From the beginning of my self-taught front-end developer journey, I was interested in how to create apps and websites with accessibility in mind. I used semantic HTML and used Lighthouse on every project and felt really good about how accessible my websites were.
Little did I know that this is just the tip of the iceberg and there is so much more to it. There are many great tools and guidelines you can use to check how accessible your website is and how you can improve it.
I would like to gain the knowledge in these guidelines as well as learn how to use the different testing tools.
How I want to structure my journey.
- I will write and publish this article (✅) and make it a series.
- I will write about accessibility in general to give the community an overview of a11y in web development.
- I will start updating my existing projects, analyzing them in an accessible way and updating them as needed, starting with my personal portfolio.
- I will make my personal brand (colors, font, ..) accessible.
- I will update my second project SOS Animals.
In the meantime
- I will write about a11y in terms of specific elements such as navigation bars, headers, buttons, etc. and save examples as gist files.
- I will write about a11y beyond components, more specific things like a11y in
<head>, keyboard usage, and more. - I'm going to take the Google UX Design Certificate to learn about accessibility from a different perspective. Because a11y is not only developer's job, it concerns all of us.
Aspiration
My goal would be to be known for my accessibility skills and be responsible for a11y at work 😇
Thanks for your reading and time. I really appreciate it!
Top comments (19)
Welcome to the team! hehe.
I look forward to seeing all of your a11y articles, what you learn etc. etc.
You should connect with @abbeyperini on here / Twitter (if you haven't already) as they love a11y too and are making some really great content on a11y at the moment!
Also connect with @savvasstephnds and @colabottles as they are also real pros when it comes to accessibility stuff!
Oh and I know a few bits and pieces when it comes to a11y, so I am happy to help if you ever need it! ❤
Greg! Thank you so much for the mention! It made my day. Although, I wouldn’t call myself an expert on accessibility, not by a long shot. I’m more than happy to help with regards to a11y if anyone ever needs any help! 💙
Thanks, Savvas 🙂
Graham bud, but I will answer to Greg if you want 😜🤣
Of course I mentioned you, you are doing yourself down, you are certainly very well versed in accessibility and I always enjoy your articles! ❤️
Oh yeah, sorry. The fact that you don’t have your real name here doesn’t help my dude 😆
Hearing you enjoy my articles means a lot to me! 💜
I think I'm gonna call Graham Greg from now on too, less syllables 😜
🤣🤣 I have been called far worse!
OMG look how cute SOS Animals is!
Deque's providing free Accessibilty training next week for GAAD (Global Accessibility Awareness Day)!
Thanks for your kind words 🙃
Oh, good to know, I will check it out 😯 Thank you!
Thank you so much for your respond and greae suggestions 🙂
Thanks for the mention, Graham! Truly appreciate the shout out! I'm always willing to help out in the community when and where I can!
In my place, one of my colleagues did this. A few of us were half-heartedly trying to get people to make more accessible designs and build more accessible components but it never really got much traction until she pitched it as an in-house a11y comittee to the management. We pushed the idea that it should be part of the product and not an after-thought, and ended up hosting a couple of small conventions. Good luck!
Thanks for sharing your story :)
This is a great plan! And inspiring to see. Can't wait to see you achieving this Julia 💪🏾
Thanks Isabel!
Fascinating
Wohoo, that's the spirit!
Can't wait to follow your journey 💖
Currently also doing a whole series on accessibility, so hope we can learn a lot from each other.
Sounds great, Chris 💯
Looking forward to it I really enjoy following other developers journeys it is always full of insight. All these accessibility articles are making a difference.