Quick Win - Start UI Testing
Feb 3, 2021, 2:30 AM
I’ll admit, adding UI testing to an app that currently doesn’t have it included is probably stretching the definition of quick win, but the aim here isn’t 100% coverage - not right away anyway. Start small and add to your...
Quick Win - Support Landscape
Jan 28, 2021, 2:30 AM
If you have a regulatory requirement to provide accessibility in your app (spoiler, you do) the chances are it will say you have a requirement to reach WCAG AA. While this is likely meaningless to anyone other an accessibility...
Quick Win - Support Dark Mode
Jan 28, 2021, 2:30 AM
Many people don’t realise dark mode is an accessibility feature. It’s often just considered a nice to have, a cool extra feature that power users will love. But dark mode is also a valuable accessibility feature. Some types of...
Quick Win - Image Descriptions
Jan 19, 2021, 2:30 AM
Images are a major part of our apps. They add meaning and interest, they give your app character and context. The adage is that a picture is worth a thousand words. But if you can’t see the image clearly, how do you know what those...
Quick Win - Text Contrast
Jan 19, 2021, 2:30 AM
How many shades of grey do you use in your app? OK, maybe thats a bit cruel towards designers, grey is a great colour, but the problem with grey is that it can be deceptively difficult to distinguish from a background. And this problem is...
iOS 14: Custom Accessibility Content
Jun 29, 2020, 3:30 AM
Each year at WWDC Xcode Santa brings us exciting new APIs to play with, and this year our accessibility present is Customized Accessibility Content. This API flew under the radar a little, I’m told this is because it’s so new there...
Accessibility Review: Huh? - International languages
Jun 28, 2020, 3:30 AM
The Accessibility Review series uses real world apps to provide examples of common accessibility issues and provide tips on how to fix them. Each of the developers has kindly volunteered their app to be tested.
Huh? is a dictionary and...
Accessibility Review: Figure Case - Button Labels
Jun 21, 2020, 3:30 AM
The Accessibility Review series uses real world apps to provide examples of common accessibility issues and provide tips on how to fix them. Each of the developers has kindly volunteered their app to be tested.
Figure Case is an app to...
Accessibility Review: Daily Dictionary - Screen changes
May 16, 2020, 3:30 AM
The Accessibility Review series uses real world apps to provide examples of common accessibility issues and provide tips on how to fix them. Each of the developers has kindly volunteered their app to be tested.
Daily Dictionary is an app...
iOS Attributed Accessibility Labels
May 3, 2020, 6:30 AM
Attributed accessibility labels are an incredible tool for making some next-level accessible experiences. They let you tell VoiceOver not just what to speak, but how to say it too.
Using the accessibilityAttributedLabel property you can...
Writing Great iOS Accessibility Labels
May 3, 2020, 5:30 AM
A good accessibility label lets your customer know exactly what a control does in as few words as possible, without having to rely on implied context.
Don’t Add the Element Type iOS already knows your button is a button and your...
When to use Accessibility Labels
May 3, 2020, 4:30 AM
There’s a few circumstances when you’ll want to set your own accessibility label, such as…
An interactive element that you haven’t given a text value to, such as an image button. An interactive element with a long...
iOS Accessibility Labels
May 3, 2020, 3:30 AM
This blog was inspired by Jeff Watkins' series of blogs on UIButton. UIButton is a fundamental part of building interfaces on iOS. So much so, that it probably doesn’t get the love it deserves. But it’s also really powerful and...
A11y Box Android
Apr 26, 2020, 3:30 AM
A few months ago I shared a project I’d been working on for iOS exploring the accessibility API available on that platform. The Android accessibility API is equally large and full featured, and really deserves the same treatment. So...
Mobile A11y Talk: Accessibility in SwiftUI
Apr 12, 2020, 3:30 AM
I was supposed to be attending the 2020 CSUN Assistive Technology conference to present a couple of talks, unfortunately with COVID-19 starting to take hold at that time, I wasn’t able to attend. In lieu of attending I decided to...
A11y Box iOS
Feb 26, 2020, 2:30 AM
iOS' UIAccessibility API is huge. I like to think I know it pretty well, but I’m always being surprised by discovering features I previously had no idea about. Like many things on iOS, the documentation for UIAccessibility is not...
