1. Accessibility issues for web authors Library and Information Services University of St Andrews

2. Structure 1. Definition: Accessibility 2. Legal requirement 3. How people access the web 4. Web Accessibility Initiative 5. Checking your web pages 6. Resources

3. 1. Definition: Accessibility Technical aspects hard- & software issues different devices internet connection Varying individual needs people with disabilities use of specialised software

4. 2. Legal requirement SENDA (2001) and DDA (1995): Responsible bodies must not treat a disabled person less favourably than a non-disabled person for reasons related to their disability without justification Responsible bodies will be required by law to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that a disabled person is not placed at a substantial disadvantage.

5. 3. How people access the web Visual disabilities Blindness, colour blindness, other visual impairments Physical disabilities Repetitive stress injury Hearing disabilities Deafness, hard of hearing Cognitive disabilities Dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, intellectual impairments Neurological disabilities Seizure disorders, mental health problems … among others.

6. 3.1. Visual disabilities

7. 3.1.1. Blindness Specialised software: Speech synthesisers, braille browsers Text-based browsers (Lynx) Possible use of “rapid browsing techniques” Potential problems include: Images without descriptive “alt tags” Tables that do not make sense when read serially, i.e. in a “linearised” way Navigational features that rely on mouse, no keyboard navigation Hyperlinks don’t use meaningful text Non-standard document formats

8. Use meaningful text for hyperlinks (1/2) For more information on how to get to Paris, please click here. Click here to download a map of the city centre. To look at the 2003 statistics on tourism to France, click here. is turned into...

9. Use meaningful text for hyperlinks (2/2) click here Click here click here

10. Use descriptive ALT tags Context 1: as a simple graphic of an organisation’s logo appearing on a web page. alt=“ASPC logo” Context 2: image is active link to the home page of a web site. alt=“Home” Context 3: image might be used in a list of properties, as an icon to indicate properties available through the ASPC. Since the image contains an abbreviation, the alt text of the image might now be alt=“Ardcalloch Solicitor’s Property Centre”

11. Lynx Example web sites: http://www.polarfle.com http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk Online lynx viewer: http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

12. 3.1.2. Colour blindness Lack of sensitivity to certain colours Possible use of personalised style sheets Potential problems include Colour that is used as a unique marker to emphasise text E.g. “click the red button”

13. Potential problems (cont.) Inadequate contrast between text and background Certain colour combinations No option to override default colours

14. Examples of colour deficits Protanope one out of 100 males, “red-weakness” Deuteranope five out of 100 males, “green-weakness” Tritanope blue/yellow deficit

15. Colour perception (1/2) Normal visionProtanope Deuteranope Tritanope

16. Colour perception (1/2) Normal visionProtanope DeuteranopeTritanope

17. Other visual impairments Forms include: poor acuity, tunnel vision, central field loss, clouded vision Specialised software: Screen magnifyers, speech synthesisers Possible use of grayscale display

18. Potential problems include: Absolute font sizes Inability to change colour settings Inconsistent layout that makes navigation difficult Centred display of items on screen Poor contrast Text presented as images Resolution of images conveying important information is too low Depending on type and extend of disability, many of the problems blind people encounter

19. 3.2. Physical disabilities

20. 3.2.1. Repetitive stress injury Happens when too much stress is placed on a joint; same action is performed over and over again Possible use of software that does not require the use of a mouse Potential problems include: Web pages cannot be navigated using a keyboard alone

21. 3.3. Hearing disabilities

22. 3.3.1. Deafness Sign language may be “first language”, i.e. possible problems reading written language fluently Potential problems include: Lack of captions or transcriptions of audio content Lack of content-related images Lack of clear and simple language

23. 3.3.2. Hard of hearing People with mild or moderate hearing impairments Possible problems include: Lack of captions or transcripts for audio content

24. 3.4. Cognitive disabilities

25. 3.4.1. Dyslexia Possible difficulty processing written language or images when read visually, or spoken language when heard, or numbers when read visually or heard Possible use of speech synthesisers Possible problems include: Lack of alternative text that can be converted to audio to supplement visuals Justified text Mixture of fonts & font sizes

26. Possible problems (cont.): Extensive use of ALL CAPS Words split across lines Large chunks of text No white space between paragraphs

27. 3.4.2. Attention deficit disorder Difficulty focusing on information Possible problems include: Distracting visual or audio elements that cannot be turned off Lack of clear and consistent organisation of web sites

28. 3.4.3. Intellectual impairments May learn more slowly, difficulty understand complex concepts Possible problems include: Use of unnecessarily complex language Lack of graphics Lack of clear and consistent organisation

29. 3.5. Neurological disabilities

30. 3.5.1. Seizure disorders E.g. photosensitive epilepsy Avoid content that flickers at a frequency of between 2 and 59Hz Possible problems: Animated, flickering or flashing content

31. 3.5.2. Mental health problems May have difficulty focusing on information, experience blurred vision or hand tremors owing to side effects of medication Possible problems include: Distracting audio or visual elements that cannot be turned off Use of absolute font sizes

32. 3.6. Complexities Multiple disabilities: e.g. deaf & blind Conflicting needs of people with different disabilities e.g.: People with cognitive disabilities may require graphical rather than textual presentation; blind people rely on text.  You can’t get it right for everyone. Therefore, make sure that people can override your settings!

33. 4. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) http://www.w3.org/WAI/ Guidelines: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0, http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG) Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

34. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 3 Priorities (Levels of compliance): Priority 1 (A-compliant): Criteria a web developer must satisfy Basic requirement for some groups to be able to access web documents Priority 2 (AA-compliant): Criteria a web developer should satisfy Removes significant barriers to accessing web documents Priority 3 (AAA-compliant): Criteria a web developer may satisfy Improves access to web documents

35. 5. Checking your web pages Use validators: HTML validator: http://validator.w3.orghttp://validator.w3.org Bobby: http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp Cynthia Says TM : http://www.cynthiasays.com/Default.asp http://www.cynthiasays.com/Default.asp Apply visual checks: Use of colours Use of fonts (font-family, relative sizes, …) Meaningful ALT tags … Check your web pages in various browsers

36. 6. Resources Vischeck Colour vision simulator: http://www.vischeck.com/examples/ http://www.vischeck.com/examples/ W3C: validators and technical standards: http://www.w3.org http://www.w3.org Teachability: http://www.Teachability.strath.ac.ukhttp://www.Teachability.strath.ac.uk Techdis http://www.techdis.ac.ukhttp://www.techdis.ac.uk SENDA/DDA http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010010.htm JISC legal http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/publications/legalimplicationsDDA.htm http://www.jisclegal.ac.uk/publications/legalimplicationsDDA.htm … and many more

37. Accessibility issues for web authors Library and Information Services University of St Andrews