BREAKING: University news site redesign puts accessibility above the fold!

Janell Sims — Harvard University
Aaron Baker — Harvard University

Our university news site was recently relaunched with a new and improved look and feel, and an enhanced accessibility experience. In this session, you’ll hear how we embedded accessibility into each phase of the project including vendor selection, sprint planning, user testing and QA. We’ll share lessons learned, and demo some exciting new features that prove accessible design can make the front page!

Notes:

• Harvard Gazette
  • Over 300,000 subscribers
• WCAG
  • 2.1 from 2018
  • 2.2 from 2023
• 2015 lawsuit against harvard from the NFD (National Association of the Deaf)
  • Accessibility policy created in 2019
  • Expanded in 2023 (looking forward)
• Accessibility was the first thing mentioned in the RFP for the project
  • A competency in accessibility by a vendor partner is a good sign
• Notes were added to the design docs at the very earliest versions
• Address accessibility before it is baked into the code
• Used Fable to test with real users
• Color contrast: contrast grid
  • Built a setting that works with various blocks (in WordPress) to choose pre-defined color pallets
  • Along with options (like solid, outline, reverse) these allow for uniqueness that is still accessible
  • Keep guard rails (color, text length, etc) to help editors