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Re: Website dev questions (was ISO: Other developers)

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From: JP Jamous
Date: Oct 10, 2018 10:22AM

Colleen,

Definitely, you have to be concerned about the questions you asked. Here is
what I recommend.

1. You need to cover WCAG 2.0 Level AA at least. You have to assess pages
against all level A and AA success criteria as long as they apply.
2. Since you have hired a screen reader user to assess your work, I would
not advise you to do this alone. Typically, it takes a sighted and
non-sighted individuals to go through the process. You have the automated
evaluation and the manual evaluation that goes along with it.

If you are interested in learning more, feel free to contact me off the
list. <EMAIL REMOVED> .



--------------------
JP Jamous
Senior Digital Accessibility Engineer
E-Mail Me |Join My LinkedIn Network
--------------------


-----Original Message-----
From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of
Colleen Gratzer, Gratzer Graphics LLC
Sent: Wednesday, October 10, 2018 11:12 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: [WebAIM] Website dev questions (was ISO: Other developers)

Hi, everyone. I was originally going to ask this privately, so that's why I
had asked to contact other developers.

I've been formally trained in InDesign and PDF accessibility practices
(thank you, Bevi Chagnon of PubCom) but not formally with websites.
However, I have learned quite a bit of that myself and have built several
accessible websites (design and development, even so far as to include
special custom fields for screen reader text that the client can fill out).
I paid someone to test them all with a screen reader. Knock on wood. All has
been well so far.

Yesterday, an attorney contacted me (he was referred by a colleague who
knows I've done accessible sites). His client is a chain restaurant being
sued by a screen reader user who cannot access their site properly. He asked
me about fixing it. There's a lot I could do to help BUT i don't know every
single WCAG or ADA rule, and I know some are ambiguous or not good for
usability.

So, I'm curious about a few things:

1. Would the above situation be one that you would even consider getting
involved in if it were you?

2. If you are a developer building accessible sites, do you follow every
single WCAG or ADA rule? What steps to you take to "certify" to the client,
"hey, this site is now accessible."

3. Do you have any special accessibility-specific clauses in your contracts
that protect you in case of a legal issue? I do have one that says if the
work needs to be accessible, they need to convey that and, if they decide
against doing that work, i have no responsibility for that. I also have a
limitation of liability clause, among others that are not
accessibility-specific. I don't know what more to do to protect my business
in this way when it comes to accessible sites. (I've had it reviewed by an
attorney but thinking i need to seek advice from an attorney well versed in
accessibility laws.

Phew. That was a lot! If you made it this far, LOL, thanks for reading all
this!


Colleen Gratzer
Creative Director :: Visual Brand Expert :: Accessibility Specialist
Gratzer Graphics LLC
https://gratzergraphics.com

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