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Re: Proper Markup on Web Pages

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From: Mike Barlow
Date: May 11, 2016 12:59PM

I agree 100% Teresa. I've seen the same thing and have had similar
discussions in several of the local user groups I attend. Too many
developers only know how to "code" using some of the new tools and IDE's
out there that don't have accessibility in mind. And as far as Wordpress
goes there are a number of Accessible templates out there that can be used.
I believe even the base Wordpress template direct from Wordpress is flagged
as an Accessible template, though since I don't use Wordpress I haven't
checked into that personally.

But in most cases the edict needs to come down from "on high" to inform
developers they need to develop accessible sites/applications. Unless a
company requires that from developers most (especially the ones who aren't
familiar with developing accessible sites) won't take that into
consideration. They also need to ensure that the apps get properly tested
for accessibility. Too often I've heard people say, well isn't it only that
we have to have the "alt" attribute on images?


*Mike Barlow*
Web Application Developer
Web Accessibility/Section 508 SME

Lancaster, Pa 17601
Office: 732.835-7557
Cell: 732.682.8226
e-mail: <EMAIL REMOVED>

On Wed, May 11, 2016 at 1:38 PM, Teresa Haven < <EMAIL REMOVED> > wrote:

> Hi, Brandon. From my observations, a lot of developers don't actually
> write code any more -- or at least, they don't write HTML. They use
> something like .NET, or a toolkit like Bootstrap or Angular or any of a
> hundred others that generate the code for them, and they don't know what is
> getting generated, but they do it because they think they are saving time
> and/or that "accessibility is hard". I've done extensive work with our
> in-house developers over the past year+ to get them to think hard about
> (and actually observe) how much time they are "saving", and many of them
> are now modifying their practices, but it has required a lot of personal
> relationship-building plus having an in-house edict that says they have to
> improve the accessibility of what they are building. I believe many
> developers a) don't have the knowledge that they are doing anything wrong,
> and b) don't have the direct support to show them why learning to do things
> differently would be an advantage to them. I think one of the big questions
> for groups like us is, "How can we get people to understand both why this
> is important, and how they can do it without them thinking it is
> overwhelmingly difficult?"
>
> Teresa
>
> Teresa Haven, Ph.D.
> Accessibility Analyst, Northern Arizona University
>
>
>
>