The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) released a new recommendation, "Accessible Name and Description Computation," that aims to help people using assistive technologies browse the web. So what does this new W3C recommendation mean for web accessibility — and what is a W3C recommendation, anyway?

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a life so impactful, marked by such rare courage and strength of character, that words like "extraordinary" and "inspiring" knowingly fall short — well short. To honor his legacy and recognize that his leadership directly changed the course of American history — not just for the lives of the marginalized groups he fought and ultimately died for, but for the enlightened consciousness of an entire nation — we celebrate him on the third Monday of January each year.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a full 25 percent of U.S. adults are living with a disability, which can create large and small complications and difficulties for the people who have them. In some instances, technological developments have made the daily lives of people with disabilities easier than ever before. Here are five ways that people with disabilities can use digital technologies in the world around them.

Amazingly, online videos are still growing and aren’t going away anytime soon. According to Statista, the number of digital video viewers in the United States is currently at around 228 million, with projections at 236 million by 2020. This includes platforms like Netflix and YouTube — the latter of which receives over 72 hours of uploaded video a minute.

The Bureau of Internet Accessibility (BoIA) announced today that it has launched the industry’s first live accessibility support phone line that will aid a website’s visitors 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The new support system enhances the company’s robust accessibility monitoring and support program to assist organizations with digital accessibility legal requirements.

How do you know if your website is ADA compliant? As web accessibility lawsuits continue to rise, many organizations are seeking to answer this question sooner than later. As places of public accommodation, websites need to be accessible to people with disabilities — in the same way that physical locations need to be accessible to be in compliance with laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Microsoft recently announced a new grant called AI for Accessibility. This grant is geared to encourage developers to create products using Microsoft’s AI tools that will help people with disabilities. Here's an introduction to AI's role in accessibility and some information about Microsoft's grant.

Beyonce's company, Parkwood Entertainment, is being sued over allegations that the singer's official website (Beyonce.com) is not accessible to blind or visually-impaired people and is thus in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Here's what the lawsuit states and what we can learn from it.

Equal access to websites and apps is a civil right — so how do you know if your website is accessible? WCAG 2.1 A/AA is the standard in digital accessibility. Right now you can take advantage of this offer to receive the ultimate beginner's guide to how and why those guidelines apply to your website. Get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to Web Accessibility now.

January 4 marks World Braille Day, a celebration of the reading and writing code used by some blind people. To honor this day and to spread some much-needed awareness, we're sharing five facts about Braille that many people who don't use the system may not yet realize.

Digital marketing practices drive business growth, but to reach all audiences and keep businesses compliant they need to be accessible. Here are three key marketing trends that will continue to boom in 2019 that need to carefully consider how they can help, or hinder, the experiences of people with disabilities.

2018 is in our rear-view mirror, which means that now is the perfect opportunity to look back on some of the most important events in web accessibility from the past year. From WCAG 2.1 to ADA lawsuits, it's been an eventful one.

A development in accessibility legislation, the 21^st Century Integrated Digital Experiences Act, was presented to President Trump on December 13 and signed into law on December 20, 2018, and should change web accessibility for users and content creators of government websites. The 21^st Century IDEA Act was passed by the Senate earlier this month without amendment by unanimous consent. Legislation like this bill hopefully will take a more astringent approach to enforcing minimum standards for accessibility, ease of use, and security.

On the web, we use images everywhere! Images can be an effective way to communicate information. But what happens when we use images of text instead of actual text? This is a design and development practice that’s been around a long time, but usually affects web accessibility negatively.

WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications), often referred to as ARIA, is a defined technical specification for attributes in the HTML language. The goal of ARIA is to make web content and web applications more accessible to people with disabilities.

There are a number of accessibility tests and exercises you can perform on your own computer right now. One of those is simple: see how content performs when zoomed to 200%. WCAG 1.4.4 Resize Text requires the ability to zoom content to 200% without assistive technology and without loss of content or functionality. Give it a try!

Instagram is now using AI to automatically add alt text to images. As an image and video-focused platform, this is a big accessibility win, as screen readers or other assistive technologies need a text alternative available to know what an image is portraying. Users can also add custom alt text for more accurate descriptions.

If you had to, could you move around your favorite website, catch up on the day's news, or complete a purchase transaction without using your mouse? Many people cannot or do not use a mouse, and instead navigate the digital world with a keyboard, keyboard emulator, or other input device.

By promising to change the way we live, work, and travel, the Internet of Things (IoT) is projected to have a more dramatic impact in the very near future. When IoT devices are built to be accessible, they can greatly enhance the quality of life for some people. But what happens when they aren't accessible?

Email accessibility is the art of crafting emails that everyone, including people with disabilities, can use. Practicing email accessibility represents a commitment to diversity and inclusion, and has serious impacts on audience reach and ultimately, the bottom line. Here are 10 tips to improve the accessibility of emails.

The U.S. Department of Education (DOE) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced big changes to its Case Processing Manual (CPM), removing the OCR's ability to dismiss complaints it deems an "unreasonable burden" and reinstating the opportunity to appeal.

WCAG 2.1 includes a new guideline for input modalities, helping to ensure that various input methods beyond keyboard input are functional. Read about the four Level A success criteria that support the new Input Modalities guideline.

Many people don't know that Santa Clause knows Braille. That's right — children who read Braille can have their very own letter from Santa. Check out some of the organizations that help with this and get your requests in on time!

December 3rd in the global observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities. According to the United Nations, the day "aims to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic and cultural life."

Many people are surprised to learn how much of the population actually lives with a disability. According to the CDC, 1 in 4 US adults has a disability, and the percentage is higher in those age 65 and older. When we consider that by 2030, people 65 and older will outnumber children in the country, it's a reminder that the time for accessibility is now.