1. The document describes a framework called A211y that was developed to help integrate accessibility (A11y) into an agile development process.
2. A211y assigns each success criterion of the WCAG 2.0 guidelines to specific agile team roles based on who is primarily responsible or impacted.
3. It provides a "squeegee" - translating each criterion into a simple format of "whose, what, and where" to make the criteria easier for each role to understand and implement.
8. ABOUT ME
30+ years of UI/UX Design & Development
Seminal Event: SIGGRAPH ‘84
9. ABOUT ME
12+ years in medical devices
12+ years in plans & providers
2X dot-com survivor
Started web 1996
Started accessibility 2002
Material presented represents
9+ months research & analysis at Optum Technology
UxPA-MN since 2002
12. ACCESSIBILITY IS…
the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity. The concept often focuses on people with disabilities or special needs (such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities) and their right of access, enabling the use of assistive technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility
13. ACCESSIBILITY AFFECTS A PERSON NEAR YOU
About 1 in 5 Americans have one or more diagnosed psychological or physical disabilities
16. A11Y: USUAL PROCESS
NO ONE THINKS ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY …except the accessibility expert
OFTEN A FINAL REVIEW BY AN A11Y EXPERT …or QA test pass
ALL ISSUES DIRECTED TO DEVELOPERS TO FIX
FINAL RESULTS OFTEN NOT AS ACCESSIBLE AS DESIRED
17. A11Y: MISUNDERSTANDING
ACCESSIBILITY IS NOT
•
A LAST PASS
•
A FEATURE
•
A “MYSTERIOUS” PROCESS
•
“SPECIAL CODE”
•
“MAGIC PIXIE DUST”
•
LIMITED TO JUST ONE ROLE
18. A11Y: POSITIONING
LIKE USABILITY…
ACCESSIBILITY SHOULD BE BUILT-IN AT THE START
…& NOT AN AFTERTHOUGHT
38. A211Y IN A NUTSHELL:
ASSIGN EACH WCAG SUCCESS CRITERION TO APROPRIATE TEAM ROLES
39. A211Y: APPROACH
EDUCATE TEAM MEMBERS ON HOW THEIR CHOICES IMPACT A11Y
BY ROLE, NOT “GENERICALLY”
•
Train ONLY issues important for each role
•
Includes things they “own (or impact) but don’t know they own”
40. A211Y: APPROACH
UTILIZE EXISTING EXPERTISE OF TEAM MEMBERS
THEY ALREADY KNOW MUCH OF WHAT IS NEEDED
42. A211Y: GOALS
REDUCE TIME REQUIRED TO DELIVER ACCESSIBLE PRODUCTS
•
Prevent issues before they happen
•
Identify & resolve them as early as possible
IMPROVE OVERALL ACCESSIBILITY MEETING (EXCEEDING) GUIDELINES
44. WCAG 2.0
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines
Version 2.0
45. A11Y: WCAG 2.0
WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES v2.0
•
International Standard from W3C (Worldwide Web Consortium)
•
Covers Sect. 508 – U.S. Government Standard
•
Both now (1998) and future (2015?) versions
•
Used and/or referenced by many other countries
STRUCTURE
•
4 Principles
•
12 Guidelines
•
61 Success Criteria (SC or “Crits”)
•
3 Levels from A (lowest) to AAA (highest)
•
Hundreds of Techniques
More on WCAG 2.0: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/
58. A211Y: THE SEVEN AGILE ROLES
0. A11Y SPECIALIST
1. BUSINESS OWNER
2. INTERACTION (IX) DESIGNER
3. VISUAL (VX) DESIGNER
4. CONTENT AUTHOR
5. DEVELOPER
6. QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA) TESTER
Note: YMMV (Your Mileage May Vary)
•There may not be 1:1 relationship between roles & people.
