WebAIM - Web Accessibility In Mind

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Re: Front End Developers and ATs

for

From: Jacob Kruger
Date: Aug 28, 2013 11:12PM

One of the first pages/places I refer sighted web developers to when they
ask about content accessibility, etc. is following tutorial page:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/Training/Surfs-Up/_Surfs_Up_Start_Here.htm

Jacob Kruger
Blind Biker
Skype: BlindZA
'...fate had broken his body, but not his spirit...'

----- Original Message -----
From: "David Ashleydale" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
To: "WebAIM Discussion List" < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Sent: Thursday, August 29, 2013 1:28 AM
Subject: [WebAIM] Front End Developers and ATs


> Hi,
>
> I started out my current job as a front-end developer (FED), but later
> branched out into managing an accessibility program. But I remember that
> when I was a developer, I used to keep a copy of JAWS on a computer nearby
> for testing. To me, even if I were following HTML standards, I never
> really
> felt *confident* that what I was coding would work well for a screen
> reader
> user unless I tried it out myself. JAWS was one of my developer tools.
>
> It was very similar to browser testing. If I was told that I had to
> support
> IE, Firefox, Chrome, or whatever, I can't imagine not trying the page out
> in the browsers I was supporting. Even if I knew I was coding to standard
> and I had done it a million times before, I would still want to try it out
> when I was done.
>
> I'm thinking of recommending that all FEDs at the company I work at
> acquire
> and learn how to use an AT or two as part of their development toolkit.
> I'd
> love to hear this group's thoughts on whether or not that seems
> impractical
> or perhaps even unnecessary. Or is this something that all FEDs should be
> doing as part of their job?
>
> Of course, my follow up question is: Which ATs would form a good
> (cost-effective) development toolkit?
>
> Thanks!
> David
> > > >