A11y is not accessible

a11y@mobilea11y.com (Mobile A11y) — Thu, 28 Nov 2019 07:30:56 +0000

Accessibility is a long word. It’s not the simplest of words to read or to spell, so it seems like a word that would be a good candidate for abbreviation. The common abbreviation of accessibility is a11y. We take the A and Y from the beginning and end of accessibility, and 11 for the number of letters in between. This abbreviation also creates a pleasing homophone for ‘ally.’

The irony of this abbreviation is that a11y isn’t accessible. Using jargon in this way can be a fail for WCAG guideline 3.1.3. Some people with disabilities such as autism can struggle to understand non-literal language. Dyslexia can make some characters difficult to distinguish, and mixing letters and numbers in this way can exacerbate this. Screen readers often won’t understand how to pronounce non-common words and abbreviations, so the pronunciation of a11y can vary. When writing we should generally avoid domain-specific jargon where possible, especially where there there is a common alternative like accessibility.

About Mobile A11y

a11y@mobilea11y.com (Mobile A11y) — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 07:30:56 +0000

About Mobile A11y
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Mobile A11y is a blog about building accessible mobile apps written by a mobile developer and accessibility expert. The site is intended to be practical, and mostly code-focused, but you might also find thoughts on testing and design for mobile accessibility too.

The site is aimed at developers rather than accessibility users. If you’re looking for guidance on using accessibility features on your device, the best places to start are Apple’s accessibility support pages and Android’s accessibility documentation.

Mobile A11y

A11y is not accessible

About Mobile A11y

About Mobile A11y #

About Mobile A11y
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