DeveloperWeek 2020

Supporting and improving a teenaged web application is much like being the parent of a teenager. The decisions that were made when your application was an infant, a toddler, and a middle schooler affect the behaviors it currently demonstrates, and this in turn affects how we can approach modifying and improving the behaviors. These behaviors are results of the culture, the environment, and the “village” or the many hands that have had a part in cultivating this teenaged application from infancy.
My teenaged application is currently 13 years old and is consumed every day by over 1 million users. Since its infancy, design and development decisions were made with the best intentions and with the most current software knowledge, but many of those decisions have unintentionally created barriers for customers needing assistive devices. In order to make noticeable changes and progress towards meeting accessibility guidelines, I have had to employ many tactics that mirror those suggested for parenting a teenager. Improving a teenaged application can’t be done alone and can’t be done all at once.

Learn strategies for improving a teenaged application’s accessibility that respects the past, identifies steps forward, and cultivates a village of support for building the future.