Finnberry does Ed-Tech

I have already covered this guideline (back at the end of December) but in the last few weeks, it has cropped up in some of my work. I have been really encouraged, over the last year, to see the commitment my main client has towards meeting WCAG in all their content. They have invested in training for their staff, to ensure that any new content is accessible. It has been fantastic to see the efforts that individuals are making too. Though, naturally, not everyone gets it right all the time (including me). One of the common areas where I have seen mistakes recently, is in alt text. Some of the things I have seen are: Missing alt text (though this is now rare) Automatically generated alt text that is incorrect or inadequate Images incorrectly marked as decorative Images that are not inline with the text. However, the one thing that I get asked most about, is what to write. People find it very difficult to write alt text that is descriptive enough and gets the intended information across....

Universal design is one of the phrases that stuck with me when I did a Masters module on accessibility in online learning. It struck a chord because I see in the physical day-to-day world, the problems that occur when something is designed or built and then access for wheelchairs is considered as an afterthought. That is when we (disabled people) become a frustration or an inconvenience. It is much easier to design and build something (a house, a shop, a piece of eLearning, even a Word document) that is accessible for all, if you think about access at the beginning. It would be transformational if everything that was ever designed was designed with all needs in mind. I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I hear that a piece of eLearning isn't AT (assistive technology) compliant and as a mitigation for this, the content is put into a Word document. In many cases, nobody thinks that the Word document isn't compliant either. And yet, it's really not difficult to make...