Web accessibility training/qualification
Is there such a thing as a qualification in web accessibility (preferably UK-based)? I'd like to learn as much as I possibly can about the subject and am happy to do it through books/websites/hands-on experience etc., but some kind of recognised qualification would be ideal.
Any ideas muchly appreciated.
Cheers, Emily
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I don't think there is one. Is there a need for one?Johan De Silva / Portfolio
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| Johan007 wrote: |
| I don't think there is one. Is there a need for one? |
I have to say I think it would be worthwhile. Otherwise the people who don't know accessibility but do know that it is needed will tend to believe shtick like "guaranteed 100% Bobby compliant AAA"... whereas if there was a proper professional qualification, it could separate the people who understand it from the people who just want to sell it.
Jack Pickard The Pickards Information Services| Blog | Twit
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In terms of something that is recognised, there are groups like the Guild of Accessible Web Designers, who check each submission before approving membership, which would give you something a bit more solid to show that you're an accessible designer.
For learning about the subject in the first place, there are of course a wealth of training courses you can go on but most of these lack the assessment element to give you an actual qualification at the end. I agree with Jack that such a qualification would be useful, but as some principles of web accessibility can be somewhat contentious (Access Keys, for example), and often shifting as technologies evolve, I'm not sure how it would be best developed and delivered.
James Coltham - Local gov web manager by day, web and accessibility blogger at lunchtime, freelancer by night. Tweets at @prettysimple.
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I agree that an Accessibility Qualification would be beneficial to all concerned. I would, however, suggest that the course and award would have to be delivered by an organisation with enough weight to make it a worthwhile and accepted qualification.
As James has already pointed out, there are still too many contentious issues which everyone (or at least the majority) need to agree on. I think that is some time away yet.
Just a thought, how about WAI designing a course structure and award?
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Yeah WAI (or W3C) should do courses on it, like they're doing with mobile web http://www.w3.org/2009/04/MobiWeb102/
Actually, I'm not so much interested in an award/certificate, but a course or conference would be awesome. There's like a billion javascript conferences, haven't come across any (good) accessibility ones...
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| JackP wrote: |
| ...whereas if there was a proper professional qualification, it could separate the people who understand it from the people who just want to sell it. |
Johan De Silva / Portfolio
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I possess a "OCNW Creating Accessible Websites Using XHTML & DHTML" Level 3 Cert. So to answer the question there are officially recognised UK accessibility-related qualifications but the titles are misleading.
It only scratched basic Web Accessibility (I had other reasons for doing the course not for the certificate or material).
};-) http://www.xhtmlcoder.com/
WVYFC chose the Yorkshire Air Ambulance as the main charity to fund raise for in 2006
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Thanks for all the responses to my question. I'll definitely have a look at the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (will need really good examples of accessible site to accompany my membership though). Some kind of qualification would be useful I think - something to add weight to a claim to be able to build accessible sites, or maybe something that covers all web standards.
I get a bit despondant at the courses available where I am. Anything relating to web design tends to be more for beginners and very software-dependant. Not much opportunity for a web designer to improve existing skills or learn new ones. Courses aren't the be-all and end-all of course, with so much info out there on the web, but sometimes a bit of structure can be very useful!
A conference would be great too - excellent suggestion Linda.
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A search for Web Accessibility Conference turns up "about 1,220" results.
Limiting it to pages in the UK shows only 18 results. Ouch. There used to be lots?
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There's some really funky behaviour from Google in that second link. It claims initially to have over 5,000 results, but only shows four pages; then, when you go to the second page, it suddenly announces that it has omitted similar results, while the third and fourth pages evaporate!
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| Ben Millard wrote: |
| A search for Web Accessibility Conference turns up "about 1,220" results.
Limiting it to pages in the UK shows only 18 results. Ouch. There used to be lots? |
I clicked through a few of those links, and they're either old or not in the UK. Couldnt find a single one in the UK this year? If anyone does, please let me know.
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