Meeting the Challenges of Developing Accessible Web Content Kevin S. Floyd and Julie Santiago

Higher Education Today Continues to attract all types of students Availability of online education attracts the “non-traditional” student “Non-traditional” could include: – Working adults – Physically-challenged students

Web Accessibility Defined by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) as: – Access to the Web by everyone, regardless of disability For websites, accessibility ensures that disabled persons can “perceive, understand, navigate and interact” with the site as well as non-disabled persons

Laws for Higher Education Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states: – no otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States […], shall, solely by reason of his or her disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance In 1990, Section 504 was extended to all colleges and universities

Determining Accessibility of a Website Many tools are available to gauge the accessibility of a website

Types of Errors Identified From the W3C – Priority 1 Error – Priority 2 Error – Priority 3 Error Section 508 – more stringent than 504 but institutions who meet 508 requirements automatically meet 504 requirements

Higher Education Home Pages U.S. RegionNumber of Public Institutions Southwest9 West11 Northeast11 Midwest13 Southeast14 Alaska/Hawaii2

Higher Education Home Pages Are colleges and universities meeting web accessibility challenges? Summary of ComplianceValue Percentage of institutions with P1 compliance 46.67% Average number of P1 errors0.73 Percentage of institutions with P2 compliance 3.33% Average number of P2 errors2.85 Percentage of institutions with P3 compliance 3.33% Average number of P3 errors2.60 Percentage of institutions with Section 508 compliance 18.33%

Web Accessibility Standards WC3 accessibility guidelines are found here: Section 508 standards are found here: board.gov/sec508/standards.htm#Subpart_b board.gov/sec508/standards.htm#Subpart_b

Simple Techniques to Enhance Accessibility Structure vs. Presentation Text equivalents Alternative pages Navigation Validation

Simple Techniques to Enhance Accessibility Spelling and Grammar Checks Browser Support Technologies Reviewed for Accessibility Audio and Video Visual Information and Motion

Accessibility Examples Good Layout Example ge1.htm Bad Layout Example ge2.htm

Questions? Kevin S. Floyd Julie Santiago