Taking the time for training is much more productive when you have a plan in mind. Minnesota IT Services’ Office of Accessibility reached out to state of Minnesota employees to give you a guide to free website accessibility training: which trainings they found helpful and why they liked them. While there are hundreds of great training programs out there, this short list gives you a great start toward learning more about web accessibility.

For those with an International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) certification remember to track the classes you take. If you’re not sure how to do that, find out:

• which learning opportunities count and
• how to submit them

on the Continuing Accessibility Education FAQ page.

Design and UX

“I would recommend Billy Gregory’s ‘You, Ex. Breaking up with bad design’ (video) because it makes you think of accessibility and design by flipping everything you know upside down. For example, some habits you may rely, or have relied on may not be the best approach for the solution. In a way it led me to a more human-centered design approach, starting with me, as the designer.”

Kitty Hurley, Senior GIS Developer, Minnesota IT Services partnering with Department of Natural Resources

“I especially recommend ‘Why Everyone Should Design for Chiari Malformation with Veronica Lewis’ (video) for those wanting to learn more about how acquired disabilities impact end users. Lewis covers information such as how she started learning about accessibility and assistive technology, and what she was doing/trying before she learned more about tools available to her.”

Jennie Delisi, Office of Accessibility

General HTML and Accessibility

“Oh my – I really feel there are several great articles, videos, etc. out there. However, one of my favorites is a complete series of videos on YouTube – A11ycasts with Rob Dodson! Some of the videos are four years old, but still relevant, easy to follow, and provide just enough information for developers to get started digging in further to the endless world of digital accessibility and the web!

Before digging in to all the A11ycasts have to offer, I suggest developers start out by watching ‘Accessibility Fundamentals with Rob Dodson.’ The video does a great job at describing HTML, DOM, GUI and the accessibility tree and how they relate, in addition to so much more.”

Another one that covers a lot of good details is ’What are accessible names and why should you care? By Russ Weakley (video).’ This is a wonderful description of accessibility APIs, Document Object Model (DOM) and the accessibility tree.”

Kim Wee, Webmaster and Digital Accessibility Coordinator, for Minnesota IT Services partnering with the Department of Education

HTML and Assistive Technology

Designing for Screen Reader Compatibility does a good job of covering "inclusion, and the importance of coding the language attribute for all screen reader users, including those that have English as a second language.”

JoAnn Rautio, Digital Accessibility Coordinator/Business Analyst with Minnesota IT Services partnering with Department of Employment & Economic Development

Respecting User Preferences on the Web (video) with Eric Eggert “did a great job discussing some issues with ARIA. He showed practical examples, such as links made with ARIA that did not respect the high contrast mode in some cases.”

Jennie Delisi, Office of Accessibility

HTML “Label” and “Name”

Both Kim Wee and JoAnn Rautio recommend the article “Decoding Label and Name for Accessibility” by WebAIM.

“The article not only helps clarify the purpose of both Label and Name, but also gives some wonderful advice on the Accessible Name Computation!”

Kim Wee, Webmaster and Digital Accessibility Coordinator, for Minnesota IT Services partnering with the Department of Education