Is your EPUB accessible?
Put it to the test!

Romain Deltour (@rdeltour), DAISY Consortium
#ebookcraft – March 21, 2018

#a11y testing

Because it’s the right thing

I would also say that not paying close attention to #a11y ignores the democratic promise of digital publishing. #eprdctn

— Laura Brady (@LauraB7) April 27, 2016

Because you don’t have a choice

Because…
it’s your (frickin’ damn) job!

When UX doesn't consider ALL users, shouldn't it be known as "SOME User Experience" or... SUX? #a11y

— Billy Gregory (@thebillygregory)Jan 6, 2015

Accessibility impacts everyone

line icons representing various persons with permanent, temporary or situational disability Credits: Microsoft’s Inclusive Design Manual

Accessibility is a continuum

Accessibility is a multiverse!

Accessibility is about the whole thing

And the devil is in the details…

See “The Problems With Ramps Blended Into Stairs” by Nicolas Steenhout Photo credit: Robson Square, by Dean Bouchard

… but it’s well worth a shot!

What’s a book?

(drink! 🍻)

EPUB ▶ HTML ▶ DOM ▶ a11y tree ▶ a11y API ▶ AT
A diagram showing how an HTML document produces a DOM, which is both rendered on screen and also produces the a11y tree, used by AT to expose the info to the user. Credits: Accessibility Object Model explainer
An HTML img element is painted into visual UI, but also conveyed in the a11y tree as a node with the image role Credits: Accessibility Object Model explainer

Assistive technologies

  • JAWS
  • NVDA
  • Voice Over
  • ZoomText

Accessibility support

Using a technology in a way that is accessibility supported means that it works with assistive technologies (AT) and the accessibility features of operating systems, browsers, and other user agents.

– WCAG 2.0 specification

Figuring out accessibility support

  • blog, articles, tweets
  • Web Platform Tests
  • … but no “Can I Use” 😞
  • often requires manual testing!
http://html5accessibility.com/
http://w3c.github.io/test-results/

Accessibility inspectors (1)

Browser-Based Dev Tools

  • chrome://accessibility/ (Chrome)
  • F12 Accessibility Tree (Edge)
  • Dom Inspector (Firefox extension)
  • Accessibility Node Inspection in WebKit Web Inspector (Safari)

Accessibility inspectors (2)

Desktop apps

  • Aviewer (Windows)
  • Inspect (Windows SDK)
  • Accprobe (Windows)
  • Accessibility Inspector (Xcode, OS X)

		<section>
		<h2>Chapter 1: Loomings</h2>
		</section>
	

		<section aria-labelledby="ch1">
		<h2 id="ch1>Chapter 1: Loomings</h2>
		</section>
	

		<div role="doc-chapter region" aria-labelledby="ch1">
		<h2 id="ch1">Chapter 1: Loomings</h2>
		</div>

Testing: it’s a process

Several levels of testing

Various testing methods

  • automated tests
  • manual inspection
  • user testing

Manual inspection is crucial!

Automation is NOT sufficient!

(Try to) involve users!

Identify platform combinations

  • epubjs + Firefox + NVDA on Windows
  • iBooks/Safari + VoiceOver on MacOS
  • Chrome + TalkBack on Android

Test as early as possible!

Never, ever, understimate the cost of remediation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Learn, share, Educate

If you can’t secure leadership backing right away, you can still form a grassroots accessibility movement within the company.

— A DIY Web Accessibility Blueprint

Tooling

Accessibility checkers

  • aXe
  • Tenon
  • HTML Code Sniffer
  • A11y.css
  • Google Lighthouse

https://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/

Demo time!

EPUB testing tools

  • All of the aforementioned tools!
  • Ace, by DAISY
  • IBM Digital Content Checker

Ace, by DAISY

Ace’s logo: a light blue, thick A shape, overlapped with a green tick.

Ace’s goals

  • manual inspection preparation
  • automated checks

based on EPUB Accessibility 1.0

Installation


		$ npm install @daisy/ace
Screenshot of NodeJS download page
https://nodejs.org/en/
Screenshot of HomeBrew’s home page
https://brew.sh/
Screenshot of Yarn’s home page
https://yarnpkg.com/

		$ yarn global add @daisy/ace

Demo time!

Mmm… but I hate the command line!

  • Ask for help! Don’t be shy! ace@daisy.org
  • baCC: by the German Central Library for the Blind (DZB)
  • Ace Desktop App comming later this year… stay tuned!

SMART

Simplified Manual Accessibility Reporting Tool

Demo time!

Links

Should I use several tools?

Guess what?
It depends! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

So, all in all…

Accessibility testing is sometimes complex, and sometimes you will trip up…

Do not aim too high, and always be aware of the technical context (a11y support)

You will need to learn some new methods, some new tools

And these will help avoiding the pitfalls

Remember to build a team, get help

You’ll get there! Be proud to do a quality job, get some wow!

And –most importantly–, you’ll make more readers happy!

Thanks!

https://rdeltour.github.io/is-your-epub-accessible