Accessibility! Source: Source: AccessIT.com by University of Washington

Accessibility! Why should we care? How it should work! The W3C guideline 1.0 and a look at 2.0! Laws of the Land (Section 508) Some specific tips Some Tools You Can Use Conclusion References and Helpful links! Page 2 of 100

Why should we care? Can You See this? How about now? How about Now? Can You Hear this? Click here to watch the movie! Mouse over this to get to the menus! How many types of fruit? Source: Vischeck.com

Why should we care? Who are the disabled? Visually impaired Hearing impaired Physically impaired Cognitively impaired Seizure disorder Others

Why should we care? A Business Case for Web Accessibility Social Factors Technical Factors Financial Factors Legal and Policy Factors See for further details:

How it should work! In Perfect happy happy fun land… One Site fits all Hey everyone can use this one page it’s Universal I don’t need to do anything other than just some Html out there Meanwhile in the real world… Different sites for different folks The main page and the Low image version Universal design… Can we do it? Could we fall into something in between? (CSS) Source: AccessIT.com by University of Washington

How the Components Relate Source: How it should work!

How it should work! If would nice if…

How it should work! What all to often happens…

W3C guideline 1.0 and a look at 2.0! World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): The Fellowship of the Guidelines W3C priority 1 checkpoints W3C 2.0 working draft Source: AccessIT.com by University of Washington

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Priority 1 Must satisfy these checkpoints! Priority 2 Should satisfy these checkpoints Priority 3 May address these checkpoints See for further details W3C guideline 1.0 and a look at 2.0!

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 Guideline 1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content [Priority 1] Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element Guideline 2. Don't rely on color alone. 2.1, [Priority 1] Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color 2.2 Color contrast [Priority 2 for images, Priority 3 for text]. Look here for the rest of the 14 guidelines: W3C guideline 1.0 and a look at 2.0!

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Principle 1: Content must be perceivable. Principle 2: Interface elements in the content must be operable. Principle 3: Content and controls must be understandable. Principle 4: Content must be robust enough to work with current and future technologies. (See for more details!) W3C guideline 1.0 and a look at 2.0!

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Level 1 success criteria : Achieve a minimum level of accessibility Level 2 success criteria : Achieve an enhanced level of accessibility Level 3 success criteria : Achieve additional accessibility enhancements for people with disabilities. W3C guideline 1.0 and a look at 2.0! Source:

Laws of the Land (Section 508) National Laws: Rehabilitation Act 1973 (Sections 504 & 508 adm1993 adm1998 ) for additional informaiton see ( or ( or ( Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (Amended in 1997)

Laws of the Land (Section 508) State Laws: Guidelines for Texas State government developers that include the Section 508 standards House Bill 2819, 79th Regular Legislative Session For additional information see: ( House Bill 2292 of the 78th Regular Session The Technology Access Clause, 76th Legislative Session Senate Bill 1127, Senate Bill 1382, and House Bill 1, Article IX, S9-6 For additional information see:

Some specific tips Provide Alternative Formats Alternatives for Images Hidden d-links Da Boy and his bottle <a href="descriptions.php# description_of_some complex_image"> <img src="1by1-invisible.gif" ALT="d-link" border="0"> <a href="descriptions.php# description_of_some complex_image"> <img src="1by1-invisible.gif" ALT="d-link" border="0">

Some specific tips Present Text in a Linear Layout Columns laid out with a table Sometimes what you see is not what you are going to get with a screen reader. It is important to remember to use.CSS for columnar text Layout if at all possible! The columns above as a screen reader might read them Sometimes what you see It is important to remember to is not what you are going to get with a use.CSS for columnar screen reader. text Layout if at all possible!

Some specific tips Name things: Associated table headers and cells. The "HEADER" attribute with the TD element Frames: Forms: Password: Password: Da Boy Name

Some specific tips Provide a way to bypass repetitive content Hidden links to lower down on the page: Use natural language The or tags: ms The WAI The WAI

Some specific tips Use CSS (Hidden links to alt site) Have enlargeable fonts Don’t use “Mouse Over” menus alone ( e.g. Where the MouseOver event launches/displays a submenu) Don’t use menu items that that only display submenus If you have video on page have closed captions or a transcript. Check your site by Tabbing through it.

