Issue #26
Featured: Improving forms with new radios and checkboxes
Almost every designer and developer has attempted to recreate radio buttons and checkboxes in browsers for a cleaner design and better user experience. The team at Government Digital Service lays out its approach.
Read about Improving forms with new radios and checkboxes.
News and links
U.S. Access Board updates requirements for information and communication technology: This relates to the long-awaited Section 508 refresh. From the post, “The rule jointly updates and reorganizes the Section 508 standards and Section 255 guidelines in response to market trends and innovations, such as the convergence of technologies. The refresh also harmonizes these requirements with other guidelines and standards both in the U.S. and abroad, including standards issued by the European Commission and with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), a globally recognized voluntary consensus standard for web content and ICT.”
Resources, tools and tutorials
- How to use contrast in UI design (blog post)
- Writing HTML with accessibility in mind (blog post)
- Writing for 9 year olds? Six expert tips for creating great accessible web content for everyone (blog post)
- ARIA Landmark Examples (resource)
- Replacing the jet engine while still flying (blog post)
- Accessible emoji, tweaked (blog post)
- How learning ASL improved my alt text (video)
New to A11y
Bryan Garaventa has recently updated one of my favorite accessibility tools, the Visual ARIA bookmarklet. It allows you to physically observe ARIA usage within web technologies. Read more about the latest update and start testing ARIA with ease.
Suggestions and corrections
In the last issue of Accessibility Weekly, I included a link to a resource list of accessibility lawsuits. It’s important to note that many of the cases listed were actually resolved in structured negotiation, meaning no lawsuit was needed or filed. The list serves as a nice resource for historical context, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. If you’re interested in the legal side of accessibility, check out Lainey Feingold’s December, 2016 update on the topic.
Suggestions and corrections
Have a suggestion for something to be included in Accessibility Weekly? Did I make a mistake that doesn't belong on the Internet? You can either reply to this email or send a note to hello@a11yweekly.com.
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