•One person may have multiple roles; one role may be split amongst multiple people
63. A211Y: 4. CONTENT AUTHOR
•
AUTHOR OF ALL TEXT “LARGE & SMALL”
•
LARGE: PAGES OF TEXT
•
SMALL: WORDS OR LABELS
•
PROOFREADER
•
INCLUDES TIME-BASED (MULTIMEDIA) CONTENT – AUDIO & VIDEO
•
SCRIPT WRITER
•
AUDIO & VIDEO FILE CREATOR
64. A211Y: 5. DEVELOPER
•
PROGRAMMER, CODER
•
LAST STOP BEFORE TESTING
•
PRIMARY TARGET FOR ALL DEFECTS
65. A211Y: 6. QA TESTER
•
DISCOVERER OF PROBLEMS
•
WRITER OF DEFECTS
•
ENFORCER OF QUALITY
•
LAST STOP BEFORE RELEASE
•
NOT PART OF DESIGN PROCESS
75. A211Y: WHOSE IS IT? SQUEEGEE: OWNERSHIP DEFINED
PRIMARY OWNERSHIP
The Role with most concern/expertise on subject
- One and only one
SECONDARY OWNERSHIP
Role(s) with major influence on criterion
CONTRIBUTOR (IMPACT)
Roles that affect indirectly or are not deeply involved
76. A211Y: WHOSE IS IT? EXAMPLE: COLOR
PRIMARY OWNERSHIP
Vx Designer has final say on color selection
SECONDARY OWNERSHIP
IX Designer’s wireframes use colors
CONTRIBUTOR
Business Owner brand guidelines provide palette
77. A211Y: WHOSE IS IT? SQUEEGEE: OWNERSHIP RESULTS
PRIMARY OWNERSHIP
IX Designer: 37% (14)
Content Author: 24% (9)
Developer: 21% (8)
Vx Designer: 16% (6)
Business Owner: 3% (1)
79. A211Y: WHAT IS IT REALLY? SQUEEGEE: TYPES DEFINED
USER STORIES / STANDARD REQUIREMENTS
•
Team members already DO these
•
Nothing changes (at all)
•
Except, maybe, some details
BEST PRACTICES
•
Team members probably already know and do them
•
May just need to revise or apply more of them
PRIMARILY A11Y
•
Team members may not know these
•
A11y Experts train them to help fill in the gaps
80. A211Y: WHAT IS IT REALLY? SQUEEGEE: TYPE RESULTS
PRIMARY TYPES
Best Practices: 53% (20)
User Stories: 8% (3)
Primarily A11y: 39% (15)
81. WHERE IS IT COMING IN?
DEFINE ENTRY POINT
A211Y: SQUEEGEE QUESTION 3
82. A211Y: WHERE IS IT COMING IN? SQUEEGEE: ENTRY POINTS DEFINED
USER STORY / STANDARD REQUIREMENTS
•
Definition of functionality
WIREFRAMES
•
Structure of interface
STYLE GUIDES
•
General site presentation
DESIGN COMPS
•
Feature presentation design
CONTENT
•
Text (small & large), terminology, video, audio
CODE
•
HTML, CSS, JavaScript
83. A211Y: WHERE IS IT COMING IN? SQUEEGEE: ENTRY POINT RESULTS
PRIMARY INTRODUCTION POINTS
User Story/Standard Req.: 24% (9)
Wireframes: 50% (19)
Style Guide: 18% (7)
Design Comps: “0%”
Content: 2% (1)
Code: 5% (2)
84. A11Y: CURRENT PROCESS
Issues wait until the end (QA or A11y Testing)
Issues assigned to Developer to resolve
Owners often unaware of issues or resolution
Often owners repeat decision (so it happens again)
Note: For simplicity, flow diagrams appear to show a “waterfall” approach. In Agile this would have more parallel and concurrent paths
QA / A11y Testing
Developers
Content Author
Visual (Vx) Designer
Interaction (IX) Designer
Business Owner
85. A211Y: BASIC PROCESS
Issues wait until the end (QA or A11y Testing)
Issues assigned to primary owner
•
Where they belong
•
To those who created the issue
•
To those who know & care more about the decision
QA / A11y Testing
Developers
Content Author
Visual (Vx) Designer
Interaction (IX) Designer
Business Owner
86. A211Y: IDEAL PROCESS
In the ideal process issues resolved earlier by owners during design
Owners more aware of issues & standards
More “pairs of eyes” aware of potential issues kicking deliverable back to owners
