An Introduction to WAI-ARIA [A4]

Abstract

We are all striving to enhance and enrich the user experience and interfaces of our websites and applications, whether it be by using AJAX to enhance responsiveness, pulling in content from third-party services or feeds, or developing custom widgets.

More often than not we need to use JavaScript to do these things – hence the recent explosion in the popularity of JavaScript libraries (think YUIjQueryPrototype, etc.) – but many such techniques have not always been accessible by users of assistive technologies.

WAI-ARIA, a new standard from W3C’s Web Accessibility Initiative, addresses these challenges by defining “a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities”.

Learning Objectives

This session will look at:

  • What WAI-ARIA is and does.
  • Which browsers and assistive technologies support ARIA.
  • How to implement and test ARIA, with real-world examples