What does someone need to do to learn web accessibility? Take a first step forward with the desire to learn. The only way to achieve anything is to start doing something about it.
Now that I've committed to #100DaysOfA11y, where do I begin?? I want to make the most of my 100 days, so I'll start with a loose learning plan to help me stay on track and tackle a topic that I've been meaning to investigate these past 3 years.
Goals:
Jump to section titled: Goals:- Complete Southampton's Digital Accessibility course.
- Read Inclusive Design Patterns by Heydon Pickering.
- Read Designing with Progressive Enhancement by The Filament Group.
- Read Apps for All by Heydon Pickering.
- Work through the W3C's accessibility tutorials.
- Traverse the WCAG 2.1 and WAI-ARIA rabbit hole to understand those nitty-gritty details.
- Understand CSS Grid and Accessibility.
- Update most of my coding projects to be accessible and follow a universal design pattern.
- Gain an in-depth understanding of U.S. law for people with disabilities and the 504 and 508 standards that were put into place.
- Set a plan in action for my own work place to become AA-compliant.
- Teach my co-workers about Digital Accessibility in less than an hour.
Plan of Action
Jump to section titled: Plan of Action- Week 1-5: Southampton Digital Accessibility course
- Week 6-7: Work through W3C's guided tutorials and read through their references
- Week 8: Evaluate and update my own coding projects; start Apps for All
- Week 9-10: Read Inclusive Design Patterns
- Week 11-13: Read Progressive Enhancement
- Week 14: Start a11y audit plan of webpages at work
- Week 15: Develop a lesson plan for teaching co-workers and others about digital accessibility
As I learned from completing the 100 Days of Code challenge, a lot can be learned and accomplished in 100 days. My plans mentioned above are flexible with the intent of keeping me on track in hopes of accomplishing what I set out to do. I truly hope I run across other resources and get tips from accessibility professionals that will derail my own aforementioned goals, yet hone my learning path.
So, here I go. Let my next 100 day journey begin!