"ARIA: What's in a Name?"

Abstract: ARIA, or Accessible Rich Internet Applications, can be an overwhelming topic at first. By learning some basics of the standard, as well as some rules and guidelines around its use, you may be able to vastly improve the accessibility of your site or web application. We’ll be discussing some of the basic tenets of ARIA as well as some simple examples and how they benefit users and their browsers and/or assistive technologies of choice.

Description: Have you ever wondered what “No ARIA is better than Bad ARIA” means? Mark will give some background of what ARIA is and how it is used; a general explanation of how it interacts with browsers, assistive technologies, and operating systems; some basic examples of its use; and some simple dos and don’ts to follow. You’ll also learn a bit about accessible name calculations and underlying accessibility information for browsers and operating systems.

Learning outcomes: Participants should come away with a greater understanding of ARIA, when and when not to use it, where to go to learn more about it, and some basic understanding of the accessibility tree.

Intermediate.

Discussion, screen sharing, (video streaming)

Bio: Mark McCarthy is a Lead Accessibility (QA) Engineer at the University of Illinois System Office’s Administrative Information Technology Services. He is primarily responsible for ensuring the accessibility of university applications and services, providing assistance and guidance where necessary. In addition, he also works directly with several campus units to assist in accessibility testing and remediation work, provides training to other departments and units, serves on the advisory committee for the IT Accessibility Liaison program, and is an instructor for UIUC’s Information Accessibility Design and Policy certification program.

He is an Illinois-certified professional in Information Accessibility Design and Policy (IADP) professional, a Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) from the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) and is a member of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) ARIA Authoring Practices and Working Groups, working with colleagues internationally to promote accessibility, equity, and inclusion. His areas of interest include gaming accessibility; social justice and inclusion and advocacy; user-centered design; and the intersections of identity, gender and sexuality, and disability.

Slide Deck: http://go.illinois.edu/WebCon-ARIA