Introduction

It is no longer just a trend or a gesture of good will to care about web accessibility. We're getting older and more vulnerable. Social divisions increase. Every day brings new challenges that have to be met by digital technology. And we — designers, developers, project managers, content writers — are at the core of it.

This intensive, practical two-day training course will provide you with information and skills required to work smarter — with accessibility and inclusion in mind. Aimed at digital designers (UX, visual design, content) and web developers, my class is based on years of working experience as an accessibility-focused professional. I will show you things that I do, and that other experts do in order to deliver solutions that are accessible, inclusive and respectful to everyone.

By the end of it:

1. You will know why caring for accessibility is important and how it translates into practice in a business-focused design/development environment,
2. You should understand what are the foundations of an accessible and inclusive Internet and how these standards influence everything that you do at work,
3. You will have conducted your first accessibility audit and be able to spot issues, prioritise them and offer recommendations for improvement,
4. You will have explored how web standards influence your design and web development practice.

What will we cover?

The course will span across two days (10am-4:30pm with a lunch break and shorter breaks). Each day will end with a session of questions and answers. During the busy practice hours we will explore the following topics:

Day 1/2

Things that we have to learn first

1. Understanding disability: what is a disability, why do we have to care, and how does it concern individuals and societies,
2. Justice and privileges: why do digital accessibility experts have to understand their privilege first? And what implications does it have on our practice?
3. Accessibility in law and business: what are law obligations related to accessibility? Why is it important to business and what can go wrong?
4. Assistive technologies: how do people interact with the Internet and what special methods do they use when they need them?

Let's get technical

Understanding the technical aspects of accessibility is paramount to working with it. I will do my best to communicate these issues to you in a simple way. You don't have to be a web developer to grasp how the Internet and websites work.

1. How does a web browser work? What does really happen when we're browsing websites and how are assistive technologies interacting with them?
2. Accessibility and mobile technology: what do we have to remember about when designing for mobile? How to check whether a mobile application is accessible?
3. A dive into semantic HTML: the HTML (language that websites are written in) is a foundation of most things on the Internet. Heavily supported by other standards such as CSS, JavaScript and ARIA it is the ground of accessibility. How does it work? What makes it semantic? When does it not work? And why do we care?
4. Questions and Answers: your opportunity to clarify things in your head.

Day 2/2

1. Recap from the day before,
2. WCAG: what is it and why do we need it? Introduction to the de-facto standard for web accessibility,
3. Auditing for WCAG: how to spot issues and prioritise them? I will guide you through a practical framework for analysing website and app accessibility.
4. Common accessibility pitfalls: there are many things that often go wrong. We'll look at them, so you can spot them easily.
5. Accessibility tools and methods: developer and designer-focused tools (mostly freely available) can help us. I will tell you what I use and how it is helping me and others audit accessibility.
6. Your own audit! At this stage you will be ready to conduct a simple accessibility audit of a website. This will be a group activity with a plenty of discussion and learning.
7. Simple accessibility heuristics: we don't always have time to conduct a full audit, in which case a simpler approach can help. These heuristics are designed to drive daily development without overloading your capacity.
8. How to work with developers? A practical guide to communication between design and development teams.
9. Accessibility testing: automated or manual? Pros and cons of both. We will also look at how conducting accessibility testing with participants differs from typical usability testing.
10. Final Q&A session.

Is this for me?

This course is for you if you are engaged in creating, maintaining and/or testing web and mobile products and services. No previous experience of HTML/CSS/JavaScript is necessary (but it'd help if you were exposed to them before).

Practical learning

I believe in learning through practice. While we will have to go through some slides to understand some of the basics, I promise no "death by PowerPoint". All my training is highly interactive and focused on individual and group work. I want to drive it through a discussion and engagement. No one will be left asleep or left behind.

Marked test to validate your learning

If you participate in the workshop you will be invited to complete a knowledge test that will confirm your understanding of learnings. This test will help you clarify what you know — and where will you need to look in order to complement your new skills.

A business case for your employer

Feel free to download a practical information sheet (PDF) and pass it to your employer. It will support your business case.

Your instructor

As a User Experience and Service Designer, I am exposed to accessibility issues and practices every day. With over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, I combine technical background of web development with solid understanding of the experiential domain. Throughout the years and work spanning across different countries, I provided UX and accessibility-focused services to organisations such as Aegon, Standard Life, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scottish Government, Historic Environment Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, Netguru (one of the biggest software houses in Europe) and many others. I created and delivered the User Experience Fundamentals course at CodeClan, famous Scottish Digital Bootcamp. In addition, more than 350 students of it went through my hands and learned basics of UX and accessibility — to form a notion of inquisitive thinking that they now carry throughout their daily practice across the international digital sector. I regularly speak at conferences. I am one of the founders and organisers of the Accessibility Scotland conference.

Visit my LinkedIn profile for more details.