For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code. Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript. We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)
171: Web Accessibility with Chris DeMars
01:14 - Chris’s Superpower: His Ability to Sleep.
01:50 - Why Chris Wants To Talk About Web Accessibility
- Top 3 Priorities When Building on the Web
- Accessibility
- Performance
- Security
02:45 - Whose Responsibility Is It To Build An Accessible Web?
- Anyone Building On The Web
- Dominos’ Lawsuit
- WCAG
07:38 - How To Inform And Get Colleagues On Board With Accessibility
- Understanding The Clientele
- Have Numbers To Back It Up
11:45 - Image Descriptions
- Alt Attributes
- Twitter Adds Alt Text For .gifs
16:34 - Companies Deal With Accessibility Lawsuits
19:07 - Where To Start Making Changes
- Only Shipping One Experience That Works For Everybody
- Make Sure You Are Using Semantic Markup
- Color Contrast
- Make Sure There Are Alt Attributes On Your Images
27:50 - What Can Developers Do Today To Make Changes
- Start With An Audit
- Compare To Competitors
31:06 - Work Collaboratively With The Designers
34:15 - How To Be Accessible For Various Disabilities
- Hearing
- Cognitive
- Physical
37:10 - Accessibility Can Benefit Everyone
Reflections:
Chris: Accessibility is not a requirement, it is a must. From Marcy Sutton: Every little bit of accessibility you contribute is so necessary and so needed.
Carina: The concrete useful examples such as audits are beneficial to business people.
Jacob: Wants to get better at using a screen reader to gain empathy about what the right thing is to do.
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Special Guest: Chris DeMars.