Android Live Regions
Feb 11, 2020, 2:30 AM
Live Regions are one of my favourite accessibility features on Android. They’re a super simple solution to a common accessibility problem that people with visual impairments can stumble across.
Say you have a game app, really any...
A11yUITests: An XCUI Testing library for accessibility
Dec 17, 2019, 2:30 AM
A11yUITests is an extension to XCTestCase that adds tests for common accessibility issues that can be run as part of an XCUITest suite. I’ve written a detailed discussion of the tests available if you’re interested in...
XCUITests for accessibility
Dec 16, 2019, 2:30 AM
For a while now I’ve been looking at possibilities for automated accessibility testing on iOS. Unfortunately, I’ve not found any option so far that I’m happy with. I am a big fan of Apple’s XCUI Test framework. Although it has its...
Resources
Dec 1, 2019, 2:30 AM
This is a personally curated list of resources I have used and think others may find helpful too. I’m always looking for new high quality mobile accessibility and inclusion resources to add here. Please share any you find with me via...
Review: Accessibility for Everyone - Laura Kalbag
Nov 30, 2019, 2:30 AM
Laura’s introduction to web accessibility jumped out to me because it’s available as an audiobook. Being dyslexic I struggle to read, so prefer to listen to audiobooks where available. Unfortunately, most technical books...
A11y is not accessible
Nov 28, 2019, 2:30 AM
Accessibility is a long word. It’s not the simplest of words to read or to spell, so it seems like a word that would be a good candidate for abbreviation. The common abbreviation of accessibility is a11y. We take the A and Y from the...
About Mobile A11y
Nov 16, 2019, 2:30 AM
About Mobile A11y Mobile A11y is a collection of blogs and resources about how we as mobile developers can improve accessibility on mobile devices. From time to time the blog might also touch on related topics such as digital inclusion,...
SwiftUI Accessibility
Nov 6, 2019, 2:30 AM
Accessibility is important. We can take that as a given. But as iOS devs we’re not always sure how to make the most of the accessibility tools that Apple have provided us.
We’re lucky as iOS developers that we work on such a...
SwiftUI Accessibility: Semantic Views
Oct 29, 2019, 3:30 AM
Semantic views are not new to SwiftUI, but changes in SwiftUI mean creating them is simple. Semantic views are not so much a language feature. They’re more a technique for manipulating the accessible user interface and improving the...
SwiftUI Accessibility: User Settings
Oct 27, 2019, 3:30 AM
SwiftUI allows us to read environmental values that might affect how we want to present our UI. Things like size classes and locale for example. We also get the ability to read some of the user’s chosen accessibility settings...
SwiftUI Accessibility: Attributes
Oct 18, 2019, 3:30 AM
When a customer enables an assistive technology to navigate your app the interface that technology navigates isn’t exactly the same as the one visible on the screen. They’re navigating a modified version that iOS creates...
SwiftUI Accessibility: Traits
Oct 18, 2019, 3:30 AM
Accessibility traits are a group of attributes on a SwiftUI element. They inform assistive technologies how to interact with the element or present it to your customer. Each element has a selection of default traits, but you might need to...
Review: Design Meets Disability - Graham Pullin
Oct 12, 2019, 3:30 AM
Design Meets Disability was recommended to me by accessibility consultant Jon Gibbins while we were sharing a long train journey through mid-Wales. We were talking, amongst many things, about our love for Apple products and their design.
I...
Podcast: iPhreaks - iOS Accessibility
Oct 9, 2019, 3:30 AM
I was asked to guest on the iPhreaks podcast to discuss iOS accessibility. We talked about why accessibility is important, how you can improve it in your apps, and some of the changes iOS 13 and SwiftUI bring.
unfortunatley iPhreaks...
SwiftUI Accessibility: Accessible User Interface
Oct 9, 2019, 3:30 AM
Take a look at your app. Notice the collection of buttons, text, images, and other controls you can see and interact with that make up your app’s user interface. When one of your customers navigates your app with Voice Control, Switch...
Mobile A11y Talk: Accessibility without the 'V' Word
Oct 8, 2019, 3:30 AM
I was honoured in 2019 to be able to give my first full conference talk at CodeMobile. I was then lucky enough to be able to repeat that talk at NSLondon, NSManchester, and SWMobile meetups.
As an iOS developer, I know accessibility is...