Introduction
My bookmark collection keeps growing, so it’s time to share a few more finds. This roundup focuses on accessibility resources: how to build your accessibility skills, why color choices go beyond contrast ratios, and what it takes to test AI-built courses. Thanks to the people who keep sharing useful things—and giving me more tabs to leave open.
A Different Way to Learn WCAG
If you’ve ever struggled to absorb the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, here’s a resource to explore. Justin Salas created WCAG Learn to make the success criteria easier to understand, with quick references for use while you work and flashcards for studying. He also tested it with his own assistive technology and other people with disabilities. Thanks to Justin for creating it and sharing more context on LinkedIn.
Free Courses for Building Accessibility Skills
Intopia’s Accessibility Freebies Pack includes short courses to help you put accessibility knowledge into practice. Topics include getting started with the NVDA screen reader and testing for six common accessibility issues, such as missing alt text, low-contrast text, and inaccessible form fields. Thanks to Russ Weakley for sharing this on LinkedIn.
Thinking Beyond Contrast When Choosing Colors
A passing contrast ratio doesn’t tell the whole story. Sheri Byrne-Haber explains how color choices and patterns can affect people (like me) with color vision deficiencies, sensory sensitivities, migraine, and other disabilities. This article includes practical suggestions for looking beyond the contrast ratios and giving people more control over how they experience your content. I will be sharing this one again and again. (Thank you, Sheri!)
Read “Accessible Color Choices Are About So Much More Than Just Contrast.”
Using Contrast Themes
Windows Contrast Themes let people replace a website’s colors with a palette that works better for them. But will your content still make sense when those colors change? This guide from Harvard’s Curtis Wilcox explains how contrast themes work, why people use them, and how to test and improve your site. I bookmarked it because I know I need to make improvements to my site. Thanks to Kyle Shachmut for sharing this on LinkedIn.
Straight Talk About Accessibility Testing with AI
AI can help you build a course, but how do you know people can actually use it? Dr. Nicole L’Etoile shares what she learned through 83 rounds of building, testing, and fixing an interactive course—including fixes that broke earlier fixes. It’s a useful look at why accessibility knowledge and hands-on testing still matter when AI is doing the coding.
Read “83 Rounds: What AI-Assisted Accessibility Testing Actually Looks Like.”
A Roadmap for Accessibility Evaluations
Wondering how to organize an accessibility evaluation? W3C’s WCAG Evaluation Methodology 2.0 walks through defining the scope, choosing a representative sample, testing, and reporting findings. It covers digital products including websites, apps, and documents. Bookmark this one for planning a more systematic review. Thanks (again) to Nicole L’Etoile for sharing.
More to Explore
If you appreciated these accessibility resources, you might also like the ones in these past posts:
