The Quest for Scalable Web Accessibility

As we navigate through the boundless realms of the internet, with nearly 2 billion websites and tens of billions of web pages, we confront a staggering reality: the vast majority of these digital destinations remain inaccessible to many. The WebAIM Million reveals a sobering statistic: over 96% of home pages contain detectable accessibility issues, averaging 50 errors per page. This digital divide casts a shadow over the internet's potential to be an inclusive space for all.

The recent US Governmentwide Section 508 Assessment report highlights the challenges that even large organizations who have had accessibility requirements for over two decades struggle with. While mature programs were found to be more accessible – there was not a correlation between organization size and accessibility maturity. Accessibility issues persist despite well intention efforts and resource levels overall remain low despite executive orders and inquiries from congress. The summary findings include:

• The Majority of Top-Viewed ICT Tested Does Not Fully Conform to Section 508 Standards
• Technology Lifecycle and Policies Activities Still Need Improvement
• Resources Are Important: The more Fulltime Employees (FTEs) the reporting entity had, the more mature a reporting entity was, which led to better conformance.
• Section 508 Program Resources Are Low Across Government

While increased resources, training, and proactivity with Section 508 managers were found to be more successful the path to a more accessible web is multifaceted and requires a holistic approach, embedding inclusivity at every stage of the digital creation process and using all solutions available:

Cultivating Knowledge

Education and Skill Development: To build an inclusive web, we must first educate and train individuals in crafting accessible code. This foundational step ensures that the creators of the web are equipped with the knowledge to champion accessibility. By creating accessible interface patterns and code, not only can we make some experiences more accessible but we can use these examples to train new people and machines in creation of future accessible design and code creation.?

Designing with Intent

Interface and Experience Design: Crafting interfaces that are inherently accessible is not a feature but a fundamental aspect of design. This means planning for diverse interactions and user experiences from the outset.

Building Blocks of Accessibility

Template Creation: The use of templates and components with pre-baked accessibility features can streamline the process, ensuring basic standards are met with ease and efficiency for those who are creating content and reusing what others have made.

Structural Support

Frameworks and Platforms: By integrating accessibility into the very frameworks and platforms we use to build the web, we can set a standard that carries through to many other digital products created.

Authoring Tools for Empowerment:

Development Assistance and Content Creation Tools: Providing developers with tools that prompt and check for accessibility helps maintain inclusivity as a constant consideration for those building and creating content.? Features that can propose automatic solutions can assist in faster creation of accessible code.

Automating Inclusivity

Machine-Generated Content: When machines generate content, be it a PDF, webpage, or full website, the code must be created with accessibility in mind, ensuring that automated processes do not perpetuate barriers has big benefits as automation is used to create many documents and content.

Solutions and Remediation that Don't Require and Individual Authoring

Making all content inclusive is not just a training, creative, and tooling challenge but a challenge that requires many different solutions in the technology stack. This means leveraging everything from browsers and operating systems to better assistive technology, and automatic remediation. For example, parts of accessibility can be solved by adding navigation aids like bypass block capabilities, improved text contrast, language detection, and highly visible focus indicators to browsers. Assistive technology has a responsibility to provide support as well, such as by adding better support for context for links and updates to follow current standards.

At the same time, the power of machine learning and AI can offer features like auto-captioning, automatic alternative text, heading detection, summarization, and more.? While these solutions today may not always be sufficient they continuously improve and they have increased access to a large volume of content that could not otherwise be practically made accessible by humans given the time and cost. This does not justify partial solutions over humans making accessible content - but instead how automated solutions can complement humans and acknowledges the practical reality that the scope of content including user generated content won't be solved directly by humans.? At the same time, the human element remains vital with developers writing more inclusive code, designing interfaces, and spreading awareness.

Future Immersive Technology

Looking ahead, the future of technology with virtual worlds and dynamic sites demands that accessibility be dynamically integrated in real-time. The computational needs to store and process accessibility data for a universe of virtual worlds are immense, yet an accessible experience is crucial for creating spaces that are navigable for users with varied needs.? It will not be possible for humans to describe, caption, label and provide data for every experience.? Automatic accessibility will have to be used to ensure these experiences are inclusive.

In conclusion, as the internet continues to expand, we must develop scalable solutions for accessibility. It's a commitment to continuous improvement, understanding that inclusivity is not a one-time task but an ongoing journey. Only through concerted efforts at every level of the web's architecture can we make a significant impact, transforming the internet into a truly universal resource.

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