Universal Web Design Comp 190 Greg Lanier

Root of Web inaccessibility Legal environment Diagnostic testing Contents 1 Project overview Root of Web inaccessibility Legal environment Diagnostic testing The premise of universal Web design Demonstrations What lies ahead

Personal Web background Project Overview Personal Web background World Wide Web as a universal communication medium Current research and development is broad but not integrated Goal: fuse accessibility, standards compliance, and creativity 2

Root of Web Inaccessibility Shift from content to visual presentation Browser wars and proprietary HTML Design tools perpetuate visual emphasis and bad code Cost of revamping outdated websites Result: people with disabilities have been overlooked 3

Legal Environment Section 508 + 1998 Amendment All Federal agencies must provide accessible means for using any of its information media and electronic equipment to all employees and members of the public. 4

Americans with Disabilities Act, Title III Legal Environment Americans with Disabilities Act, Title III Services provided by commercial or non-profit entities and state/local governments must not discriminate against or otherwise exclude users with disabilities Traditionally has applied to physical structures and hiring practices 4

Other cases reaffirm that business Web services must be accessible Legal Environment Hooks v. OKBridge, Inc. Extended ADA Title III to businesses that offer services via non-physical channels such as the Internet Other cases reaffirm that business Web services must be accessible NFB v. AOL, Inc. Maguire v. Sydney Olympics Access Now v. American Airlines, Inc. 4

Forty test subjects The diagnostic tests: Diagnostic Testing HTML standards Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Content load factor Screen reader behavior 5

HTML Validation Results (errors/line of code) Diagnostic Testing HTML Validation Results (errors/line of code) Popular sites: 1.37 UNC-CH: 0.85 Search Engines: 8.80 Government: 0.86 Accessibility Advocates: 0.18 5

WCAG Results (% lines of code with errors) Diagnostic Testing WCAG Results (% lines of code with errors) Popular sites: 31.60 UNC-CH: 20.73 Search Engines: 71.56 Government: 36.99 Accessibility Advocates: 6.51 5

Content load factor (Code-to-content ratio) Diagnostic Testing Content load factor (Code-to-content ratio) Popular sites: 11.28 UNC-CH: 10.38 Search Engines: 7.49 Government: 8.63 Accessibility Advocates: 3.15 5

The Premise Engineering a web resource to be universal – not just "accessible" in a standards-compliance sense – leads to better overall design for everyone, regardless of visual, mental, or other differences. 6

Well-structured content Style switcher on project website Demonstration Well-structured content Style switcher on project website 7

Search engine redesign What Lies Ahead Three prototypes Search engine redesign 8