Part 2: Create Inclusive Design Experiences with Accessibility at a Glance Videos

When I discovered Microsoft’s Accessibility at a Glance video series on YouTube last summer, I was excited to share the news of their videos.

Each short video (around two minutes) is captioned and offers specific ways to create more accessible

• Websites
• Web applications
• Presentations
• Videos
• Microsoft Word documents

I highlighted the Accessibility at a Glance videos on my blog and commented that I didn’t know when or how many videos would be added to the series of 10 videos.

Was I ever happy to learn six more videos have been recently added!

Part 2: Microsoft Accessibility at a Glance Videos

Here are the latest videos in the series:

1. Inclusive Interviewing
2. Considering Keyboard Only Users
3. Reading View in Microsoft Edge
4. Microsoft Narrator
5. Audio Descriptions
6. Text Alternatives

Improve Your Accessibility Knowledge

As a leader and co-organizer of Refresh Detroit, West Metro Detroit WordPress, and Metro Detroit WordPress meetup groups, I get asked by our members every week about ways they can learn more about accessibility.

Not everyone has five hours a week to devote to learning about accessibility.

But finding two minutes in your day to learn how you can better support keyboard-only users?

Much easier.

And that’s where the At a Glance videos shine!

Learning small changes you can make in your writing, design, or development goes far in creating inclusive designs, websites, documents, or presentations that work for everyone.

I’ve watched all the videos and can say you’ll pick up one new tip or get reinforcement for what you’re doing in each video.

A Few Takeaways from the Videos

Here are a few things that stood out for me in the videos:

• In Microsoft Edge, I can customize the line focus settings to highlight one, three, or five lines at a time
• If you write scripts with dialog that explains what’s happening onscreen in a video, audio description is not necessary
• The Quick Start Guide in the Narrator screen reader in Windows offers an easy way to learn how to use it
• Best time to write alternative text for an image on a website? During the spec phase of creating the website.

Summary

Whether you’re a designer, digital marketer, writer, developer, or anyone publishing digital content online, you can quickly expand your accessibility knowledge with the helpful tips in Microsoft’s Accessibility at a Glance videos!