Get You Some Practical Accessibility

Sara has been working on a new course titled Practical Accessibility and it is available for pre-order right now.

I’ve never met Sara in person, but have been an online follower for some time. She is one of those people who has the discipline and eye to make everything they release of the absolute highest quality. It’s inspiring — and for that reason, I’ve already purchased access to this new course.

I watched Chapter 1 last night and, if it’s foreshadowing the rest of the course, my expectations have already been exceeded.

Here are a few of the things I took notes on through Chapter 1:

• “The Web literally wouldn’t be what it was meant to be if it’s not accessible!” YES!
• I never noticed this, but the word “a11y” (short for accessibility) is a kind of accessibility test in itself. Will people who read it see it as A) two number ones, or B) two letter l’s? It depends on the typeface you’ve chosen and how the typeface designers have chosen to differentiate those two glyphs. I love the layers in that numeronym!
• Speaking of type, how have I never heard of the “Atkinson Hyperlegible” font? I already love it! It’s designed to focus “on letterform distinction to increase character recognition, with the goal of improving readability.” Currently, I use the “system font” on my blog, but I love this Atkinson font so much I’m considering paying the performance cost of a custom font and already have a preview branch of my blog with it up for evaluation.
• A thoroughly articulate, clear breakdown of accessibility vs. usability vs. inclusivity.
• 1 in 5 people currently have a disability. 100% of people will have some form of disability in their lifetime. Quote from Cindy Li, “We're all just temporarily abled.”

That’s just a taste of the content of the course.

The website of the course is also lovely. As with everything from Sara, there are so many nice little touches. Even the accent color of the site’s theme matches the accent color of clothing she wears in the video! As a whole, it feels very cohesive and well considered, like no details were missed. Regardless of form, I love any content and experience that shows this level of detail.

Lastly, you have to admire how Sara backs up the ethos of her course by putting her money where her mouth is:

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) will be available during this presale, as it was during the previous one. This means that if you come from a country with a significantly lower purchasing power, you will have the option to enable an additional discount if you need it.

I’m excited to finish the other chapters. TY Sara!