Introduction
In the words of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities:
“Disability is a part of the human experience.”
More than one in five Canadians will experience disability throughout their lives. These experiences could be chronic or temporary and may vary from individual to individual. For example, a broken arm, low hearing, or ADHD all influence an individual’s interaction with their environment, both physical and virtual.
It is necessary to design these environments in a way that acknowledges and accommodates disability.
This training will teach website editors and content creator the current best practices in web accessibility.
Training topics
The training is divided into six modules:
- About Accessibility: an introduction to web accessibility and its importance. This module also gives a brief overview of the relation between disability and accessibility, as well as approaches to accessibility strategy, regulations, and guidelines.
- Text: how to make text on your website accessible. Topics include accessible hyperlinks, proper heading use, appropriate paragraph length and breaks, formatting tips, and page titles.
- Images: making images accessible. Topics include how to properly use alt text (including with linked images), and avoiding text in images.
- Tables: the proper use of tables, as well as the importance of using table headers.
- Videos: this module covers videos, including captioning, transcripts, and the importance of video hosting services that allow video navigation using keyboard functions.
- Accessibility Checklist: this final module consists of a checklist you can use to review your website for accessibility.
Training structure
Time estimates
On the introductory page of the module, a time estimate for the entire module will be included. Estimates for each individual unit appear on the page that they pertain to. These are only general estimates, and you can go through the modules as quickly or slowly as you wish!
Learning goals
Each module will include learning goals to orient your learning. Use these to measure your success in completing the module, and understand the intended outcome of each module.
Module
This is where the bulk of the module’s content will be. Instructions, examples, and other learning tools will be presented in this section.
Video
The accompanying video will cover the same information as the written module, though the format and content will not be identical. You can choose to either read through the module or watch the video, depending on your learning preferences. You can also choose to both read the module and watch the video to further reinforce your learning.
Video transcript: videos will be accompanied with a video transcript, as well as closed captioning on the video itself.
Take action
While the module and/or video will present you with the necessary information to understand how to make your site accessible, this section will provide you with an opportunity to practice implementing your accessibility knowledge.
Further resources
There exist many fantastic accessibility resources which you can use to expand your learning. While we reference many of them in the module section, the further resources section will contain additional external content relating to, and expanding on, our training.
How to navigate the training
There are a few ways you can progress through the training:
- We recommend that you use the button at the bottom of each page to move to the next page in the unit in sequence. This method ensures you don’t miss any pages and that you are building on knowledge acquired in previous units and pages
- You may also use the side menu to jump to specific topics or progress through them sequentially.
- Each module’s introductory page links to the topics it covers. If you are simply browsing the training, this can be helpful for finding specific topics.
Feedback
We would love to hear your feedback on this training, as we strive to make our training as comprehensive, accessible, and complete as possible. If you have comments, please submit them using our accessibility training feedback form.
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