Stay in the Web Accessibility Loop with WebAIM

If you're looking for tips on making your website more accessible, the WebAIM Newsletter is a great place to start. WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is a non-profit organization based at the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University. Its mission is to empower organizations to make their web content accessible to people with disabilities.

The September WebAIM newsletter has a few topics that really stood out:

• Feature: Screen Reader User Survey #8 Results surveyed preferences of screen reader users, revealing some interesting findings. What surprised me the most was that:
  • 45.5% of screen reader users are between the ages of 21-40, and 29.7% are 41-60;
  • 76% of the respondents reporting being blind, followed by 18.5% reporting low vision and/or visual impairment; and
  • PDF vs Word: Respondents were much more favorable of Word documents than of PDF documents - 30.9% indicated that Word documents are very or somewhat likely to pose significant accessibility issues, compared to 75.1% for PDF documents.
• Resources: The Button Contrast Checker (website) is a new, powerful tool that provides feedback on button and link contrast in various states, including contrast issues with keyboard focus indicators. Simply insert your website address to get results.

Read the entire newsletter online at https://webaim.org/newsletter/2019/september.

If you're with an NFLS member library and ready to take steps toward making your website accessible,
please contact Lori Baumgart for assistance.

Keyword: Accessibility