Todd Kloots of Yahoo! will teach you how to build accessible, dynamic user interfaces for the Web. In this hands-on class (8:30 on Tuesday, February 28), you will learn how to use the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA) specification to help build sites and applications that are accessible to users of screen readers.

This class will be divided into three parts.

Part 1: Screen Readers

As far as user benefits, ARIA is targeted at users of screen readers. So before you understand ARIA, you need to first understand the problem space. This section of the class will explain what screen readers are, how they work, and show you how to use them during development and in testing. This section will include hands-on exercises for using screen readers on desktop and mobile platforms.

Part 2: Keyboard Access Essentials

Users of screen readers rely on the keyboard as both the primary means of navigation and user input. But providing good keyboard access benefits more than just those who use a screen reader. This section will provide an overview of the essential APIs for providing keyboard access in the browser.

Part 3: Using ARIA

The last section of the class will focus exclusively on using the ARIA Spec to build accessible custom widgets. It will cover how to think about and use the ARIA widget roles, states and properties, and how ARIA can be used to improve the accessibility of mobile user interfaces.

What to Bring

  1. Your laptop
  2. Your iPhone or iPad
  3. Your headphones

Todd is a Senior Accessibility Engineer at Yahoo!, and he has over ten years of experience in Web development. To get a sense of the work he and his colleagues do, take a look at the accessibility-related posts on the Yahoo! User Interface Blog (YUIBlog).

Sign up for Todd's workshop to learn about all things ARIA. This session, along with others, will be held as part of Knowbility's AccessU at CSUN 2012. Then, if you have further questions about building dynamic and accessible Web sites, contact Knowbility, and we'll be glad to help.