As devs, we have our own favorite ways to interact with our computer: the right key mappings, a preferred mouse, that one browser plugin. For some folks, though, this goes to the next level. Assistive technologies create new ways to interact with machines, some streamlining, some required but all pretty awesome.

Tuesday 29th November 2016

19:35
1
Assistive Technology in the Digital World
Talk by Mallory (45 minutes)

If you've decided (or been told) to make your digital products (more) accessible, but you're not sure what that entails... or even, if you were told "make it work with a screen reader," and you don't know what that exactly means, this talk is for you. This talk will explain how applications and code work with assistive technologies like screen readers, screen magnifiers, speech-to-text, and switch control. While these are only some of the many types of assistive tech out there, these ones are quite popular. Each type will be explained how they work, how people typically use them, and then either demo'd or accompanied by film or screenshots to see it in action. The talk is rather web-based, however the principles will be the same for desktop, native mobile, and specialty kiosk developers (depending on OS).