Professional Web Accessibility Auditing Made Easy

Reviewed by Laura Atkins, Lecturer, James Madison University on 5/11/22

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

Content is comprehensive and chapters are well-organized. The industry standard is covered, as are technologies and testing methods.
Table of contents is detailed with sub-topics; the book does not have an index or a glossary. There is a very high-level summary by chapter at the end of the book (Content Recap), which is somewhat unusual but could be helpful. Each chapter lists the chapter objectives and the activities that are included; all chapters include a self-test, with answers provided at the end of the book.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content is accurate and based on W3C standards; credible, industry-standard guidelines are included and explained.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Content is current, the most recent version of accessibility guidelines that includes the AAA ratings is used in the text. The text included references to a future version of the guidelines that will include accessibility on mobile devices; naturally this would render the current text not quite up-to-date, but that‘s the nature of covering digital products.
Statement such as this, “The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0) include 61 guidelines” (page 63), don’t help the reader understand or use the guidelines – one doesn’t need to know how many there are to conform to them, and this statement may have to change as additional guidelines are developed; in thinking about straightforward updates (per the criteria), this statement could be eliminated without impacting the value of the text.
It’s possible that some screenshots may become outdated if the sites designs change or if the content changes as guidelines are modified. The AChecker screenshot on page 75, for example, will have to change when WCAG 2.1 is released. This isn’t to say that it shouldn’t be included, but it does make updates to the text more complex, as every image (and link) would have to be verified.

Clarity rating: 3

The organization of this text makes things easy to identify and to find – the layout, sections, headings, and color coding all help with clarity. I found the writing style a little choppy, wordy, and overly casual. Some examples:
While you are testing with automated tools or other manual strategies, it is often helpful and sometimes necessary to look at the HTML markup to confirm, or investigate further, potential barriers tools or strategies have turned up. (page 38)
While navigating with the Tab key through menus, and other features that one can operate with a mouse, do these features also operate with a keyboard? (page 97)
For this activity you will need the Chrome web browser. Be sure to install it now if you have not already. You will need it in the next unit as well. (page 108)

Consistency rating: 5

The text is consistent throughout; examples and activities are consistently detailed.

Modularity rating: 5

Major chapter topics are labeled with headings, which are used in the Table of Contents. Within the major topics, subtopics are identified with smaller headings. Content is displayed in lists when appropriate, increasing readability and tables, borders, color coding, and bold text all contribute to an appealing and clear layout.
Suggested templates and resources for creating documentation are presented clearly in the green, color-coded Toolkit boxes.
As per the criteria, content modules could easily be extracted and used standalone for a course unit.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Content topics are well organized in an order that makes sense. Within the topics/chapters, content is also organized and easy to find. Color coding of side bars or backgrounds makes different types of content easy to find and recognize.

Interface rating: 5

The online interface is very easy to work with, navigation was clear and easy to use. Visuals in the text such as the storyline, key points, references, etc. were clearly organized by color. Videos were embedded and could be played inline or by going to YouTube.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

As above in Clarity - the grammar does not convey a professional level of writing.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I saw no issues.

Comments

I really like this book - I like the clean layout , graphics, and the way it's organized.

Reviewed by Laura Hopkins, Electronic and Information Resources Accessibility Coordinator, University of Texas at Arlington on 1/2/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

This book does an excellent job of discussing the most significant areas of web accessibility. I reviewed the book on-line and used the Table of Contents located in the left, vertical menu. An index or glossary was not visible.

The book provided links to web accessibility tools that were introduced throughout the book. If you downloaded the tools as you worked through the text, by the end of the book you have a very nice Accessibility Tool Box. The links are also available as a list at the end of the Table of Contents.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

The book accurately reports on WCAG criteria. No errors or biases were found.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content is current and not expected to be out-of-date in the near future.

Clarity rating: 5

The book is written in a consistent manner that is easy to read.

Consistency rating: 5

The book established a sample company in the first unit and consistently built upon the same scenario throughout the entire textbook.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is organized by chapters with a Self Test at the conclusion of each chapter.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The authors did an excellent job of dividing complex ideas into digestible pieces. Also, the authors were able to build on concepts from earlier chapters later in the book.

Interface rating: 5

No accessibility issues were encountered using the on-line version of the book and a Chrome browser.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The author might consider adding punctuation to the options of the multiple-choice questions in each of the Self Tests.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text does not contain any culturally insensitive references. However, there is a section that explains how to be sensitive to those with disabilities. The instruction uses example, that if taken out of context, would be offensive.

Comments

This book presents web accessibility information in an excellent fashion. I will continue to use this book as a reference tool and share it with everyone that I know.