Web Accessibility Issues

Why Consider Access Issues ? Discrimination Numbers of disabled students in HE likely to increase Sites designed for the disabled improved usability for all You could be sued !

Disabilities Sight impaired Hearing impaired Colour blindness Dyslexia Lack of fine motor control Epilepsy

Strategies Assistive Technology Software to assist spelling or word prediction Speech to text Text to speech e.g. Kurzweil reader Braille embosser Screen magnifiers Note these are not specific to internet use

Strategies Changing the browser settings: Increase or decrease size of text Remove the style sheet Add personal style sheet Reset the colours Windows software (located in Accessories)

Guidance W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 14 general principles of design 3 “Priorities” or “Checkpoints” UK Law – SENDA 2002 Websites should conform to “Level 1 Priority of the WAI” Make “reasonable adjustments” – this includes providing access to materials in an alternative format

Guidance cont. TechDis – 7 Precepts Accessible Curricula: Good Practice For All RNIB

Design Guidance Sound pedagogic reasons for any non-text content Ensure text is accessible by other means Order materials logically to assist text readers Site map/overview at start of each section

Design Solutions - Images Give text alternatives Alt Longdesc D + link to separate page Avoid image maps

Images cont. Avoid text as images distorts when enlarged Avoid image interface slow download Colour ensure high colour contrast avoid obvious difficulties e.g. red and green

Multimedia Flash & Shockwave elements Provide text alternatives Video and Sound files Provide transcripts

Text Use relative sizes (e.g. %) Avoid long passages in italics or UPPER CASE Avoid blinking text Avoid rainbow text Avoid animated text

Links Underline links Make links clear E.g. Play sound file of Water Music and not Click herePlay sound file of Water Music Click here Warn user what type of file will open PDF - printing only Use.txt or html alternative for max accessibility Avoid opening in a new window Scripts/applets provide information in alternative form

Validation Check pages in a variety of browsers Use text only browser e.g. Lynx Use HTML validator E.g. Bobby Dr HTML Turn off mouse and graphics (Tools>Internet Options>Advanced) Tab to links

Issues Find balance between aesthetically pleasing and accessible “Inclusive” or “Universal” design principles should improve access for all users References: Nielsen J (2000) Designing Web Usability

References Accessible Curricula, Good Practice For All Please refer to list of “useful resources” on page 60 TechDis Accessibility Database Web Accessibility and Usability Evaluation Resource National Federation of Access Centres