The European Accessibility Act (EAA) requires that products and services made available to citizens of the European Union (EU) are accessible. Like most EU Directives, the EAA (DIRECTIVE (EU) 20191882) is hard to understand, and this has left many people unsure about what it means - and more importantly, what they need to do to make sure their products and services comply. With this in mind, we'd like to share our understanding of the EAA as it applies to digital products and services.| TetraLogical
In this post, we explore how to use the <fieldset> and <legend> elements to group and label form elements effectively, creating a more accessible and well-structured experience.| TetraLogical
As well as labelling text fields with input and labels, form validation and error messages are also essential to making forms accessible to everyone.| TetraLogical
In this post about forms, we explore how to effectively label text fields using <input> and <label> elements to create form inputs that are both accessible and user-friendly.| TetraLogical
Extended Reality (XR) provides immersive experiences through detailed visual, audio, and multi-media content. When using these different types of content, we need to consider how we can communicate the same information to people with disabilities in order to make XR accessible to everyone.| TetraLogical
The ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (APG) contains an extensive range of design patterns aimed at helping developers to create accessible web experiences using WAI-ARIA. However, while we encourage web authors to follow these design patterns, a common misconception is that their usage is a prerequisite for conformance. This is not the case.| TetraLogical
When `tabindex="0"` is applied to an HTML element, the content marked up using that element will become keyboard focusable, and is therefore a good starting point for supporting keyboard accessibility. However, applying this attribute haphazardly or unnecessarily can reduce the experience for people who use a keyboard or an equivalent input device to navigate web content.| TetraLogical
Well structured content helps everybody understand and navigate documents. When coded properly in the HTML, headings, lists, and landmarks help people who use screen readers (software that reads what’s on screen) both scan and navigate pages.| TetraLogical
This article gives an overview of what an accessibility assessment is, when it is beneficial, and when another service such as an Insight Report may be better suited.| TetraLogical
When a website is assessed using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), it is rarely feasible to test every single page. Instead, the assessment can be based on a sample of pages that are representative of the website as a whole, to keep things as efficient and cost-effective as possible.| TetraLogical
A pointer gesture is an action a person performs using their finger, mouse, or an assistive technology like a head pointer or eye gaze system to operate a functional control. Some pointer gestures can be difficult or even impossible for certain people to perform, so an accessible alternative may be required. This post introduces the different forms of pointer gestures and covers how and when to provide alternatives for people who can't perform them.| TetraLogical
Visible focus styles help us to understand which part of a web page we may be interacting with. You may have seen visible focus styles appear as an outline around a link or a button for example. For people who only use a keyboard to navigate the web, visible focus styles may be one of the few ways to understand where they are in a page and what it is that they are interacting with.| TetraLogical
HTML semantics provide accessibility information about page structure and an element's role, name, and state, helping to convey the nature and purpose of content on web pages. In this post we explore what HTML semantics are, and how they're experienced by people using assistive technologies like screen readers and speech recognition software.| TetraLogical
A list is generally agreed to be a series of words or phrases that are grouped together for a reason. That reason might be to remember the items we want from the store, to share our top five favourite movies, or to write down the steps needed to complete a task.| TetraLogical
In an ideal world, products and services would be designed so that every person experienced them in an equitable and comparable way. However, sometimes it is necessary to justify to stakeholders why the proper time, money, and resources need to be dedicated to embed accessible practises.| TetraLogical
Most websites have common areas of content like a header and footer, a main content area, and one or more navigation blocks. Sighted people can identify these areas based on the way they're styled and the content they contain, but people who are blind cannot do that quite as efficiently. Landmarks, like headings and lists, offer screen reader users a more comparable experience for identifying and navigating between these areas of content.| TetraLogical
Session timeouts are designed to protect privacy and security, but if they’re implemented incorrectly, they can prevent people from completing tasks on a website.| TetraLogical
Colour is a valuable tool for communicating meaning. But if you can't see colour, then meaning is lost. Always plan to use colour to convey meaning in combination with another means of identification.| TetraLogical
Text descriptions are primary content, and when images do not have a text description, anyone who cannot see the image will not know its purpose. This means people may be unable to access content or perform related tasks.| TetraLogical
These 10 quick accessibility tests can help you understand how easy or difficult it is for people with disabilities to perceive, operate and understand content on your website or mobile app. The tests are helpful for anyone wishing to get an idea of a product's support for accessibility, including project managers, content editors, procurement managers, and many others.| TetraLogical
In our first post about WCAG 2.1 Level AAA, we discuss why it is useful and when to consider including it. You can also read about how some Level AAA Success Criteria expand upon Level A and Level AA Success Criteria and how to test them in our second post, Testing WCAG 2.1 Level AAA, and what to do with your test results in our third post, Triaging WCAG 2.1 Level AAA.| TetraLogical
An Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) is a document that formally summarises the extent to which an information and communications technology (ICT) product or service conforms to an agreed set of international accessibility guidelines and standards.| TetraLogical
A new law concerning the accessibility of public sector websites and mobile apps came into effect in 2018. This article explains what the Public Sector Accessibility Regulations mean, what’s included and what isn’t, and the deadlines by which all public sector websites and mobile apps must comply.| TetraLogical