If you are a web/front end developer, the work you produce must be accessible to all users. In this course, Meeting Web Accessibility Guidelines (Section 508/ WCAG 2.1), you will get hands-on, practical code examples that you can start using today towards your goal of meeting official accessibility guidelines. First, you will learn the differences between Section 508 and WCAG 2.1, helping you to decide which guideline to use. Next, you'll dive into real-world, reusable code patterns/techniques and matching them to relevant guidelines. After finishing this course, not only will you be equipped to acquire government/education-related contracts, but you'll be able to make sites that meet established accessibility conformance guidelines and are more usable for everyone.
Transcript
Welcome everyone! My name is Gerard K. Cohen, and I'll be your guide for this course on Meeting Web Accessibility Guidelines.
I'm a passionate front end engineer and Lead Accessibility Strategist, and for the last seven years I have been involved in designing and building an accessible UI framework for one of the country's largest banks. This accessible UI framework is used by over 80 commercial applications and is responsible for moving over four trillion dollars worldwide.
In this course, I will introduce and go over the differences between two major accessibility guidelines, Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 and give you my recommendation on which guideline to choose. Then I will head straight into real-world reusable code patterns and techniques by retrofitting an existing site to meet relevant guidelines. I'll adequately discuss semantic html, the basis for all accessibility, by demonstrating proper document sectioning, hierarchy and structure, lists, navigation, accessible tables, accessible forms and accessible media, including images and videos. I'll round out the course by talking about Responsive Web Design and mobile devices and the impact they have on accessibility. All along the way, I will use a live screen reader to demonstrate the before and after each recommendation.
The only prerequisite for this course is that you should have a basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
To be clear, accessibility is not a checklist or a product, and doing everything exactly as I demonstrate here in this course will not guarantee an accessible, 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 meeting guidelines is completely dependent on your particular site and content. But by the end of this course, you should have the knowledge to understand the core principles and skills on how to adapt them to your users' needs.
You don't have to be an accessibility expert, but you do need to make your sites accessible and I hope you will join me in making the web available to everyone by learning how to meet web accessibility guidelines.
About the Course
The course is about long, and is part of Pluralsight's Developing Websites for 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 about Meeting Web Accessibiity Guidelines.