This week I’m digging deep into the details of what we need to do with our data tables to ensure they work for assistive tech users – we’re starting with testing and then we’ll talk layout/design differences.
Data tables in email – Part 2
Data tables in email – Part 1
Welcome to my two part series on data tables in emails – aka – when not to use role=”presentation”! This week, we’re talking intro to the main structural elements needed in data tables, where data tables show up in emails, and some basic functional issues we run across in our email marketing efforts.
Functional Accessibility vs Technical Accessibility
It can be really confusing when you hear different solutions from different sources in our industry. We always want it to be super simple, but at the end of the day there’s a lot of nuance to email specifically, and then there’s also a lot of nuance within accessibility, and that can be hard to sort out.
Structural Content in Email Accessibility
Structural content is the bones of your html file and are already described by Assistive technologies so you don’t need to label them.
Question: How do you work with brands with already-established colors that don’t meet WCAG contrast requirements?
Color contrast issues are one of the most common accessibility failures I see – both in my accessibility audits and just as a person existing on this planet. It’s absolutely everywhere.
Dynamic Images, Alt Text, and Accessibility
Let’s talk about dynamic images – oh yea! Everyone loves them, no one wants to think about alt text. Le sigh.
Question: How should we handle character entities in the alt attribute?
Earlier in my career, I was taught to use weird text versions of business-related character entities in the alt attribute. I was told that alt attributes could only have “plain text” and that special characters did not work.
Question: How do you write alt text for animated gifs?
When I’m testing, I am usually testing on two main things: keyboard-based navigation and screen readers. Some screen readers change the functions on a keyboard or the tap interface of mobile devices and there’s a lot of variation in how all of these work.
Interactive Emails and Accessibility – Part 3
In part 3 we’re getting into the very granular details of how we can’t make interactive content accessible and why we’re so limited in email.
Interactive Emails and Accessibility – Part 2
This week we’re getting into the specific experiences that interactive elements create for assistive technology users and some of the ways we can get around them.