Improving accessibility with accessibility acceptance criteria A GOV.UK blog post from 2018, describing GDS’s use of ‘acceptance criteria’ for accessibility testing. These criteria are more specific than general WCAG guidance, and concentrate on specific checks to make at the component level for specific components. For example, GDS’ accessible autocomplete component must: be focusable with a… [Read More]
Mac VoiceOver Testing the Simple Way Scott Vandehey writes about a familiar problem: getting comfortable testing with VoiceOver. It’s an experience that can make new users feel, as he puts it, “overwhelmed”. The first issue is with enabling VoiceOver; Scott could never remember the CMD + F5 keyboard shortcut. On newer MacBooks, Scott recommends triple-clicking the… [Read More]
Visit for a surprise Eric Bailey raises the interesting dilemma of what link text you should provide on an ‘easter egg’ link to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” YouTube video. WCAG SC 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context) might indicate that you should let the user know exactly what’s at the end of that… [Read More]
Preparing for the physical world through the digital Two articles caught my eye recently. In Ipswich station gets virtual tour to help passengers with accessibility requirements, we learn how Greater Anglia has launched an online tour of Ipswich rail station. It uses 360 degree photography to allow people to explore the platforms, the waiting room,… [Read More]
Candidate recommendation version of WCAG 2.2 published September 6th 2022 marks the first update since May 2021. According to w3.org: A Candidate Recommendation is a document that satisfies the technical requirements of the Working Group that produced it and their dependencies, and has already received wide review. W3C publishes a Candidate Recommendation to signal to… [Read More]
Virtual Reality Accessibility: The Importance of Comfort Ratings and Reducing Motion Meryl Evans talks about ‘comfort ratings’ for VR experiences. These are like content ratings for films and games, e.g. “PG” for “Parental Guidance”. Meta’s comfort ratings (for headsets such as Oculus) are as follows: Comfortable – appropriate for most people. Generally no camera movement… [Read More]
How Can a Blind Person Use Virtual Reality? Jesse Anderson, who runs IllegallySighted on YouTube, shares advice for creating accessible virtual reality experiences. He reviews games from his perspective as a blind person. There are games designed specifically for screen reader users, but these tend to be more simplistic and don’t hold his attention for… [Read More]
How Virtual Reality Makes It Possible to Experience Different Vision Conditions VoxelKei, a Japanese “VR world developer”, has created NearSighted Classroom (VRChat) to allow other people to see what it’s like to have short-sightedness. After sharing the world on Twitter (where you can see a video of the world in action), the developer received positive feedback… [Read More]
Accessibility Virtual Reality Meetup: What Is It Like in Spatial? Meryl Evans documents her experience of using Spatial, a virtual reality environments for events, to host the Accessibility Virtual Reality (A11yVR) Meetup. Spatial offers multiple ways to participate, including using a VR headset, a mobile app, or joining via the browser. Joining from the latter,… [Read More]
Resident Evil 4 VR update adds accessibility options for comfort Resident Evil 4 on the Oculus Quest 2 – which I own, and think is brilliant! – has just had an update, concentrating primarily on accessibility options. Your waist and chest height parameters are now configurable, making it easier to grab your weapon etc. Someone in… [Read More]
Loading...