Some Tools You Can Use Just some of the Tools: A-Prompt ( Free validation service LIFT ( Not so free validation services $$ Dreamweaver Accessibility prompts MAGpie (Media Access Generator) Produces closed captions, descriptive video, etc. Other People (Involving Users W3C) Vischeck (Vischeck) What things look like to someone who is color blind. W3c’s HTML (W3C) Validation Service for your HTML Watchfire (Watchfire) Provides Online Risk Management software and services for $$$$ WebXACT ( Free online accessibility check of your webpage.

Some Tools You Can Use Tools for the user: JAWS For Windows (JAWS) from Freedom Scientific (DOS, Windows 95/98/ME and NT) speech and Braille. And the rest…. ASAW (ASAW) from Microtalk: (DOS, Windows 95/98/ME) speech. HAL (HAL) from Dolphin: (DOS, Windows 95/98/ME and NT) speech and Braille. Lookout (Lookout) from Choice Technology (Windows 95/98/ME) Marcopolo ( OutSpoken (OutSpoken) from Alva: (Windows 95/98/ME, Macintosh) speech and Braille. Screenreader/2 (Screenreader/2) from IBM (OS/2) speech and Braille Simply Talker (ST) from Econonet: (Windows 95/98/ME) speech. Slimware Window Bridge (SWB) from Synthavoice: (DOS, Windows 3.x and 95/98/ME) speech and Braille. Virgo (Virgo) from Baum For more see: (

Conclusion Go beyond the “Alt” tag…there is more to do! Think of accessibility as a process not a something to be done once. It is not possible to design all products and devices so that they are usable by all individuals. Think carefully when designing of who your audience is going to be who you could reach and make sure that your site is accessible to them. Remember to allow users to get to information in a variety of different ways. (e.g. Images and Alt tags)

References and Helpful links! AccessIT University of Washington Czajka, J. (1984). Digest of data on persons with disabilities. Washington, DC: National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, US Department of Education. Prepared by Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. under contract from NIDRR. Clark, Joe Building Accessible Websites (ISBN X)., 2002 (HTML version of a chapter from the book at: IBM Web Accessibility Checklist and Tutorial. NC State University, The Center for Universal Design, an initiative of the College of Design NCSCUD 1997 Nielsen, J. Disabled Accessibility: The Pragmatic approach Nielsen, J. Designing Web Usability. Indianapolis, IN: New Riders Publishing, 2000.

References and Helpful links! Thatcher, Jim. Constructing Accessible Websites. San Francisco: Apress, 2003 Thatcher, Jim “Web Accessibility for Section 508”, at Vanderheiden, G. Thirty-Something (Million): Should They Be Exceptions? TRACE Research and Development Center, Web Access Initiative (WAI): World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0: World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Working Draft : World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Guidelines Guildelines adapted by European Union.

And Even More Helpful links! Accessible Web Page Design CNET Builder.com - Web Authoring - Building an Accessible Web Site - 7/20/99 Designing More Usable Web Sites IBM: Web Accessibility for Special Needs Macromedia - Accessibility Resource Center Microsoft: For Web Page Designers Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) Texas State Law Unified Web Site Accessibility Guidelines Web Accessibility Initiative [WAI] W3C Accessibility Developments Web Accessibility Tutorial Index WebAIM - Web Accessibility in Mind (home) Web Accessibility Forum Mailing List (color blindness) List of companies that provide 508 software Accessible Web Page Design CNET Builder.com - Web Authoring - Building an Accessible Web Site - 7/20/99 Designing More Usable Web Sites IBM: Web Accessibility for Special Needs Macromedia - Accessibility Resource Center Microsoft: For Web Page Designers Texas Department of Information Resources (DIR) Texas State Law Unified Web Site Accessibility Guidelines Web Accessibility Initiative [WAI] W3C Accessibility Developments Web Accessibility Tutorial Index WebAIM - Web Accessibility in Mind (home) Web Accessibility Forum Mailing List (color blindness) List of companies that provide 508 software

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