Several accessibility-related sessions at the IT Pro Forum had to be cancelled last month, but we’re bringing the speakers to Explore with Hadi this month for lightning rounds to summarize the sessions’ content! Join Jon Gunderson and Nick Hoyt to learn about the following topics:

• Using AInspector WCAG and Bookmarklets for Web Page Evaluation
• Using FAE for Website Accessibility Evaluation

Join us for a hands-on demonstration of AInspector WCAG, Accessibility Bookmarklets, and the Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE). Additionally, we will learn about some of the updates being worked on to support the ARIA 1.2 recommendation and will get a demonstrate the NEW “Skip to Landmarks and Headings” extension for Firefox and Chrome that has recently been made public.

This month we're going to dive into one of the more advanced and complicated accessibility topics out there: data visualization and graphing. As inherently visual methods of communicating information, it can be challenging to make visualizations and graphs accessible. However, with the ever-expanding need to present large datasets in meaningful ways, it's more important than ever to ensure that everyone can benefit from these tools.

To kick us off, folks from UIC would like to discuss the new ADA-PARC prototype website currently in development, to replace the current ADA-PARC website. It's still early in development, so not all the data is loaded, but you can get a sense of what the site should do by visiting the Metropolitan section to see the maps, graphs, tables, etc. which can be filtered down to particular locations/issues. Ultimately their goal is to also allow people to download the information into a report format to use for advocacy for persons with disabilities. The site is still early on in its development, and they are working with the developers to try to figure out how to address accessibility issues with the visualizations, so input would be welcome! (Note: please focus on the visualizations themselves – they are already aware of other accessibility issues on the prototype website, which they will address with the developers)

Please bring both your expertise and your questions to this discussion. From Tableau to Excel to the plethora of JavaScript charting libraries available, we're interested in whatever's on your mind! Please send any projects you're interested in discussing to the Accessibility mailing list so we can all take a look beforehand.

Interesting articles/tools:

• W3C: SVG Accessibility
• UW: Data Visualization Accessibility (accessibility roundup)
• Accessible SVGs: Complex images - an accessible graph (CSS-Tricks article)
• Highcharts accessibility module (JS graphing library)
• Semiotic accessibility (React graphing library)
• Introduction to TwoTone (sonification web app)

This month we will look at the Access Urbana-Champaign website, which Bryan Jonker was recently asked to evaluate for accessibility. He would like additional input on the site, to make sure his evaluation is as complete as possible, and to catch anything he may have missed. In particular, are there any additional considerations for a site with an expected user base of people with disabilities?

Feel free to bring any web projects you’d like evaluated from an accessibility perspective or topics that are on your mind! (Please send us URLs for web sites/applications in advance so we can be prepared to discuss any issues or questions.)

We’re always looking for websites and topics to discuss! Email us any time and we’ll add your site/topic to the agenda for an upcoming meeting.

Topic 1: Evaluating a jump menu implementation

The UIUC Tech Help Center has implemented a jump menu in the “Log In To” section of their landing page, taking inspiration from WebAIM's JavaScript Jump Menus recommendations. Bryan Jonker and Neeru Batura will join us to get feedback on this implementation.

Topic 2: Navigation menu for the new Accessible IT Group’s WordPress site

The Accessible IT Group will demonstrate the navigation menu they implemented for their WordPress website, including a walkthrough of both the interaction patterns and the code behind the menu that uses SVG graphics and CSS animations for indicating the actions and state of the menu items.