Mesmer

11/17/2021

Still not including captions in your videos?

You just shrunk your audience by 10,000,000 people - and that's just in the U.S.*

Plus, captions are for everyone. Think of the last time you needed to get info from a video but you couldn't turn the volume up on your phone.

Captions would've been pretty handy, right?

Watch our video to find and fix WCAG-2.1 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) accessibility issues.

https://buff.ly/31HW7Jv



*source: National Library of Medicine

Watch the video for a walkthrough of how a developer can use Mesmer to find and resolve WCAG-2.1 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) accessibility violations in you...

11/15/2021

Stop making people hit a perfect 🎯 to use your app!

Think about a time you had to send a quick message on your phone. You needed it to say what you meant, and you definitely did NOT mean "ducking."

Frustrating, right? People with limited motor function run into this ALL THE TIME.

If you insist on accuracy like this with your app, you're going to leave people out. And you're going to lose a lot of users. Just don't do it.

Want more tips to make your app accessible to more people? Check out our practical guide to building accessible mobile apps.

https://buff.ly/3hZZmC5

Graphic text: Building inclusive apps: Don't insist on accuracy

11/12/2021

You 👏 need 👏 to 👏 test 👏 for 👏 everyone 👏

Tired of hearing it? We're tired of saying it, but here we are...

When you built your app, did you think about people who use keyboards to get around on their phones?

If not, you're leaving a LOT of people out. And you could be making your app unnecessarily hard to use.

On your next test, try using a keyboard or sip-and-puff switch to test accessibility for all of your app's functions.

Testing with these tools will show you just how frustrating your app can be for people with disabilities - and how to fix it.

Check out how Nic easily fixes WCAG 2.1.1 Keyboard glitches for iOS apps in today's video.

Watch the video for a walkthrough of how a developer can use Mesmer in your JetBrains IDE to find and resolve WCAG-2.1 2.1.1 Keyboard accessibility violation...

11/11/2021

🚨 Cool job alert! 🚨

National Digital Inclusion Alliance (NDIA) is doing critical work for disability equity in the workplace. Sound like something you can get into? They're hiring!

https://buff.ly/2XhF7Z3

Join Our Team Training and Community Engagement Manager Location: Remote – applicants may be located anywhere in the United States Status: Full time Job purpose: The field of digital equity is experiencing unprecedented growth, and digital inclusion practitioners are in need of increased support f...

11/10/2021

Enter info: _______________

Uh, what? What info are you supposed to enter here?

When you give users unlabeled fields like this, you're making people play a (very unnecessary) guessing game.

And it's even worse for people who need assistive tech to help them get around in your app.

TalkBack and other text readers can't help much when you don't give them a label to read.

Watch this week's WCAG Wednesday video and see how Nic fixes iOS WCAG 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions Accessibility issues with Mesmer.

Watch the video for a walkthrough of how a developer can use Mesmer to find and resolve WCAG-2.1 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions accessibility violations in you...

11/09/2021

Still not convinced that you need to commit to accessibility? Read this.

"For businesses to survive and retain employees moving forward, merely committing to work toward diversity and inclusion is no longer an option. They must hire those they’ve wrongly overlooked. That includes people with disabilities."

The pandemic shined a brighter light on the inequities and injustices that have existed in the workplace for generations, perhaps contributing to the “great resignation” and other dramatic shifts we’re seeing today. For businesses to survive and retain employees moving forward, merely committi...

11/08/2021

Who's testing your app?

If your list of testers doesn't include people with disabilities, you're gonna have a bad time.

You want your app to do well, right? If you don't build and test with EVERYone in mind, you're going to lose a big segment of your potential buyers/users.

Nobody wants that, but app developers do it all the time. Don't be like them. Do better.

Test with assistive tech. Recruit diverse testers. Use different devices. Cover your bases and build a kickass app that works for EVERYone.

Get more tips in our practical guide to building inclusive apps.

https://buff.ly/3hZZmC5

Graphic text:
Building inclusive apps:
Testing your app? Select a diverse group of testers.

11/05/2021

Lack of contrast? 🚩🚩🚩🚩

Think about a time when you had to read really pale text on a white background. Getting a headache just thinking about it, right?

Now, think about people who have limited vision or who have some form of color blindness.

Now think about what it's like for those people to read text on a low-contrast background. Look at those emojis and pretend those are all words that you have to discern.

Is your head hurting yet? Keep squinting.

Stop building apps that make people with low vision work harder to read what you have to say. And check out today's video to see how Nic fixes WCAG 1.4.3 Contrast Accessibility problems.

https://buff.ly/3CV7xH6

Watch the video for a walkthrough of how a developer can use Mesmer to find and resolve WCAG-2.1 1.4.3 & 1.4.6 Contrast Accessibility Violations in your mobi...

11/03/2021

Here's another nightmare:

You're trying to fill out a form in an app. To get to the next screen, you have to complete the form and hit submit. But something's wrong.

Every time you finish filling in the form, you get an error before you can hit the submit button.

No matter what you do, you can't tap it fast enough to complete the task and get to the next screen.

People who use VoiceOver and other screen readers to get around in iOS apps run into this every day - and it sucks. Here's how to fix it.

Watch today's video to quickly and easily get rid of iOS WCAG 3.2.1 On Focus Accessibility glitches.

Watch the video for a walkthrough of how a developer can use Mesmer in your JetBrains IDE to find and resolve WCAG-2.1 3.2.1 On Focus accessibility violation...

11/02/2021

What do you call it when you don't take into account ALL of your users' experience with your app? Bad design.

And what does bad design do? "Bad design can turn simple tasks into giant headaches."

Stop giving your users headaches. Stop shutting them out. Design, build, and test apps for EVERYone.

https://buff.ly/3Bow0Du

This is a 403 error, and it's not as ominous as it sounds. Bitly can only show this page to people who have permission to see it. Maybe what you are looking for can be found at Bitly.com.

11/01/2021

This seems like a no-brainer.

But let's talk about it anyway. Because you're still doing it wrong, and it's time to fix it.

If your app includes audio and/or video components, you MUST include captions and subtitles.

Why? Think about how many people can't use your app without captioning.

You're cutting out people with hearing loss, a lot of people with cognitive impairments, and people who can't turn the sound up for other reasons (like trying to use your app in public without ear buds).

It's an easy fix, but it's not the only one.

Get more tips in our practical guide to building inclusive apps.

https://buff.ly/3hZZmC5

Graphic text:
Building inclusive apps:
Include subtitles and captions for audio and video components.

10/29/2021

👆 tap here 👆

What do you if you see this? Do you tap it? Or are you suspicious? (Seems sus to us.)

Seems like a bad design, right? It is.

You wouldn't include that in your app, right? Not so fast.

App designers and developers do this to people who use assistive tech ALL THE TIME.

Think about someone with vision impairment or motor function impairment.

When they don't have context for the purpose of a link, they have to click through, find out that they didn't need to go to that page, and then try to get back.

Not a big deal if you're just tapping and swiping on your phone, but if you need to use assistive technology - or if precise movements are difficult or impossible - it can turn into a real nightmare.

In today's video, Nic fixes iOS WCAG 2.4.4 & 2.4.9 Link Purpose Accessibility issues in just a couple of easy steps. Check it out!

https://buff.ly/3iwYbZC

Watch the video for a walkthrough of how a developer can use Mesmer to find and resolve WCAG-2.1 2.4.4 & 2.4.4 Link Purpose Accessibility Violations in your ...