Foundations of Accessible Web Design

In this course, I'll be taking you on a deep dive into the core concepts you need to know to make the web more inclusive for people with disabilities. I'll start off by going over the 5 different types of disabilities and I'll relate these to the permanent, temporary, and situational barriers. Then I'll talk a bit about the laws and requirements for accessibiliy. Maybe you've heard of section 508 or WCAG? Well I'll talk about the differences and which you should choose if you have a choice. After that, I'll go into detail explaining various ways to ensure people can perceive, interact, and understand content. Then, I'll wrap up by talking about the importance of making content robust enough to support everyone now and in the future.

This course is for everyone! Designers, content writers, developers, testers, really anyone that is interested in accessibility. This is completely code agnostic, it doesn't matter if you use React or Svelte, Tailwind, or any other front end framework or libary. Of course, I'll be demonstrating some HTML examples, so knowing HTML will make this course a little easier, but it's not a hard requirement. There are some great HTML fundamentls courses available on Pluralsight that you could watch when you are ready, but I might actually recommend taking this course first so you can start your journey with accessibility in mind from the start.

In addition to covering design all the way to testing, this course also includes AAA guidelines in a way that attempts to break down the old rule that level AAA is too hard for any site to meet. A lot of people are scared of AAA, but I have found that when you really focus on great usability and inclusion, you will already be meeting some AAA guidelines because it's just good design. You could level up from removing barriers to potentially reducing friction.

It's important to note, that not all Level AAA guidelines apply in all situations, and thats ok. Strive for what does apply and discard anything else. In this course, I will expose you all levels, including AAA so you can decide for yourself.

To be clear, accessibility is not a checklist or a tool, and doing everything exacly as I demonstrate here in this course will not always guarantee an accessible, or compliant site. Even though I will be going over specific tips and code examples that you can use over and over again, it's important to note that how you deliver accessibility is unique and completely dependant on your particular site content, and users. But by the end of this course you should have the knowledge needed to adapt to people's needs.

About the Course

The course is about 2 hours long, and is part of Pluralsight's Web Accessibility path, which is a collection of courses specific to learning accessibility on the web. You can start with a free 10-day trial, so sign up if you want to learn the Foundations of Accessible Web Design.

Testimonials

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