Fewer issues make it to testing
QA / A11y Testing
Developers
Content Author
Visual (Vx) Designer
Interaction (IX) Designer
Business Owner
87. A211Y: SPRINT PROCESS
Style Guide: Address system-wide design issues (visual, interaction, content, implementation)
Epic & User Stories (& backlog): Create & Groom to adequately address a11y needs & requirements
Wireframes & User Stories (Requirements):
“Design in” accessible interactions
Design Comps: Review (against style guide) to prevent inaccessible presentation
Review text & non-text content appropriateness, technical barriers and level of distraction
Review code and interfaces for technical implementation issues & possible accessibility barriers
88. A211Y: SQUEEGEE: OTHER INFO
FREQUENCY OF OCCURRENCE
•
Every page
•
Often
•
Rare
•
“Never”
ESCALATION TO A11Y SME
SCOPE
•
Core / Common (site-wide)
•
Page / Feature
•
Content (CMS)
DESIGN ELEMENTS AFFECTED
•Visual Design
•Semantics
•Forms
•Keyboard / Control
•Standards
•Design Patterns
•Content
•Time-Based Media (video, audio)
HOW IMPLEMENTED
•Content
•(Code) Libraries
•Page Templates
•HTML
•CSS
89. A211Y: SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE
BUSINESS OWNERS
•
Product owner with final say on everything
IX DESIGNERS
•
Interaction owner and usability expert defining operation
VX DESIGNERS
•
Presentation owner of colors, fonts, images & layout
CONTENT AUTHORS
•
Wordsmith responsible for all content, text, audio & video
DEVELOPERS
•
Code owner & debugger (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
91. A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 1.3.3 SENSORY CHARACTERISTICS
EXAMPLE: “Press the green button on the right”
PRIMARY OWNER: Content Author
SECONDARY OWNER(S): None
CONTRIBUTOR(S): None
TYPE: A11y, “Best Practice”
ENTRY POINT: Content
NOTES:
•Rare instance of single owner, no secondary owner or contributor
•Example of a “Never” event
92. A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 2.2.1 TIMING ADJUSTABLE
EXAMPLE: “Session timeout in 2 minutes.
Do you want to continue? Yes / No”
PRIMARY OWNER: Business Owner
SECONDARY OWNER(S): IX Designer
CONTRIBUTOR(S): None
TYPE: Standard Requirements
ENTRY POINT: User Story / Requirements
NOTES:
•Business Owner’s only primary ownership criterion
•Rare Standard Requirement case
93. A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 2.4.5 MULTIPLE WAYS
EXAMPLE: Search, Site Map & Tree navigation
PRIMARY OWNER: IX Designer
SECONDARY OWNER(S): None
CONTRIBUTOR(S): None
TYPE: Best Practice, Standard Feature
ENTRY POINT: Wireframes (primary), Long Content
NOTES:
•One of several IX Designer-only primary criteria
94. A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 1.4.3 COLOR CONTRAST
EXAMPLE: “Blue on light blue”
PRIMARY OWNER: Vx Designer
SECONDARY OWNER(S): None
CONTRIBUTOR(S): Business Owner (Branding)
TYPE: A11y (possibly best practice)
ENTRY POINT(S): Style Guide (primary), Comps
NOTES:
•One of several Vx Designer primary ownership crits
•Vx Designer has no secondary ownership
95. A211Y EXAMPLE: SC 4.1.2 NAME, ROLE, VALUE
EXAMPLE: “Cool (RIA) Widgets”
PRIMARY OWNER: Developer
SECONDARY OWNER(S): IX Designer
CONTRIBUTOR(S): None
TYPE: Best Practices, A11y
ENTRY POINT(S): Code (primary), Wireframes
NOTES:
•Developer is primary since implementation is critical and IX Designer may not provide all details
•IX Designer should identify key field properties