Announcing Android Accessibility by Tutorials!

Would it surprise you that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 1 in 4 adults in the U.S. alone (over 60 million people!) have a disability that impacts major life activities?

Any responsible app today should be thinking about accessibility as a key component of the user experience.

Android Accessibility by Tutorials will teach you to get your Android app in the hands of more users by implementing critical accessibility features. Read on to see what’s inside, and how you can get your own copy today!

What is Android Accessibility by Tutorials?

Accessibility is an important, often overlooked, part of building a quality app. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) can be confusing and it’s often unclear how to apply these guidelines to Android.

In this book, you’ll learn about building accessible apps on Android using WCAG through hands-on, step-by-step tutorials.

Who is This Book For?

This book is for intermediate Android developers who already know the basics of Android and Kotlin development and want to learn about accessibility.

Android Accessibility by Tutorials covers the following topics:

• Importance of accessibility
• Onboarding your team to accessible apps
• Testing your apps for accessibility
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Android accessibility
• Custom views
• …and much more!

What’s Inside Android Accessibility by Tutorials?

Begin your journey into learning about building, testing and customizing accessible apps on Android using WCAG through hands-on, step-by-step tutorials!

Android Accessibility by Tutorials contains thirteen chapters:

1. Why Accessibility: Why should you design your apps with accessibility in mind? This chapter presents many reasons why accessibility is a priority in modern app design. From creating a better, more marketable product to treating others with care, it can even increase productivity levels for all of your users!
2. Hello, Accessibility!: Learn how to use lint to find accessibility warnings and some simple ways to solve some common accessibility issues in one or two lines of code. Introduces WCAG and other resources to understand accessibility requirements and universal design so all users of your app enjoy a cohesive experience.

Learn how to build your apps to make them accessible — to all

Learn how to build your apps to make them accessible — to all

3. Testing & Tools: To understand the accessibility improvements you’re making, you need a way to verify your changes. That’s why in this chapter you’ll learn how you can test for accessibility improvements, as well as how to use accessibility services to experience the same thing your user might.
4. Perceivable — Layout & Labeling: Understanding the basics about screen readers is key when working on accessibility. In this chapter you’ll learn more about this tool, as well as how you can use content descriptions and layouts to make your app more perceivable.
5. Perceivable — Time-Based Media & Cues: Features including video, audio or animation often focus on a visual and auditory experience. This chapter explores how you can present the same information to users who can’t enjoy the full visual or auditory experience you’ve designed.
6. Perceivable — Colors: In this chapter you’ll gain an understanding of what color contrast is and how you can use it in your app. By investigating types of vision impairments, contrast, and night mode, you’ll have a better understanding of how to make your app more perceivable.

Learn how to use Accessibility Scanner to help you make smart decisions about color, typography and more

Learn how to use Accessibility Scanner to help you make smart decisions about color, typography and more

7. Operable — Navigating the Screen: Navigation is important to almost any app. In this chapter you’ll learn how you can allow your users to navigate your app using a variety of assistive technologies.
8. Operable — Movement & Timing: This chapter continues discussing operability by looking at movement and timing. The way you handle conveniences such as auto-advance and gestures can make a big impact on how easily people can use your app. Here, you’ll learn some tricks about how to approach these kinds of features.
9. Understandable: Even if someone can perceive and operate your app, they may not understand it. This chapter will teach you how you can treat language, iconography, consistency and error handling in a way that improves your app’s understandability.
10. Robust: To make a robust app, it needs to know how to interact with the accessibility services on any device. While working with Android’s components, most of this work is done for you. In this chapter, you’ll learn how to interact with accessibility services when building custom views.
11. Designing for Neurodiversity: Part of making your app accessible includes building it with neurodiversity in mind. By making your app more configurable, contextual and aware of phrasing, you show your users that you care about them.
12. Getting Your Team on Board: You recognize the importance of accessibility, but how do you get your team on board to dedicate time to it? In this chapter, you’ll learn how to increase education and buy-in on your team, as well as how to integrate accessibility into your processes.
13. Accessibility Checklist: It’s not easy to remember everything there is to know about accessibility. That’s why this chapter gives you a checklist of items to look for when building your app. You can tailor these for use in PRs or audits.

About the Author

Victoria Gonda is the author of this book. She is a software engineer who primarily works with Android. After having studied both dance production and computer science, she focused her career on software because of its potential to help people in a meaningful way. Victoria regularly speaks at conferences, which have been an enjoyable way for her to connect with the technical community and exchange ideas. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys playing board games and curling up with a good book. You can connect with her on Twitter at @TTGonda.

Where to Go From Here?

Android Accessibility by Tutorials, First Edition is available today! Like every one of our books, Android Accessibility by Tutorials has been automatically added to the collections of all Ultimate Pro subscribers.

Want your own copy of Android Accessibility by Tutorials? There are two ways you can enjoy this book:

• Buy it individually: If you want to build up a custom library without a subscription, you can choose to buy the book individually. It’s available now for just $59.99 in our online store.
• Get it as part an Ultimate Pro book and video subscription: Enjoy access to over 4,000+ videos and every single one of our 40+ professional mobile development books, including Android Accessibility by Tutorials! Right now, you can get a full year’s Ultimate Pro subscription and save 20% off the cost of a regular monthly subscription. It’s simply the best investment for your mobile development career.

We hope you enjoy this first edition of Android Accessibility by Tutorials. On behalf of the book team, thank you for your support!