WUP offers accessibility training.
Why and when
Accessibility training gives you a clearer understanding of the way people with disabilities use the web, and skills, tools and processes you can use ensure that you do not prevent or hinder disabled users in accessing your site.
Accessibility training is most effective when combined with Usability testing with disabled users and/or an accessibility audit.
Our approach
Each of our training courses is focused on your particular needs. We use your own web site to provide examples for the course, and focus on the results you need from the training. Course notes are provided as standard and follow-on support is available via e-mail or telephone.
We can introduce you to web accessibility techniques in all their gory detail, demonstrate some of the best assistive technology that disabled users will be using, and take you ‘beyond Bobby’ into the latest debates and arguments about the best way forward in accessible design.
How we do it
Our most popular introductory courses are set out below.
Course 101: Introduction to web accessibility
A cross-disciplinary Accessibility Seminar for marketing, business, technical and public-relations staff, often run following an accessibility evaluation and report. It covers the costs and benefits of accessibility, the legislative background and the ways in which people use the web. Participants will get the chance to use their own site using common assistive technologies such as screen readers and keyboard-access, before rounding off with a discussion on managing the delivery of an accessible website.
This training course is appropriate for anyone involved in site design, production, marketing, copywriting or web site management.
- What is web accessibility?
- Understanding your objectives
- Demonstration of your web site
- ‘The stick’: UK legislation, standards and guidelines
- ‘The carrot’: what are you missing out on?
- Accessibility for users with disabilities
- Practical session: using the web without a mouse
- Accessibility for Google and other search engines
- Practical session: using a screenreader
- Overview of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
- Workshop session: writing your own guidelines
- Debrief
Course 102: Introduction to web accessibility for developers
Are you already a web developer but need to get up to speed with accessibility techniques? This one-day coding session covers design philosophy, the latest tools, tips and tricks, and gives you the chance to get up to your elbows in CSS and the DOM in a quest for the perfect accessible template.
This training course is appropriate for anyone involved in the technical aspects of site design, and is designed to follow on from ‘introduction to web accessibility’
- Design philosophy. Where are we going? How should we travel?
- Principle one: content, meaning and structure
- Principle two: style and flow
- Principle three: interaction, scripts and the DOM
- Write once, display many - cross-browser, cross-platform, cross-medium
- WCAG for developers - a point by point fly-through of the more misunderstood WCAG checkpoints
- Transitioning between WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0
- Option 1 Accessible scripting - JavaScript for keyboard and screenreader
- Option 2 Making Flash content accessible - tips, tricks and unbreakable rules
- Option 3 Making application interfaces accessible - the mysteries of the UAAG 1.0
- Option 4 Common interface elements and how to implement them properly:
- Pop-ups;
- Skip links;
- Cookies;
- Dynamic menus;
- Dynamic select boxes
- Workshop session: Writing your own development guidelines
- Tools of the trade - online and offline, comparisons and criticisms
- Practical session: Making your web pages accessible - time to get your hands dirty!
- Debrief
Options 1, 2, 3 and 4 - These can be provided to best suit the technology needs of your site. Other options might include ‘PDF production’, ‘Your CMS’, etc. Options 1 and 2 each incur a surcharge due to the increased preparation requirement.
With larger classes, we can offer more than one option on the day.
1-6 participants: 1 option
7-12 participants: 2 options
13-18 participants: 3 options
Custom course: Building accessibility into your new web site
This course is custom-built to focus intensely on the processes and skills required for the particular challenges involved in developing your new web site.
The course would be designed in close consultation with your design and development team to make sure that it takes into account the existing competencies and preferred development tools of the attendees, and your current development process. It will also be based on accessibility and usability guidelines developed for you during an accessibility audit and / or Usability testing with disabled users on your proposed site design. As such, the course outline would be decided during the development of the course.
Client Example
| Client | Project | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Leicestershire County Council | Accessibility Training (12 participants) | 2005 |
Contact us for more information on how WUP can help make your web site more effective