Using Drupal for Responsive Accessibility & Design

This presentation will focus on the principles of responsive accessibility as they are uniquely suited to Drupal sites, how to incorporate them into Drupal 7 and Drupal 6 sites through the use of contributed modules and themes, and through APIs and coding solutions. This presentation will also detail appropriate levels of accessibility measures for Drupal sites in specific situations, such as higher education sites, e-commerce sites, and personal/professional. Finally, this presentation will provide an overview of how to write an accessibility policy for your Drupal site based on which themes/modules you use, and will provide an update on assistive technologies and software available for disabled users. A short, updated video of disabled users testing several Drupal 7 sites for web accessibility will also be shown.
Presentation Outline

• What is Responsive Accessibility, and how is Drupal uniquely suited for it?
• Using contributed modules and themes for Responsive Accessibility
• Drupal coding for Responsive Accessibility
• Designing Responsive Accessibility into desktop and mobile designs
• Appropriate levels of web accessibility -- how much is enough for you?
• Developing the accessibility policy that's right for your site/development shop
• Update on latest assistive technologies and software
• Screenreader use video demo, hardware demo of assistive technologies

The path to providing better user experiences on the web is paved with buzzwords and acronyms. Perhaps at the forefront right now is "responsive design." Responsive web design is the principle and practice of designing, building, and coding websites and application interfaces to respond to a user's behaviors and web environment. This refers to screen resolution, user device (mobile vs. desktop), and requirements or limitations dictated by a user's behaviors.
Web accessibility refers to measures taken to ensure that all users, regardless of disabilities, can use the web. Responsive design and web accessibility go hand in hand. Responsive accessibility means a website is designed with accessibility in mind, not just to reach the lowest common denominator, but to craft a personalized, heightened, and enhanced experience for all users. Creating a fair user experience for all is what web accessibility is all about, and responsive accessibility can help us get there more effectively than perhaps any other technique.