Course description

A website that works with a mouse and a big screen can still shut people out. A form with no labels, a link that just says "click here", pale grey text or a menu that won't open with a keyboard can stop a disabled person booking, paying or asking for help. This course shows you how to find and fix those barriers, using WCAG 2.2 explained in plain English.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow Deepa, a web content editor at a fictional district council, from a resident's complaint about a booking form through a full review, months of fixes, sessions with disabled residents and a new accessibility statement. Every section has a practice pack with a worksheet, key points and original checklists, sample pages with planted problems, a contrast calculator or an issue log, and Section 10 has a final project with a model answer.

What you'll learn

• Why accessibility matters: what disability and accessibility mean, how people use screen readers, magnification, voice control and keyboards, cognitive and neurodivergent needs, and UK law in outline.
• WCAG 2.2 explained: the four principles, levels A, AA and AAA, every A and AA criterion in plain words, what's new in 2.2, reading the W3C pages, and WCAG 3 as a draft.
• Structure, headings and links: headings, page titles, page language, reading order, lists, tables, link text, buttons and file links.
• Images, colour and contrast: alt text, decorative and complex images, colour that's never the only signal, contrast ratios, zoom, reflow and motion.
• Forms and errors: labels, hints, grouping questions, error messages that help, autocomplete, redundant entry, time limits and accessible sign-in.
• Keyboard and focus: keyboard access, focus order and visible focus, focus not obscured, skip links, menus and pop-ups, target size and dragging.
• Video, audio and documents: captions, transcripts, audio description, moving and flashing content, HTML first, and accessible documents and PDFs.
• Plain writing, HTML and ARIA: plain English, content people can scan, semantic HTML first, ARIA without the harm, and status messages.
• Checking your own site: planning a review, a keyboard walk-through, zoom, contrast and content checks, trying a screen reader, research with disabled users and an issue log.
• Statements, routines and your final project: accessibility statements, team routines, a final project reviewing a small charity's site, and a 12-month plan.

Who it's for

Web editors, content teams and developers in UK public sector bodies, charities and businesses. You don't need any accessibility or coding experience: the lessons focus on what you can check and change yourself, and how to work with designers, developers and suppliers on the rest. The course covers the Equality Act and the public sector accessibility regulations in outline, and doesn't repeat our other web development courses. Everyone in the course is fictional.

What will I learn?

• Explain how disabled people use websites, including screen readers, magnification, voice control and keyboard access, and where barriers come from
• Describe the Equality Act duty and the UK public sector accessibility regulations in outline, and who monitors and enforces them
• Read WCAG 2.2, its four principles and its levels, and explain the new criteria in version 2.2
• Structure pages with clear headings, page titles, lists, tables and link text that makes sense
• Write useful alt text, use colour well and check contrast ratios with the WCAG formula
• Build or specify forms with labels, hints, helpful error messages, autocomplete and accessible sign-in
• Check keyboard access, focus order, visible focus, target size and pop-ups
• Make video, audio and documents accessible, and choose web pages over PDFs where you can
• Write plain English and use semantic HTML first, with ARIA only where it adds something
• Review your own site by hand, keep an issue log, and write and maintain an accessibility statement

Frequently asked questions