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A good accessibility label lets your customer know exactly what a control does in as few words as possible, without having to rely on implied context. Don’t Add the Element Type iOS already knows your button is a button and your image is an image, it does this using an accessibility trait. If you label […]
There’s a few circumstances when you’ll want to set your own accessibility label, such as… An interactive element that you haven’t given a text value to, such as an image button. An interactive element with a long visual label. An interactive element with a short visual label that takes context from your design. A control […]
This blog was inspired by Jeff Watkins’ series of blogs on UIButton. UIButton is a fundamental part of building interfaces on iOS. So much so, that it probably doesn’t get the love it deserves. But it’s also really powerful and customisable when used correctly. Accessibility labels on iOS I feel are very similar. They’re fundamental […]
I was supposed to be attending the 2020 CSUN Assistive Technology conference to present a couple of talks, unfortunately with COVID-19 starting to take hold at that time, I wasn’t able to attend. In lieu of attending I decided to record one of the talks I was scheduled to present on Accessibility in SwiftUI. SwiftUI […]
A11yUITests is an extension to XCTestCase that adds tests for common accessibility issues that can be run as part of an XCUITest suite. I’ve written a detailed discussion of the tests available if you’re interested in changing/implementing these tests yourself. Alternatively, follow this quick start guide. Getting Started Adding A11yUITests I’m assuming you’re already familiar […]
For a while now I’ve been looking at possibilities for automated accessibility testing on iOS. Unfortunately, I’ve not found any option so far that I’m happy with. I am a big fan of Apple’s XCUI Test framework. Although it has its limitations, I believe there’s scope for creating valid accessibility tests using this framework. Over […]
Laura’s introduction to web accessibility jumped out to me because it’s available as an audiobook. Being dyslexic I struggle to read, so prefer to listen to audiobooks where available. Unfortunately, most technical books aren’t available as audiobooks for a couple of potentially obvious reasons. Hearing code or descriptions of diagrams and illustrations read aloud may […]
Accessibility is important. We can take that as a given. But as iOS devs we’re not always sure how to make the most of the accessibility tools that Apple have provided us. We’re lucky as iOS developers that we work on such a forward-thinking accessibility platform. Many people consider Apple’s focus on accessibility for iOS […]
Semantic views are not new to SwiftUI, but changes in SwiftUI mean creating them is simple. Semantic views are not so much a language feature. They’re more a technique for manipulating the accessible user interface and improving the experience for assistive technology users. A what view? A semantic view is not one view, but a collection […]
SwiftUI allows us to read environmental values that might affect how we want to present our UI. Things like size classes and locale for example. We also get the ability to read some of the user’s chosen accessibility settings allowing us to make decisions that will best fit with your customer’s preference. Why? Before we […]