How Internet GDE Martine Dowden approaches internet design from an accessibility perspective — Google for Builders Weblog



Posted by Kevin Hernandez, Developer Relations Group Supervisor

To rejoice World Accessibility Consciousness Day, we interviewed Martine Dowden, Internet GDE.

Headshot image of Martine Dowden, against a dark background, smiling.

At this time’s web sites comply with sure ideas for good internet design. A few of these ideas embody simplicity, F-shaped patterned layouts (how we learn content material on a web page), nice content material, loading instances, shade palettes, and extra. One precept that may not be high of thoughts when our favourite websites is accessibility and when making use of it to internet design, its function is to make websites accessible to everybody. In accordance with the World Well being Group (WHO), about 16% of the inhabitants lives with some sort of incapacity. In internet design, accessibility is about ensuring you could have sufficient shade distinction, a decrease decision display screen, completely different button sizes, alt textual content, navigation that may be accessed along with your keyboard, descriptive textual content, and so forth. For Internet GDE, Martine Dowden, that is one thing she thinks about on a regular basis. Martine is the CTO of Andromeda Galactic Options the place she builds websites for her shoppers with an accessibility method. Martine can also be the co-author of Approachable Accessibility: Planning for Success, which landed her on Guide Authority’s 20 Greatest Accessibility Books of All Time listing, and has given quite a few talks on the topic.

When requested about why accessibility is essential to her, Martine shares, “It impacts everyone. I need to ensure that after I’m creating one thing, it would not matter who you’re, what gadget you are on, or what your wants are, you are gonna be capable of entry it. I do not need to exclude folks.” To attain accessibility, Martine urges designers and builders to consider accessibility ideas as early as potential. She goes on to say that in case your mockups are already inaccessible, you’re setting your self up for failure. She compares accessibility to safety and explains, “I wish to parallel it to safety as a result of you may’t by accident do safety appropriately. Accessibility is identical approach. You need to really give it some thought and take a look at for it.” For testing accessibility early on, Martine recommends utilizing automated instruments akin to Lighthouse, which has an accessibility checker. Nonetheless, whereas automated instruments are useful, it solely catches a small subset of what’s accessible in your web site. Martine explains that automated instruments don’t actually perceive context. “The automated tooling will inform me if I’ve alt textual content or not however it will not inform me if that alt textual content is related or useful. If I am exhibiting an image of cats and my alt textual content says it is a image of canines, the automated tooling will say it’s good to go,” she factors out. Whereas it’s useful to have this automation, Martine recommends coupling these instruments with a guide overview in an effort to be thorough whereas testing for accessibility.

Martine additionally recommends Internet Content material Accessibility Pointers (WCAG), which is the worldwide normal. This useful resource supplies specs and numerous supporting documentation that explains why the specs exist, however it’s an exhaustive useful resource that Martine doesn’t advocate studying from starting to finish. As a substitute, Martine suggests utilizing it when you could have a sure query and searching up the precise specs. One other know-how that assists her in her work is Angular for the reason that UI library consists of the accessibility notes.

The significance of accessibility is obvious in relation to giving everybody entry to websites and with 71% of customers with disabilities clicking away from websites as a consequence of inaccessibility, an accessibility method is important. Accessibility could be one thing new to you as a designer or developer however as with all the things else, Martine suggests, “It is identical to studying every other ability, take it little by little and you will ultimately get there. All people has to start out someplace.”

You will discover Martine on-line on her private web site.

The Google Developer Specialists (GDE) program is a worldwide community of extremely skilled know-how specialists, influencers, and thought leaders who actively help builders, corporations, and tech communities by talking at occasions and publishing content material.

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