1 Ensuring That Your Web Communications Are Usable By All Audiences DBTAC – Northeast ADA Center Sharon Trerise Coordinator of Accessible IT Employment and Disability Institute

2 Northeast ADA & IT Center 10 regional centers in US Funded by National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Dept. of Education Focus on 2 areas: –Americans with Disabilities Act –Accessible Information Technology in Education ,

3 Topics Legislation effecting college web sites How do people with disabilities access the web Web Accessibility Project with Community Colleges Web Access Toolkit

4 Your Web Audience Students Faculty Staff Alumni Parents Community World

5 Source: U.S. Census Bureau Report on Americans with Disabilities: , P70-61 (August 1997) Based on Survey of Income and Program Participation, Oct Jan Disability As a Function of Age

6 © 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 9.5%

7 © 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 10%

8 © 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 14%

9© 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 21%

10 © 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 34%

11 © 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 42%

12© 2001 Trace R&D Center, University of Wisconsin 64%

13 Continuing Education & Our Aging Population In 2010, the majority of the US population will be 45 years and older Brian Basset, Cartoonist and creator of syndicated cartoon

14 Students with Disabilities Increasing percent of students in K12 & postsecondary education are disabled (~11%, higher in Community Colleges) Students with cognitive (learning) disabilities makes up the largest percentage of students with disabilities

15 Accessible Web Design - Who benefits? People with disabilities People with slow internet connection People using PDAs, phones or other mobile devices, People using older equipment to view the web People whose primary language is not English Seniors People who are color blind

16 Who benefits? EVERYONE

17 Legal considerations – Federal* Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) & Section 504 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973 –Prohibit discriminating against individuals with disabilities Office for Civil Rights (OCR) –Institutions that use the internet for communication regarding programs, goods and services must make that information accessible; –must “effectively communicate” with individuals with disabilities including students, faculty, staff & the wider community

18 State Legislation New York State's Official Policy/Standards "Accessibility of State Agency Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications" –NYS Statewide Technology Policy P /index.htm 002/index.htm –NYS Mandatory Technology Standard S /index.htm 001/index.htm

19 Standards / Guidelines Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act – Content&ID=12http:// Content&ID=12 World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) –Version 1: –Version 2 draft released in March 2004: ( /) /

20 How do People with Disabilities Access the Web? Blind and visually impaired Color blind Deaf and hearing impaired Mobility impairments Learning disabilities

21 Blindness Do not use a mouse May use a screen reader to listen to the content May use a refreshable Braille display Images, photos and graphics are unusable Colors are unusable Navigation may be difficult / confusing All content must be accessible from the keyboard

22 Blindness: Simulation Completely inaccessible Less accessible More accessible

23 Blindness: Accessible Design Techniques Provide text description for all images & photos (“alt” tags) Provide an option to skip navigation Ensure keyboard accessibility Use meaningful links (“Class schedule” rather than “click here”) Use proper HTML (header tags, etc.) Don’t write scripts that require mouse usage

24 Low Vision Use screen magnification software Images, photos and graphics may become unusable when enlarged Navigation may be difficult / confusing

25 Low Vision: Common causes Cataracts Glaucoma

26 Low Vision: Common causes Macular Degeneration Retinopathy

27 Low Vision: Simulation

28 Low Vision: Simulation Text in graphics –Less accessibleLess accessible –More accessibleMore accessible Poor contrast –Less accessibleLess accessible

29 Low Vision: Accessible Design Techniques Limit or eliminate text within graphics Have plenty of contrast Use relative rather than absolute font sizes

30 Color Blindness Approximately 8-10% of the male population and about 0.5% of the female population experiences some form of color deficiency Cell phone, PDA and text browser users may not have color Reds & greens are often indistinguishable Other colors may be indistinguishable

31 Color Blindness: Simulation Map of Hurricane Isabel (with color)

32 Color Blindness: Simulation Map of Hurricane Isabel (with red/green colorblindness) Simulated using Vischek ( )

33 Color Blindness: Simulation Subway map

34 Simulation Using color for important meaning –Less AccessibleLess Accessible

35 Color Blindness: Accessible Design Techniques Do not use color alone to convey content –Use additional cues or information to convey content The flights listed below in RED have been cancelled. The flights in GREEN are departing on time. Delta 1342 United 320 American Airlines 787 Southwest 2390 The flights listed below that have been cancelled are indicated in RED and by an asterisk. The flights in GREEN are departing on time. Delta 1342* United 320 American Airlines 787 Southwest 2390*

36 Mobility Impairments May use only the keyboard for navigation May tire quickly May not have fine motor control All content must be accessible from the keyboard Lengthy navigation may cause fatigue Small links are difficult to select

