5:54 - 5:56and the simplicity and clarity of good
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5:56 - 5:57accessible design. <when tablet appears>
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5:57 - 5:58<eletronic female voice from tablet>Safari
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5:58 - 6:00skip to primary content. <at each tap>
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6:00 - 6:01<electronic female voice reads tapped content>
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6:01 - 6:05In page link. Current Student. Future Student.
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6:05 - 6:08Menu Item. Accessible Technology.
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6:08 - 6:10<Rick Ells> So they are all inter-related
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6:10 - 6:12and basically if you're making a really
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6:12 - 6:14complicated site with lots of stuff on it.
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6:14 - 6:16When you're doing, using different methods
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6:16 - 6:18all over the place. <ah> You're probably
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6:18 - 6:20not building that great a site anyway.
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6:20 - 6:22The way we create websites today, has
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6:22 - 6:24improved from 10 years ago. We're not
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6:24 - 6:27using in-line styles, we're not only
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6:27 - 6:31designing for 1 screen size. So the
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6:31 - 6:33developers and designers are forced to
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6:33 - 6:35design for every person and every device.
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6:35 - 6:40We can't go backwards, we can't become
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6:40 - 6:41limited again.
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6:41 - 6:45Primarily what you can do as a designer
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6:45 - 6:47to <erm> to check for accessibility is
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6:47 - 6:49making sure that you have good headings.
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6:49 - 6:51Good proper headings and headings
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6:51 - 6:55structure <erm> good labels on inputs
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6:55 - 6:57<erm> good labels on buttons and links
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6:57 - 6:59so making sure you're using the right tags
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6:59 - 7:02and the second best thing I would say,
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7:02 - 7:04at least that I do are <erm> checking
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7:04 - 7:06with the keyboard, just looking to see
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7:06 - 7:09keyboard navigation, making sure there's
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7:09 - 7:10you know there's good focus, indicators
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7:10 - 7:14and that you don't get the focus trapped
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Not Syncedanywhere.
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Not SyncedThe heart of the challenge in <ah> sort of
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Not Syncedthe development world is that many
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Not Synceddevelopers you know look around and find
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Not Syncedopen source libraries with really cool
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Not Syncedstuff. So they find ways to make things
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Not Syncedbounce across the screen, or make things
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Not Syncedget big and small and so on. And it just
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Not Synceddoesn't enter their mind to evaluate them
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Not Syncedfor accessibility.
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Not SyncedWhen you're looking at a java script
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Not Syncedlibrary or a content management system,
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Not Syncedpiece of code that you would like to use,
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Not Syncedyou need to look both at, does it do what
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Not Syncedyou want for the web and does it also,
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Not Syncedis it also accessible? In other words,
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Not Synceddoes it do it for you and for everybody.
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Not SyncedSo as soon as you build something, you go
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Not Syncedback and you check it and check it over
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Not Syncedand over again. On multiple browsers, on
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Not Syncedmultiple machines. You know I'll even call
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Not Syncedpeople you know overseas,and say "hey can
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Not Syncedyou can you find it, can you check it, is
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Not Syncedit working for you? Oh ok good you know.
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Not SyncedAnd now they have tools out there where
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Not Syncedyou can check on every single browser out
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Not Syncedthere. In the past, that was really
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Not Syncedimportant, it still is. <erm> We have a few
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Not Syncedbrowsers out there, like a handful of
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Not Syncedbrowsers that we use, but we need to check
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Not Syncedit on on every possible system and platform.
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Not SyncedThe best thing that you can do ultimately
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Not Syncedto check a design be it, checking for
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Not Syncedusability or accessibility is actually
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Not Syncedputting it in front of users and seeing if
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Not Syncedthey can use it.
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Not SyncedYou know, no matter how great your site is
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Not Syncedyou know you may think you're hitting all
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Not Syncedthe standards, then you watch someone go
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Not Syncedthrough it and you say well, wow they had
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Not Synced...that didn't work out so well
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Not SyncedWhen I think of what a university does at
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Not Syncedit's core is to, not take everyone with
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Not Syncedvery similar ideas and turn out people
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Not Syncedwith the same ideas, but it's to benefit
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Not Syncedfrom a broad range of abilities and skills
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Not Syncedand different perspectives. And I see
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Not Syncedaccessibility and disability as being a
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Not Syncedpart of that spectrum.
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Not SyncedI think accessibility needs to be talked
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Not Syncedabout more, it needs to be taught in
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Not Syncedthe institution, in schools, it needs to
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Not Syncedbe enforced in institutions and commercial
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Not Syncedenvironments.
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Not SyncedAs new technology comes out, I think there
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Not Syncedwill be some that just neglect it
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Not Syncedcompletely, and others that champion it.
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Not SyncedAnd the ones that champion it will be more
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Not Synceduser-friendly to everybody else, and they'll
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Not Syncedwin in the marketplace.
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Not SyncedI think the future of the web<erm> is to
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Not Syncedbe making fewer and fewer assumptions
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Not Syncedabout how other people use it. We have
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Not Syncedmobile devices, we have screen readers,
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Not Syncedand we even have your web page or your
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Not Syncedcontent might be used by another machine
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Not Syncedso I think the fewer of the web is to
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Not Syncedcontinue making fewer and fewer
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Not Syncedassumptions and more universal content
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Not Syncedthat is not restrictive or exclusive.
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Not SyncedI think it can be very challenging for a
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Not Syncedcertain applications to serve people with disabilities
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Not Syncedbut that's where the engineer needs to
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Not Syncedthink about "why did I become an engineer"
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Not Syncedto make the impossible, possible, to solve
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Not Syncedbig problems. And this is a big problem,
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Not Syncedso let's attack it, let's solve it.
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Not Synced<music>
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