![Cover image for [On-Demand Talk] It's the Markup That Matters](https://community.codenewbie.org/images/fWEsnpWeDlqjJZb0ttK-NZvlWDKbuCtctRN2NLXvCig/rs:fill:1000:420/g:sm/mb:500000/ar:1/aHR0cHM6Ly9jb21t/dW5pdHkuY29kZW5l/d2JpZS5vcmcvcmVt/b3RlaW1hZ2VzL3Vw/bG9hZHMvYXJ0aWNs/ZXMvanoyb3NvOTNz/cHYxZHY1c3Y4dmcu/cG5n)
About This Talk
My talk is about how you can use front-end code to make your site more accessible to people with disabilities. You'll learn about how browsers talk to assistive technologies and how to build more accessible forms, tables and rich text content.
Takeaways
- Our apps need to be accessible
- Good markup (HTML) makes a huge difference, it gives us a lot of accessibility for free
- Always consider which names, roles and states your markup conveys
Slides
>> Click here to download slides
🌈 Comment below and ask me questions — I might just answer them during my live speaker discussion!
About Hidde de Vries
I am freelance web developer and accessibility specialist, working with organizations like W3C, Mozilla and the Dutch government to create fast, usable and accessible experiences for their end users. As a volunteer, I was previously involved with Fronteers, the professional association and front-end conference in The Netherlands, organizing meet-ups, workshops and conferences. I blog on hidde.blog. You can find me on Twitter at @hdv.
This on-demand talk is part of CodeLand 2021 — a virtual conference brought to you by CodeNewbie & DEV on September 23 & 24, 2021.
Top comments (36)
Hey Hidde, thank you for your talk.
I had my first contact with accessibility last year, when I need to dive in the WCAG docs to gather the accessibility requirements and create some prototype for our project.
Would you have indications of contents or courses to whom wants to specialize in accessibility?
Hi Camilla, the Education section of the Accessibility Project Resources page has a lot of pointers a11yproject.com/resources/#education
Accessibility is one thing I would like to improve about my code. I can't wait for this talk!
Yay, hope you like it!
Thank you Hidde! I have mentioned this before, but I have relatives with hereditary failing vision.
Are there things in markup that can help with audio or "reading" systems? I am on the lookout for ideas of audio games they can play together.
Thanks for your talk.
In general, using the right markup enables screenreader software to expose web content best, so that's the best bet. Not sure if you're looking for anything more specific?
Thank you, Hidde! No I'm just trying to keep my eyes open to what's available.
@hidde , thank you for very informative presentation. 👍🏻.
Got a couple of questions:
How did you get to be focusing on accessibility?
Is accessibility always an intended feature of any product development?
I got into it because one of my first managers was into it, and it instantly clicked for me as a thing that just makes sense to do. Accessibility is always an intended feature, I would say.
I have so much to learn about implementing better accessibility. I work on products where most of our customers say they don't need accessibility and those products aren't publicly available. What's your opinion on including or adding accessibility to those products anyways, perhaps even after an initial release? @hidde
I'm there with you, and have also had customers say their products don't need accessibility. But statistically, this statement can't really be true for any product. According to WHO, 15-20% of people have a disability, and if they're not using your client's product, it may be because they can't as the product wasn't made accessible in the first place— this may be a chicken and egg situation. If it is software used in a workplace, lack of accessibility could be a problem if you when you hire people with disability. In other words, accessibility is important in all products, also non-public ones.
i loved this one! accessibility is one of the smallest but most complex details to work and focus on for me. i've always been interested in web dev but i haven't dived into it all the way during my first months of exploring development. lots of useful info, awesome discussion! :D
thank you, MJ!
Working on UI is one of the hardest thing that I deal with! Thank you for this info
thanks for attending!
This made me realize how important element Id/names are. Comments about names are often viewed as nitpicking in the projects I’ve been a part of because they aren’t customer facing. Accessibility changes this. Thank you for your talk!
Thanks for joining us!
another fantastic talk. Working on Accessibility in my learning journey at the moment too. Simple things to people like myself that you just dont realise can be a barrier for others. Even temporarily
thank you, Stewart!
Will AOM also allow programmatic modifications to the Accessibility tree?
Maybe! This has not materialised just yet.
Loved this talk! I wasn't aware of the accessibility tree, I'll be looking into that to learn more.
Yay! Let me know if you have end up having any questions!
Thank you for this talk! It was full of a lot of concrete and specific information and actions.
Thank you, Sarah!
I had not heard of ARIA before- thank you!
That's a new one for me also!
thanks for attending! Note, in most cases HTML is preferred over ARIA, but in cases where HTML doesn't cut it, ARIA can help.
Wow, that was an information filled talk! Amazing. Thank you!!! I'm bookmarking this one.
thank you, Steve!
Hidde, this is opening my eyes more while writing code. I love this 🤗
thanks for your comment, glad to hear!