I was just catching up on my blog reading and Ian’s interview with Andy Clarke on Accessify got me to thinking about “web accessibility snake oil salesmen”. As more and more people wake up to the concept of accessible web sites, is there a need for official accessibility certification?
I like the idea of accessibility certification. In fact, I quite like the idea of web designer/developer certification. Of course, liking the idea and turning it in to useful reality are two different things.
How can you determine a web designer’s accessibility expertise? I always think the best way is to ask them to submit a site for review. I’d then run their site thru my gamut of accessibility testing tools
- Test with my browser – turn off images, don’t use the mouse, turn off speakers, increase font size, change window size, turn off CSS, turn off Javascript, set to greyscale
- Run online accessibility tests on representative pages using more than one tool, example: WebXact & Wave
- Listen to representative pages using JAWS
- Run a sitewide accessibility report tool like LIFT or WebXM
- Conduct hands on accessibility testing with users who have visual, auditory, motor, speech and cognitive disabilities
But, if I didn’t have accessibility expertise and needed to rely on someone else’s opinion, where could I turn? With a little help from my friends, a few places I could think of were:
- Brainbench – Web Accessibility Certification
- Gawds.org
- Winners of the Knowbility Accessibility Internet Rallies
Right now, I’m just wanting to know if you think accessibility certification for web designers has merit or not. I’d also like to hear what concerns or ideas you have related to accessibility certification.
My first thought is: Free the bear!!!
My second thought is: web designers come in all shapes and sizes…(true)…no, wait…that’s not it! Sorry, back to my point…umm, and they also specialise in different aspects of the web design/developer community. So what I mean is – I think it would be a good idea to have some sort of ‘Accessibility – Certified’ initiative…but of course only for the web professionals who state that they are about ‘Accessibility’. This should sort out the hacks (not as in code-hacks) from the genuine article.
And I think it should be taken seriously…not some gaudy GIF slapped on the footer of a site saying ‘Accessibility – Certified’ – no….it has to be the ‘real deal’…each person to attain such a status to have a unique certification number that they can quote in reference.
Okay – so my second thought was a bit more substantial than the first….but…free the bear too! :D
It’s a great idea, however it might spawn a series of extortionate courses which would be out of reach for a small, provincial designer like myself.
Quality, authoritative resources on the web are hard to come by. I’d like to see more in the way of helpful information for all levels. Although I consider myself to be quite clued in on accessibility, there’s so much more to learn.
Until a few weeks ago, I was unaware of the mind-boggling array of input devices that are available and the potential issues these raise for users. I went along to a web accessibility conference – a free one! – in Belfast and got to see these keyboards/pointing devices first hand. Gives you a perspective on what problems different users will encounter on a site.
Another thing to consider is end-user testing.
I do hold a formal UK recognised qualification focusing on web accessibility; I am one of the few people that can actually claim that.
Though the course material was very shallow – far too basic for myself – therefore unfortunately I can see what will happen; people will believe a simple piece of paper will mean they know about accessibility.
If only automated testing, semantics and colour-blindness emulation is essentially what accessibility courses teach then there is little hope for the future…
Accessibility is about appreciating Diversity; until that happens you’ll see magazine articles harping on about blindness as it was the only obstacle.
Matt, don’t worry about the bear…he is double-jointed and can pull a Houdini any time he wants! And I totally agree that I don’t expect every developer to be an accessibility expert.
Gerard, your concerns about certification becoming too expensive and slowing the flow of free information is a good one. I certainly don’t want to create barriers to accessibility knowlege and techniques!
Robert, an accessibility certification based on shallow information or even misinformation makes me shudder. I’ll admit I have an addiction to automated tools, but only as a way to get my head turned in the right direction.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. You’ve made me think twice about the merit of official certification.
So…the idea y’all have inspired me to is this…wouldn’t it be cool if a smart group of accessibility experts put together a self-test on an annual basis. A test that you would take to tell yourself if you really deserve to wear the label “accessibility expert”. Your test results would suggest areas to brush up on. I guess, all I want for Christmas is an “accessibility expert reality check”.
You know, I read that article too, and frankly I was a little disturbed by it… (my full reaction here)
I do firmly believe accessibility and standards compliance are important for the future of our information systems, but the push for perfect compliance is a tall order and could very well drive away many talented people with many original ideas. To me it seems as though in a reality environment, where you have limited resources, time, and manpower, there’s only so much you can do – should those people really be punished?
I dunno. It’s a tough question. I’m sympathetic to Andy Clarke on the one hand (hack web developers can cause a lot of trouble, especially now) but on the other I don’t ever like to see groups of people stratified.
Anne, Check out Molly’s post Web Standards and the New Professionalism. I don’t think either Molly or Andy are asking for perfection, but they are asking for progress and professionalism.
I particularly loved the comment from Dustin Diaz on Molly’s post that reads
Thanks for the link. I enjoy Molly’s wording and assessment of the situation much better – perhaps I just misunderstood what Andy was trying to get at.
I thought about it some more, and it would be lovely if there was an academic environment for web development… maybe some day there will be. People say that the field is growing too fast for formal education to keep up, but if you ask me, that’s a failing of formal education and not the field. After all, CS managed to do it (but I’m sure you know that CS has a very similar suite of problems with many programmers choosing not to learn or simply ignoring best practices).
At any rate, there’s an amazing amount of commentary this has all stirred up and it’s very entertaining to read it all :)