1. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”— Tim Berners-Lee “For me, being online is everything. It's my hi-fi, my source of income, my supermarket, my telephone. It's my way in.” — Lynn Holdsworth, screen reader user, Web Developer and Programmer

2. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. What is Accessibility? Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. source: W3C Web Accessibility InitiativeW3C Web Accessibility Initiative

3. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. 5 Common Mistakes No alternative content for inaccessible or unsupported features (i.e. noflash or noscript alternatives) Images used in place of markup language Missing ALT attributes on images Text prompts for links lacking context (e.g. “click here”) Tables or DIV elements that have little or no narrative thread

4. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. Assistive Technologies screen readers screen magnifiers speech recognition software How can developers and designers account for the possible use of assistive technologies?

5. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. Legal and Ethical Issues In the USA, Government websites are legally bound to meet a minimum of ADA compliance standards (section 255 guidelines and section 508 standards).section 255 guidelines section 508 standards In higher education, organizations such as WaSP, the Web Standards Project, are attempting to raise awareness among instructors, administrators and web developers.Web Standards Project

6. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. Questions of “Good” Design What is “good” design? Is “good” design purely aesthetic? What are the lines of intersection between developers and designers? Answers to these questions aren’t simple. And at PhilaU, we fall short of 100% accessible design. Too often. But awareness is essential. Sometimes, we get close: see http://www.philau.edu/disabilityserviceshttp://www.philau.edu/disabilityservices (but even then, issues of accessibility abound)

7. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. The future is now: Web 2.0 improved semanticssemantics push application widgets embedded scripting languages increased interactivity Will disabled users be barred from these benefits?

8. Philadelphia University www.PhilaU.eduwww.PhilaU.edu Web Accessibility Power to Do. The Challenge All designers and developers should strive for a level of accessibility that, at the very least, allows for those with a disability to have alternatives.