A common approach for web development teams is to work in an agile environment where applications and sites are built, checked, and modified in an iterative way as the work progresses. This is opposed to a more formal waterfall approach with distinctive stages and formalised review sessions. For effective creation of an accessible website or application, it means that your “scrum” team needs to have good working accessibility knowledge and skills that they can apply and include as the definition of “done”.
A typical scrum team may have 4-7 members comprising developers, designers, content authors, user experience and product specialists. Each role will have different input into the accessibility requirements of the website or application and the training should match those roles.
The developers, especially the lead developer, should be the most knowledgeable about accessibility issues and formal training is the best way to ensure that they have the appropriate skills. A course such as the Professional Certificate in Web Accessibility (PCWA) has been designed for web professionals and is university-accredited. The lead teacher is international web accessibility expert, Dr Scott Hollier and the course is provided on online over 6 weeks with plenty of interaction with fellow web professionals, opportunities to discuss specific issues and formal assessments. The course is structured around dealing with WCAG 2.0 accessibility requirements and attracts a wide range of people from Australia and overseas.
Whilst each role would benefit from the PCWA, content authors, designers and developers can also access accessibility resources, where the issues, solutions and key information for WCAG 2.0 have been categorised and outlined specifically for their roles in Media Access Australia’s Complete guide to web accessibility. These work on a 12-month subscription to an individual guide to ensure that the information to hand is always up-to-date. For multiple team access, there are multiple user license options available with significant discounts.
For specific accessibility issues, the massive range of professional accessibility resources on the Access iQ website have been created. Many of these resources are free to use, providing practical solutions for developers and digital content specialists.
For external management of the scrum teams, it is important that they have some basic accessibility knowledge. A good starting point is to review general accessibility needs and checklists within the free Service Providers Accessibility Guide developed by Media Access Australia for the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is a practical, hands-on resource that applies to any organisation striving to deliver accessible digital content.
Dr Hollier confirms that accessibility training fits in with the agile approach to web development.
“The whole point of the agile approach is that you can develop, test and fix things as you go along. Accessibility is just one of the basic components of a website or application. Retrofitting accessibility just slows the process down and might even lead to having to rethink the whole approach. Training your teams ensures that they can deal with accessibility issues as they work, ensuring that they get it right first time.”