Don’t believe the hype

A presentation at A11y Camp 2021 in November 2021 in by Allison Ravenhall

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Don’t believe the hype

Allison Ravenhall @RavenAlly https://noti.st/allisonravenhall

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Hype quotes I've collected #1

“It meets WCAG 3 AAA” - Chatbot vendor, 2018 (Note: WCAG 3 doesn’t exist yet).

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Hype quotes I've collected #2

“None of the other banks asked about accessibility” - FX calculator vendor (Note: Just because someone hasn’t asked you about it before doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist or it isn’t important)

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Hype quotes I've collected #3

“It’s Google Material, you don’t need to test it” - Developer (This is an astounding level of trust to place in anything)

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Hype quotes I've collected #3

“Apple does it, so it must be accessible” - Designer (Fanboi much? Biggest company, market leader, trend setter, coolest kid - none of these should exempt you from scrutiny.

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And breathe…

These attitudes get me riled.

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The better, constructive approach

Employ a healthy level of scepticism

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The more cynical spin

Trust no one

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Check your vendors

Ask to see their accessibility documentation (VPAT, conformance statements, etc.) Test a live demo Ask about their accessibility defect processes (do they have a dedicated team, how are they prioritised/categorised, what is a typical turnaround timeline)

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Vendor gotchas

Ask for evidence (documentation and defects can be tracked, verbal promises less so) Don’t buy into the BS (look past the sales spin, get all the info you need to satisfy yourself of quality) No free passes for current or past vendors (start assessing every new product from the same point regardless of who is providing it)

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Check your frameworks

Don’t assume they’re accessible Submit bugs (if you have a framework issue, so is everyone else using the framework, so help make it collectively better) Extend rather than reinvent (maximise compatibility, make use of the good bits, add the missing bits and uplift the bad bits, should be less work long term than reinventing the wheel)

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An example of a non-compliant framework component - Apple's UISwitch

Default iOS UISwitch colours Green “on” = 2.2 : 1 Grey “off” = 1.2 : 1

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With “Increase contrast” on

Green “on” = 4.4 : 1 Grey “off” = 3 : 1

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How do we improve the UISwitch?

If we extend UISwitch, we get free event handlers, label, role, state management & reporting Define your own colour palette using tintColor, onTintColor, thumbTintColor

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To wrap up

Assume nothing + Trust no one =

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Don’t believe the hype

Allison Ravenhall @RavenAlly noti.st/allisonravenhall