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Re: Accessibility Tools for Website Visitors

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From: Swift, Daniel P.
Date: Nov 1, 2021 7:34AM

This is all great information. Thanks everyone for your feedback!

Daniel Swift, MBA
Senior Web Specialist
University Communications and Marketing
West Chester University
610.738.0589

From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> > On Behalf Of Jerra Strong
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2021 10:58 AM
To: WebAIM Discussion List < <EMAIL REMOVED> >
Subject: Re: [WebAIM] [EXTERNAL] Accessibility Tools for Website Visitors

I think if you do too much of this, you run into overlay territory (
overlayfactsheet.com). And of course, you still have to make sure that if a
user brings their own adaptive strategy or AT, it still works with the
site.


On Fri, Oct 29, 2021 at 7:56 AM Mark Magennis < <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >>
wrote:

> There is a view that if someone needs larger text, high contrast, etc. to
> view a website then either they will already have it (e.g. by using some
> assistive technology that provides it) or they will never reach your site
> or use the web in the first place because this will be the only site on the
> web that is accessible to them. That's overstating it of course but it
> makes a valid point. However, anyone who has spent time with people with
> disabilities using the web or been such a person may realise that in
> practice many people struggle due to things like text size and contrast and
> don't have the tools or knowledge to fix these issues so they often welcome
> this type of functionality. Particularly, say, someone who has recently
> acquired a disability and want to access the site of a relevant service
> organization. They may struggle to get there but be pleased if it offers
> built in tools to ease the struggle, if only in that one silo. So it makes
> a lot of sense for an organization serving people with vision impairments
> for instance to have tools on its site that helps people make text and
> other content more visible to them if they don't yet have or know how to
> use general assistive technologies.
>
> So my view is that although providing bespoke tools on every website is
> not the right approach, in principle there is nothing wrong with providing
> extra tools on specific websites that may help their specific users
> configure the site easily to better suit their needs and preferences. As
> long as these tools are easy to ignore and as long as they don't make
> changes that interfere with the tools (assistive technologies) those users
> might already be using.
>
> There are some drawbacks though. The main one being that when a site has
> these tools, its easy for the developers, managers, future developers, or
> future managers to think that's job done for accessibility. It isn't of
> course but you do see that a lot. Sites that have accessibility overlay
> tools or read-out-loud tools on them and think they're now fully
> accessible. The basic site should be maximally accessible and these tools
> should just be thought of as tools to increase the diversity of needs and
> preferences that the site can serve.
>
> Mark
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: WebAIM-Forum < <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >> On Behalf Of
> Swift, Daniel P.
> Sent: 29 October 2021 14:49
> To: <EMAIL REMOVED> <mailto: <EMAIL REMOVED> >
> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [WebAIM] Accessibility Tools for Website Visitors
>
> Good morning, again!
>
> Can anyone provide feedback on adding accessibility tools for website
> visitors? Specifically, I'm looking at what the website Mind Your Brain
> Foundation has done (https://www.mindyourbrainfoundation.org/<https://www.mindyourbrainfoundation.org>). There is
> an icon on the right that allows users to change font size, contrast, etc.
>
> I want to think that something like this would be beneficial, but I
> remember a few years back there was a negative connotation around sites
> providing "text only" versions of their site. I wasn't sure if something
> like this would elicit a similar response.
>
> Thanks for the insight!
>
> Daniel Swift, MBA
> Senior Web Specialist
> University Communications and Marketing
> West Chester University
> 610.738.0589
>
> > > at http://webaim.org/discussion/archives<;http://webaim.org/discussion/archives>;
> > > > > >