1. Web Content Accessibility Beata M. Ofianewska (DG COMM) 7 December 2006
December 2006 COMM C2

2. Outline What is the Accessible Web? Why is Web Accessibility important
Making the Web Site Accessible
How to make your site accessible
Evaluating the Accessibility of your site
EUROPA – WAI in practice
EUROPA – Web Accessibility Policy
December 2006 COMM C2

3. What is the Accessible Web?
Means that people with disabilities (e.g., visually impaired, deaf, motor disabilities, colour-blind, etc.) or using alternate interface devices (…) are still able to use the Web
Using web = perceiving, understanding, navigating, interacting, contributing
Disabilities affecting access to the Web
visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities
December 2006 COMM C2

4. What is the Accessible Web?
Benefits for people without disabilities
design web pages that are flexible to meet different user needs, preferences, and situations
Improved accessibility for automated access (search engines, crawlers and robots)
December 2006 COMM C2

5. Why is Web Accessibility important?
Enhances access to important resources for many aspects of life
Provides equal access and equal opportunities
Commitment of European Institutions: EUROPA - Web Accessibility Policy
December 2006 COMM C2

6. Components of Web Accessibility
Content - the information in a Web page or Web application:
natural information such as text, images, and sounds
code or markup that defines structure, presentation, etc.
Web browsers, media players, and other "user agents"
Assistive technology, in some cases - screen readers, alternative keyboards, switches, scanning software, etc.
Users' knowledge, experiences, and in some cases, adaptive strategies using the Web
Developers - designers, coders, authors, etc., including developers with disabilities and users who contribute content
Authoring tools - software that creates Web sites
Evaluation tools - Web accessibility evaluation tools, HTML validators, CSS validators, etc.
December 2006 COMM C2

7. Relationship between components
December 2006 COMM C2

8. Making your Web Site Accessible
Know and follow the guidelines:
EUROPA Accessibility rule
EUROPA Practical guide to Accessible Web Design
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
December 2006 COMM C2

9. How to make your site accessible
Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
ALT text for images, photos, icons
Transcripts for audio files
Captions for videos
Information conveyed by colour must also be conveyed by other means (text)
Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
December 2006 COMM C2

10. How to make your site accessible
Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here.“
Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
December 2006 COMM C2

11. How to make your site accessible
Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content and access to information in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported. The navigation should be accessed when disabled
Make sure the size of the font can be increased
Tables. Identify rows and column headers in data tables. Summarize.
Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at
December 2006 COMM C2

12. Evaluating Accessibility of your site
Validation methods and tools:
Validate syntax (HTML, XML)
Validate style sheets (CSS)
Use checklist for checkpoints for WCAG1.0
Watchfire WebXACT (previously known as BOBBY) Free online service that lets you test single pages of web content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues.
Validate links
December 2006 COMM C2

13. EUROPA – WAI in practice
Provide non-javascript access to the information
December 2006 COMM C2

14. Candidate commissioners Ms Kuneva and Mr Orban
EUROPA – WAI in practice
Use ALT text for images
European Commission
Candidate commissioners Ms Kuneva and Mr Orban
December 2006 COMM C2

15. EUROPA – Web Accessibility Policy
European Commission Web Accessibility Policy
EUROPA Level A (Priority 1) conformity
Conformance logo
December 2006 COMM C2

16. EUROPA: WAI Conformance Logo
With respect to the EUROPA server, the European Commission decided to include a conformance logo on EUROPA pages that comply with "Level A (Priority 1)" of the Web Accessibility Initiative's "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0".
This logo indicates that these pages, as well as (some of) their subpages, were designed with accessibility in mind. It also links to the central EUROPA page describing its "Web Accessibility Policy".
December 2006 COMM C2

17. Useful resources
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
EUROPA Web Accessibility Policy
IPG/ Accessibility:
December 2006 COMM C2

18. Questions?
Beata M. Ofianewska DG COMM C2 EUROPA Coordination team
December 2006 COMM C2