The Front Page Blog: Blogs on Assistive Technology and Accessibility

Join the challenge! What is your +1?

May 16th, 2024, marks the 13th anniversary of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). GAAD aims to stimulate thinking, learning, and discussion about digital access and inclusion. This year, we challenge you to engage with digital access and inclusion by selecting and acting upon your +1 (plus 1): the one step or action you can take, whether it involves learning about or deepening your understanding of a niche, watching a video, reading an article, or engaging on social media related to digital access and inclusion. 

New Editions…

By Chad Lamb, Senior Test Engineer

This past year, GSA and OMB sent self-assessments to federal agencies, asking the agencies to evaluate the maturity of their implementation of Section 508.  Section 508 offices and their respective agencies were asked to evaluate and report on their 508 implementation efforts. One area of focus was ICT Testing.  After the assessment, some agencies that had not been testing, are looking at what approach to take to perform these tasks. This question is not new and agencies need to weigh the pros and cons of each option to determine…

By Cindy Ryan, Vice President

New Editions was pleased to honor Alan King at the 7th Annual ICT Testing Symposium in October by sponsoring the Best Paper Award for the conference in his honor. Alan, a former New Editions employee who passed away unexpectedly this year, was a leading expert in the field of digital accessibility. Alan inspired others and encouraged them to give their talents and energy to support the disability community. Alan was well respected for his innovative ideas in the accessibility field. He had a kind and compassionate attitude toward…

Global Accessibility Awareness Day, May 18th, was launched in 2021 to promote awareness for digital accessibility, access, and inclusion. As Accessibility Consultants, New Editions is focused on and passionate about improving digital accessibility. We partner with organizations to help them improve their digital products and we play an important role in the maturation of their accessibility programs. In a world of emerging technologies and new standards, we convert complex ideas to simple, implementable tasks.

Effective collaboration between consultants and client program and…

There has been an appropriate emphasis in recent years to educate developers on accessibility requirements outlined by the Revised 508 standards and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). The development of a repeatable test process, like the Trusted Tester methodology New Editions helped develop, helps to ensure developers receive a consistent message as to what constitutes accessible Information and Communication Technology (ICT). These have been positive steps forward in creating accessible products. However, the focus to “shift left” that we now see beginning to happen has…

When Section 508/accessibility testing comes to mind, the first thought is typically electronic content, such as websites and documents. Certainly, ensuring that different types of electronic content is accessible is important, however, there is another major type of testing that plays a large role for individuals with disabilities that often becomes an afterthought. What is it, you may ask? Hardware testing. Hardware is another form of information and communications technology (ICT) that also needs to be tested for accessibility. Hardware covers the physical equipment type of ICT products…

The current accessibility mantra we hear repeated, and repeat ourselves to development teams, is to “bake in accessibility” and “shift-left,” yet accessibility needs, design, development, training, testing, reporting, goals, and metrics historically are siloed (and thus fosters no collaboration) within the overall Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). SDLC refers to a methodology of defined processes to create high quality software for the lowest cost in the shortest time possible. The development process includes: defining requirements; planning; design; development; testing; and…

On Thursday, October 14th, New Editions had the opportunity to present as a vendor during the 2021 Interagency Accessibility Forum (IAAF) sponsored by the Federal Chief Information Officer Council’s Accessibility Community of Practice. Since 2013, the U.S. General Services Administration, along with federal agency partners, has hosted the annual IAAF for agency representatives to learn about federal accessibility policies, how they can adapt Section 508 standards to prioritize IT accessibility, and provide vendors an opportunity to showcase products and services to help agencies achieve…

At New Editions, we believe designing and developing accessible information and communication technology should be a normal course of action. We pride ourselves on being Section 508 and WCAG 2.1 experts and leaders in the accessibility field.  New Editions provides accessibility consulting and support services to our clients to help them gain the necessary knowledge and expertise to develop fully accessible products.

Often, accessibility is somewhat of an afterthought or even completely forgotten. That’s where we accessibility experts can help. Having accessibility tools and…

According to Enchroma.com, there are approximately 300 million people around the world with some form of color blindness. Color blindness is more common in men than women with the same or similar conditions. The most common type of color blindness is Red-Green color blindness, which makes it difficult to differentiate red and blue. Less common is Blue-Yellow color blindness, which makes it difficult to differentiate between blue and green, and between yellow and red.

One of the first decisions a designer makes is selecting the color scheme for a project. This selection is an…

Cognitive, learning, and neurological disabilities are often overlooked when addressing accessibility because most designers and developers are focused on other forms of disabilities, such as visual and hearing impairments. Those who have cognitive and intellectual disabilities often find it difficult to complete certain mental tasks that may come easier to other users.  We’ve seen rapid progress in the field of digital accessibility in recent years, but more effort is needed to create and design better solutions for people with cognitive, learning, and neurological disabilities.…

Accessibility trainings, whether in-person, virtual, or a hybrid learning model, are a great way to introduce folks to what accessible information and communications technology (ICT) is, why it’s important, and how to remediate inaccessible content and create accessible content moving forward. Here are six quick tips on how to deliver a successful accessibility training.

1. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation outlining the topics that will be covered over the course of the training. Make this PowerPoint available to participants prior to the event. This allows them…

Automated Section 508 compliance web scanning software has become a popular tool for accessible code testing over the last decade. This blog will discuss some of the software’s pros and cons to determine if it’s the right tool for your organization.

