Digital Accessibility as a Business Practice

Reviewed by Elizabeth Pass, Associate Professor, James Madison University on 7/19/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

I found the book fairly comprehensive in the topics it said it covered. I also liked the angle of accessibility and business. However, it's missing ethics, either as a modular chapter or a theme woven throughout the book. Some may not find that topic necessary, but I do.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

If I could give a 4 1/2, I would. I think the content is accurate. I think it's a bit Canada leaning. I do like the international focus, and maybe if it switched up which country is discussed first it would truly be more global. But, I don't find many books that do such a great job consistently discussing a topic throughout the book on a global level.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

I think the book has longevity (as much as any book does these days). What helps the longevity is that instead of writing about what the current policies and laws are, the book discusses them and links to them. That way, as they are updated or changed readers will continue to be linking to current information.

Clarity rating: 5

I found the text easy to read and not laden with academic jargon or specialized terminology. It is friendly in tone and approachable for students.

Consistency rating: 5

Yes, the book is consistent in terms and in its framework. The repetition of design and terminology, the abundance of white space, and the uncluttered design make the book easy to access for readers.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is broken down well into nice-sized modules. There are effective signposting and navigation (especially the vertical menu, as well as the bottom navigation with Previous and Next buttons). The interface is clean, with plenty of white space and so there's not too much cognitive dissonance for students.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I would give this a 4 1/2 if I could. There is a section regarding an "Accessibility Statement" in Chapter 1 without establishing a definition of accessibility first.
However, there's no law that I have to assign the text linearly, and I almost never do. Overall, the text is organized and clearly so.

Interface rating: 3

Although the navigation is organized well, functionally it is problematic. When clicking on the Contents link, the vertical menu drops down. and when clicking on a link in the Table of Contents, that content appears in the main window. However, the vertical ToC menu has disappeared. Every single time users want to move to another part of the book they will have to click on Content to make the vertical ToC menu appear again and select the part of text they now want. This is incredibly frustrating and not user friendly.

The Case Study boxes with the pale yellow background are effective. Design-wise, they stand out; content-wise, they are interesting, realistic, complex, and provide rich opportunities for application of accessibility information.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not see any glaring grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book has an international focus on accessibility and policy, law, and design guidelines. I find this an asset. The book also tends toward discussing Canada first in every example or discussion, which would make me hesitate to order it because I would always be translating to US. However, there is a good balance of US and other international/global discussions.

Comments

I think this is a great book and would certainly consider using it for class.