New Certification: Accessible Document Specialists
By Tamara Sawyer, Accessibility Coordinator, Minnesota Management and Budget
The International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) started a new certification program called Accessible Document Specialists (ADS). It is specifically geared towards people who create accessible documents on a routine basis. The ADS tests user’s knowledge in five areas:
- Creating electronic documents.
- Remediating electronic documents.
- Auditing and testing document accessibility.
- Document accessibility planning and training.
- Policy promotion, advocacy, and advising.
IAAP recommends people who are familiar with basic document accessibility spend six or eight weeks preparing for the exam.
Tamara interviews two state employees that recently passed the exam. She shares their advice on what it is, who should take it, and what to study in New Certification: Accessible Document Specialists.
Coding Best Practices for Using High Contrast Mode and Dark Themes
By: David E. Miller, MNIT Department of Corrections, and Jennie Delisi, Office of Accessibility
Did you know that people with low vision, those with difficulty perceiving specific colors or color combinations, and those with migraines are just some of the individuals that may use different color themes when accessing your content?
In February 2021 we published High Contrast Mode and Dark Theme Accessibility Testing, which discusses the relationship between dark mode and digital accessibility measurements of effective contrast. That article focused on testing. Testing, however, is the end of the story.
The story of creating accessible digital experiences begins with:
- project planning
- business requirements
- design
- coding
Business analysts, designers, developers, quality assurance professionals, and digital accessibility professionals can use the tips in this article to support high contrast mode and dark themes for their projects.
In this article we include tips for:
- planning and designing a color scheme for a variety of themes
- planning how you will use images
- information to include about themes in your "run book"
- and resources for learning more.
Learn more about specificity, schemes, and themes in Coding Best Practices for Using High Contrast Mode and Dark Themes.
Tech Tip: Autoplay and YouTube Videos
The Office of Accessibility received a question: can you control autoplay when sharing YouTube videos?
There are 2 levels of settings that impact autoplay:
- An individual’s YouTube settings
- How you share the video
Relying on an individual’s YouTube settings to control for autoplay does not consider:
- The user may not know how to change their settings
- The user may be on a device that is not theirs – example: library
Sharing on Social Media
When you use Twitter, Facebook, or other social media to share a direct link to a YouTube video, you cannot control autoplay for the person that will view the video. The user’s YouTube settings on their device will determine if the video will autoplay.
Use (Video) before the link to alert the user that it goes to a video.
Sharing on Your Webpage
When you embed a YouTube video on your website, you can control the autoplay.
First, look at the video’s URL. If it includes the text: autoplay=1
replace it with the text: autoplay=0
Share a Link to your Webpage on Social Media
When you share a link to your webpage with the embedded video (without autoplay), you can be confident that autoplay will not occur.
When sharing the link to this webpage on social media do not include (Video). Reason: the link goes to a webpage, not directly to a video.
Link to a Video in a GovDelivery Bulletin
You can link directly to a video in a GovDelivery bulletin and prevent autoplay.
Add the following tag to the end of your YouTube video URL (no space between the URL text and the question mark): ?autoplay=0&rel=0
Add (Video) to the link's meaningful text to alert the user that it goes to a video.
Try it For Yourself
The Office of Accessibility has a video called Accessibility Matters. Depending on your YouTube settings, visiting these links will either autoplay for you, or will not.
We chose to embed the video on a webpage, where we can control the autoplay: Accessibility Matters on the Office of Accessibility website. The user can launch the video, choose to view it full screen, choose to view it on YouTube, etc.
- We link to this page when sharing on social media.
- We can share a still from the video (with proper alt text) along with the link to provide a visually engaging social media experience.
- Visitors can find the video on YouTube if YouTube is their social media preference.
Best practice
- Use (Video) when sharing links to videos to inform the user they will go to a video.
- When possible, control autoplay.
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