Knowing where to start when it comes to Section 508 standards for the web can be overwhelming, especially if you are unfamiliar with the standards or do not have an accessibility team or web testers on staff. This is where using automated web testing software can be a good first step in testing websites before they…

Learning accessibility standards, techniques, and testing methodologies can seem overwhelming. You may not know where to start; you may need to refresh your skills; or you may want to find resources to share with colleagues to build accessibility expertise. Below are some of the many resources available to help you on your accessibility journey.

There are several resources you may wish to consider for learning what accessibility is, how users with disabilities interact with content, and overall accessibility knowledge. These resources provide a solid foundation…

“Making accessible technology is a lot like making blueberry muffins. You can’t put the blueberries in the muffin after the muffin is baked.” - Cordelia McGee-Tubb, web accessibility engineer at Salesforce

Too often, accessibility has been an afterthought and accessibility teams have been viewed as “enforcers,” rather than collaborators with shared goals – until the development of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Section 508 Playbook!

In the sports world, a playbook is a resource containing the team’s strategies and plays to win. The DHS Playbook provides a series of…

Virtual meetings have become so prevalent that “Zoom fatigue” is now part of our vocabulary. As we move to more virtual presentations, an often overlooked aspect is presenting content accessibly and inclusively. Captioned videos, labeled graphics, content structure, and correctly color-contrasted font are some of the major components that make the content of any virtual or in-person presentation more accessible. Accessible content, however, comprises only a half of the presentation. The other half, which is just as important but more often times overlooked, is delivering an…

In 2020, the onset of the COVID-19 virus accelerated a move to a remote and digitally dependent workforce. Many companies were able to accommodate employees working from home by providing a few technological changes and additional equipment to enable workers to maintain communication with their colleagues, supervisors, and clients. Some even found that productivity increased for employees working from home. The success of this remote workforce revealed a side benefit for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities are often overlooked by organizations because of the…

On May 20th, we celebrate the 10th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). Over the course of the next week, New Editions will release daily blogs created by our staff highlighting different perspectives of accessibility, including the benefits of an accessible work environment, dos and don’ts for delivering an inclusive presentation, accessibility training tips and options, the benefit of a playbook for an accessibility program, automated tools, and highlights of how accessibility consulting can help your project/team be more successful.

The “purpose of GAAD is to get everyone…

New Editions is pleased to be a Silver sponsor of the 5th annual ICT TESTING SYMPOSIUM 2020. The testing symposium provides support to those tackling the issue of ensuring equal access to digital information for all members of our society, and is especially important in this time of rapid transition towards the use of online tools as a primary means of communication. This year’s conference will be online, as many conferences have converted to this year. As a leader in accessible solutions and ICT testing and remediation, we will present a paper on leveraging Trusted Tester with Test…

WebAim performed a survey on a million home pages and found a substantial number of issues centered around what testers would call “easy-picking” tests; those that take little effort to test and where - as a tester - you are sure to find a failure. The top failures were low contrast, images without alternative text, empty links, missing form input buttons, empty buttons, and lack of document language.

Years ago, a colleague was discussing failures from an application and she started her explanation of issues with “This is my favorite test! Let’s talk about color contrast.” For the…

There are so many methods for accessibility testing. How do you know what is most effective? What is the most reliable?

The Trusted Tester Section 508 Conformance Test Process for Web v5.0 is a rigorous, methodical method for testing web content using WCAG 2.0 Level A and AA standards. The Office of Accessible Systems and Technology (OAST) in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers free training in the process and certifies testers. The course, instructor assistance through a Q&A Board and certification exam and certificate, is free.

The course has four pre-…

Instructional design is a systematic process for designing learning experiences and materials to improve learner performance and retention. Whether you’re using Articulate Storyline, Adobe Captivate, Lectora, or other eLearning authoring tools to design online courses, consider broadening your audience to include those with disabilities who rely on assistive technologies. By using the Trusted Tester Process, not only will you comply with the federal and international standards, you will be improving the usability of information and communication technologies (ICT) for a variety of…

National Disability Employment Awareness Month (NDEAM), which lasts the month of October, will celebrate the contributions of workers with disabilities and inform employers about the value of including employees with disabilities. 

New Editions Consulting celebrates inclusivity and accessibility all year long. For example, our efforts on Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (requiring that all government digital content —apps, web pages, and electronic documents — be accessible to people with disabilities) includes working on government contracts to ensure that federal…

The 2019 “Innovation at Work” technology showcase, hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture TARGET Center, brought together a wide range of interested participants within the technology, government, and disability communities. Upon arriving at the event, guests were greeted by staff skilled in American Sign Language (ASL), who signed as they spoke to all guests regardless of hearing ability. In addition, each session was equipped with live captioning service, a testament to the progress of the technology industry actively bridging the gap with the disability community.

Among the…

The M-Enabling Summit re-convened in Washington DC in 2018 for its 7th year. We attended the Summit and this blog provides you with some insights into what we noticed.

The theme for 2018 was "Accessible and Assistive Technologies Innovations: New Frontiers for Independent Living”. Historically, the Summit has brought together many tech companies from giants, such as AT&T, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber, to companies specializing in products for people with disabilities, such as Aftershokz and Audioeye. The Summit is designed for these companies discuss common goals regarding…