IT Accessibility Committee Eating the Elephant Prepared by the NYS Forum IT Accessibility Committee Presented by Michael B. Short

Eating the Elephant OBJECTIVE: The learner will list three techniques that can be applied to a web site to maximize the value for the effort

Eating the Elephant? How do you eat an elephant? How do you eat an elephant?

Eating the Elephant? One bite at a time! One bite at a time! Tackling a large project one small step at a time Tackling a large project one small step at a time

Eating the Elephant? Tackling a large project one small step at a time Tackling a large project one small step at a time

Eating the Elephant Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute

alt and title attributes Describe the function of the graphic Describe the function of the graphic Example: a navigation arrow pointing to the right should be labeled “Next,” not “Arrow” Example: a navigation arrow pointing to the right should be labeled “Next,” not “Arrow” Concentrate on navigation Concentrate on navigation Handle bullets and spacer graphics Handle bullets and spacer graphics Use an empty attribute: alt=" " Use an empty attribute: alt=" "

Eating the Elephant Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute

Top Ten Pages your home page your home page top level menu pages top level menu pages the pages most frequently accessed by your visitors the pages most frequently accessed by your visitors

Eating the Elephant Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute

Eating the Elephant It is much easier to create accessible web pages than fix it later It is much easier to create accessible web pages than fix it later But, if you are revising anyway, that is the time to fix it But, if you are revising anyway, that is the time to fix it

Eating the Elephant Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Use alt and title attributes for all graphics, graphic buttons and images Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Locate your “top ten” pages and make them completely accessible Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Make new and revised pages accessible as you go Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute Label your “format only” tables accordingly using the summary attribute

Tables 101 Mark-up should describe the contents Mark-up should describe the contents marks a heading … not used to simply style text marks a heading … not used to simply style text Lack of style sheet support in the past has led to using tables for layout Lack of style sheet support in the past has led to using tables for layout We should use the summary=“format only” attribute to clue in our visitors that the table is not really a table We should use the summary=“format only” attribute to clue in our visitors that the table is not really a table

Tables 102 If you encounter tables for layout, keep it simple If you encounter tables for layout, keep it simple nested tables make navigation tricky nested tables make navigation tricky colspan and rowspan used indiscriminately will lose the most savvy navigator colspan and rowspan used indiscriminately will lose the most savvy navigator Replace table layout with CSS at every opportunity Replace table layout with CSS at every opportunity