Beyond Accessibility Compliance: Building the Next Generation of Inclusive Products

Take a deep look at accessibility as it applies to mobile and wearables. This book covers topics within the accessibility domain that are rarely covered or understood, despite the fact that nearly half of the world’s population uses smartphones. Moreover, by 2025, 72% of smartphone users are expected to only use smartphones to access the internet. And yet, accessibility is often an afterthought instead of a core principle of product development. This book changes that.

You will begin by exploring the current landscape and policy frameworks, looking at the software product lifecycle and how to embed inclusion from the start.  You’ll learn the nuances of mobile accessibility as it applies to mobile devices, wearables, and IoT. From there you’ll move onto automated testing, accessibility and inclusion, and the next frontiers of emerging technology including AR and VR. There will be notes at the end of programming examples to help those in orthogonal roles, such as project management, understand the basics and the language to  better communicate with their engineering counterparts.

Over 1 billion people in the world live with some form of disability so it’s imperative you devise a comprehensive game plan to make your digital products accessible for all. Beyond Accessibility Compliance is your guide to understanding the current landscape of assistive technology and how emerging techniques are changing the way we think about personalization and accessibility.

What You’ll Learn

• See how people with the most common forms of disabilities use digital products
• Review the basics of the product development lifecycle and how to embed accessibility
• Explore tangible answers as to how accessibility pertains to unique roles
• Understand the difference between compliance and usability
• Make data visualizations accessible for blind users
• Implement code-level changes to address gaps in accessibility
• Build a campus programs and course material inclusive for people with disabilities

Who This Book Is For

Current developers, designers, and others building technology products with basic knowledge of front-end development.  This book is also suitable for students in computer science, engineering, HCI,  and related fields. Sections that are not engineering-specific are applicable to design, user research, communication, and business students who are looking to pursue careers in technology.