1. Web accessibility Patrick H. Lauke / Salford Business School / 23 November 2007 Making your website work for more people

2. Who is this guy? ● Web Editor for Salford ● Web Standards Project (WaSP) Accessibility Task Force ● Author and occasional.net magazine contributor

3. Outline ● What is accessibility? ● Some misconceptions about accessibility ● Why is it relevant to you? ● Some problems and potential solutions

4. What is accessibility? “making sure our website works for blind people...”

5. Wide range of disabilities ● Visual impairments ● Auditory impairments ● Mobility impairments ● Cognitive disabilities

6. Who cares? People with disabilities use the web like anybody else...

7. Surely not... ● “disabled people won't be using my site!” ● “they're a small market, it's not worth catering!” ● “don't have time to make a separate accessible site!”

8. Disabled people won't be using my site! What type of site is it? ● Photographer selling prints ● Art gallery ● Mountain climbing equipment ● Online music store ● Web design resource

9. Small market, not worth catering for! “It is estimated that there are 7 million disabled people in the UK and that around 19% of the working age population has some form of disability.” Source: Disability Rights Commission – Disability briefing January 2004 http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability- studies/archiveuk/DRC/Disability%20Briefing%20Dec%202004.pdf http://www.leeds.ac.uk/disability- studies/archiveuk/DRC/Disability%20Briefing%20Dec%202004.pdf

10. No time for separate accessible site! In most cases, no need for special “disabled access” site ● “Text only” or similar not the solution ● Inclusive design, not segregation ● Separation of content and presentation, structural markup, web standards ● Accessibility considered at planning stage

11. Access for all ● Accessibility doesn't just benefit users with disabilities ● Hand in hand with usability ● Benefits to all users ● Real-world: access ramps – just for wheelchairs? ● “situational/temporary” disabilities ● Alternative browsing devices: PDA, web phone, etc ● “silver surfers”

12. Search engine optimisation (SEO)? Google and co. “world's largest disabled user”

13. So...where to start? ● World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ● Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) ● Introduction to Web Accessibility http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php ● Quick tips to make accessible websites http://www.w3.org/WAI/quicktips/Overview.php http://www.w3.org/WAI/quicktips/Overview.php

14. WCAG 1.0, 5 May 1999 ● Freely available http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/ http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/ ● Benchmark for accessibility of most simple sites (even part of some legislation) ● 14 guidelines, broken down into individual checkpoints WCAG 2.0 currently being finalised – different approach, covers wider range of sites and modern technologies.

15. WCAG 1.0 – examples “1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.”

16. WCAG 1.0 – examples

18. “2. Don't rely on color alone.”

19. WCAG 1.0 – examples “2. Don't rely on color alone.”

20. WCAG 1.0 – examples “2. Don't rely on color alone.” ● Tools to help you assess adjacent colours ● Colour contrast analyser Firefox extension http://juicystudio.com/article/colour-contrast-analyser-firefox- extension.php http://juicystudio.com/article/colour-contrast-analyser-firefox- extension.php ● GrayBit http://graybit.com http://graybit.com

23. WCAG 1.0 – examples “3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly.” This is a heading Blah blah blah Another heading Blah blah blah A sub-section Blah blah blah

24. WCAG 1.0 – examples “3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly.” This is a heading Blah blah blah This is another heading Blah blah blah A sub-section Blah blah blah

28. WCAG 1.0 – examples “9. Design for device-independence.” Not all users can / want to use a mouse ● Keyboard ● Voice activation ● Switches ● Headwands Simple test: can your site be used just by keyboard?

31. WCAG 1.0 – examples “9. Design for device-independence.” ● Check that there's sensible “tab order”

33. ...and a few more things to look out for

34. Ethical/moral/financial reasons not enough? Most countries now have legal obligations ● UK: Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 Provision of goods and services ● Australia: Disability Discrimination Act 1992 ● USA: Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ● USA: Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act Cases are being brought to court: SOCOG, Target, etc

35. Political correctness gone mad? “What next? Blind people suing car manufacturers?” ● UK DDA: “reasonable adjustments” ● Situations where there is no reasonable adjustment ● Case by case, not one size fits all

36. Testing for accessibility ● Automated accessibility checkers (“Bobby” and co.) ● Still require human judgement ● False positives, false negatives ● “Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility with the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar” http://www.webaim.org/articles/evaluatingwithfirefox/ http://www.webaim.org/articles/evaluatingwithfirefox/

37. Not just a “compliance” issue ● Not about ticking boxes ● It's about quality of your work ● Web standards + accessibility are expected skills in today's job market

38. Accessibility not always either/or ● Many situations have different solutions ● Sliding scale of accessibility ● Not a “cookbook” approach, or rote mastery of WCAG

39. Further information ● W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI/ http://www.w3.org/WAI/ ● Accessify http://www.accessify.com/ http://www.accessify.com/ ● Accessifyforum http://www.accessifyforum.com/ http://www.accessifyforum.com/ ● WebAIM: Web Accessibility In Mind http://www.webaim.org/ http://www.webaim.org/

40. Further information Web Accessibility Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance http://www.friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=1590596382 http://www.friendsofed.com/book.html?isbn=1590596382

41. Thanks Patrick H. Lauke p.h.lauke@salford.ac.uk http://www.salford.ac.uk http://www.splintered.co.uk