37 Mobility Impairments: Assistive Technology Head wand Adaptive Keyboard Mouth stick

38 Simulation Navigation not accessible from keyboard –Less AccessibleLess Accessible –More AccessibleMore Accessible No way to skip over lengthy navigation –Less AccessibleLess Accessible –More AccessibleMore Accessible

39 Mobility Impairments: Accessible Design Techniques Ensure that the page is keyboard accessible Do not require fine motor control (free of moving links or very small links) Provide a way to skip over long lists of links & other lengthy content (visible skip navigation link)

40 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Audio is unusable Video clips that include audio are unusable Audio clips are unusable

41 Simulation Not Accessible Accessible

42 Deafness: Accessible Design Techniques Provide transcripts for all audio content Provide synchronized captions for all video content –MAGpie – free captioning tool from WGBH –HiCaption from HiSoftware

43 Cognitive Disabilities Users may have difficulty focusing on or comprehending lengthy sections of text Complex layouts or inconsistent navigational schemes may be confusing May need content in >1 form Animated images may be distracting Complex layouts may lead to confusion Text-only content may be limiting

44 Cognitive Impairments: Example Complex layouts: – – Moving content: Too much text: Usability testing example:

45 Cognitive Disability: Accessible Design Techniques Simplify the layout as much as possible Provide clear and consistent site navigation Organize information into manageable “chunks” Logically organize your site and individual documents Use icons, illustrations, arrows, audio, video or other multimedia to enhance understanding

46 PowerPoint on the web PowerPoint is not a web-friendly format How to convert to accessible HTML –Copy the outline to an HTML page & format by hand –Use HTML slide program such as WimpyPoint or Slidemaker or OperaShow –PowerPoint Add-on (Windows only) University of Illinois: Office Accessibility Wizard ( –Use LecShare, Inc. to convert slides to accessible web format

47 PDF (Portable Document Format) Adobe Acrobat Reader Full Version 6.0 or newer If document was not created with accessibility in mind, it will still pose significant accessibility challenges to blind users (images w/o alt text, no headings, etc.)

48 PDF The most reliable way to make a PDF file accessible is to convert it to accessible HTML.

49 Accessible PDF PDF files must be created with accessibility in mind –Use heading styles –Add text description for all graphics –Use bulleted or numbered list feature Document must: –Contain real text (not scanned image) –Be in Tagged PDF format* –Be marked up for accessibility*

50 Web Accessibility in Community Colleges Project 3 Phases –Survey head of Student Services at CC’s –Evaluate a sample of CC websites –Develop a web accessibility toolkit

51 Percent Offering Online Services

52 Guidelines governing web design Sample = 701 Community Colleges Requirements regarding web accessibility

53 What do the web accessibility requirements cover? Of the 50% who have web accessibility requirements, –84% of policies cover student services pages –66% of policies cover individual department/ faculty pages –75% cover online course content including distance learning courses –82% cover ALL college web pages POINT: More directly under control of central administration (webmaster), more likely to be covered by web policy; as opposed to under control of departments or individual faculty

54 Website Evaluations 30 Community College sites Range of size and location 4 tasks + home page –Home page –Disability services –Class schedules –Admissions application –Financial aid

55 Manual 508 Evaluation: Process Code-level evaluation Each standard rated 1 through 3 Manual 508 Evaluation: Results <1% of pages met all Section 508 standards that were applicable to that page

56

57 Survey*: 50% of institutions with Web Accessibility Requirements Website Evaluations**: <1% Web Pages met Section 508 Web Accessibility Standards *N = 701 community colleges **N = 150 web pages from 30 community college websites

58 Barriers to implementation Costs & Staffing Lack of technical support Lack of knowledge / training Lack of awareness Attitude; Disregard Lack of support from administration Lack of Faculty Involvement Costs Staffing Training Technical support Awareness Attitude Administrat ive support Faculty Involveme nt

59 Toolkit: Designed for administrators and department leaders Involve stakeholders from many areas of campus Make the standards “real” (user perspective) Provide resources for technical knowledge and training

60 Designing with Accessibility in Mind Incorporate accessibility considerations in design rather than retrofit –Less expensive –More accessible for everyone

61 Web Accessibility: Designing for Everyone People using different web browsers People using different screen resolutions People using phone web services People using handheld display units People using car computing systems People using screen readers People who are deaf or hard of hearing People who can’t use a mouse People who are color blind People with differences in attention/perception

62 To Learn More (handout) WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) – EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) – NCAM (National Center for Accessible Media), WGBH – AccessIT (National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education) –

63 Sharon Trerise DBTAC – Northeast ADA Center Employment and Disability Institute Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations 201 ILR Extension Building Ithaca, New York tel