eCommerce Web Accessibility with Scott Buchanan of Ripen

Content + Commerce

Content Plus Commerce

Host: Blake Puryear Guest: Scott Buchanan

On this episode Blake is joined by Scott Buchanan of the Ripen Agency and they talk about eCommerce web accessibility.

[00:01:10] - Background of Ripen Agency
[00:02:06] - Go to tools, software
[00:05:15] - What is your Hero story
[00:07:36] - eCommerce Web Accessibility, things people miss
[00:10:30] - Stakes for accessibility, ground floor basics that you should be doing
[00:15:02] - Content, keeping copy plain and accessible

Quotes from the Episode:

“If you’re trying to build an inclusive marketplace that is non discriminatory, you want to make available to as broad an audience as possible.” [00:07:46]

“One of the rawest areas that stills needs treatment in the whole industry is how to make videos fully accessible.” [00:13:28]

“Anybody who is abled is in some sense only temporarily abled, to varying degrees, we will probably all, at different points in our life go through points that are less accessible.” [00:16:26]

Links:

The Ripen Agency - https://ripen.com
Magento - https://magento.com
BigCommerce - https://www.bigcommerce.com
Shopify - https://www.shopify.com

Scott Buchanan Twitter- https://twitter.com/thescottsb

Scott Buchanan LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottsb/

Link to: https://a11yproject.com/checklist/

Helpful tools and resources provided by Scott Buchanan:

Tool to get a feel for what it’s like to have various disabilities and build empathy:

http://labs.antigravity-systems.com/accsim/

Article covering the latest state of the law around web accessibility lawsuits (in the US):

https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/how-businesses-can-defeat-website-33311/

My recommended site scanner is the one by SiteImprove. It provides more helpful guidance and explanations in my opinion than the other alternative tools out there:

https://siteimprove.com/en-us/core-platform/integrations/browser-extensions/

The other one I use regularly is Accessibility Insights, built by Microsoft for Chrome & Edge, but using the same core engine (axe) that’s used by Google’s Lighthouse. I just find the interface & results easier to use than Lighthouse or the main axe plugin:

https://accessibilityinsights.io/en/