1. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk UKOLN is supported by: This work is licensed under a Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat) Web Accessibility 2.0: A Holistic Approach Tools And Processes That Can Help Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath Email: B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ili-2006/masterclass/ Talk 2 This talk describe some of the tools which can help us to identify problems with our Web sites and processes for deploying the tools ili-2006-masterclass-kelly tag used in del.icio.us ili-2006-masterclass-kelly tag used in del.icio.us

2. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 2 Exercise 1: In small groups discuss the following: What do you mean by accessibility? How do you detect accessibility problems? What are the main problems you face in providing accessible Web sites? E

3. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 Background Problems You've identified some problem areas for users of Web sites: Functionality – it doesn't work Usability – it's difficult for people to use Accessibility – it's difficult for people with disabilities to use Solutions Now let's look at some solutions to these problems Tools that can help Processes that can help A Quality Assurance (QA) framework Tools

4. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 4 Useful tools: W3C's HTML validator: can spot functionality & accessibility problems Tools: Functionality (1) HTML, CSS, … Validation: Web page doesn't look right in my browser First thing: validate page! Tools W3C's CSS validator RSS validator (if you have an RSS newsfeed) …

5. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 5 Tools: Functionality (2) Link Checking: Clear need to ensure links work Many tools available Validated part of my Web area Findings: 12,514 Web pages! Only checked internal links Large no. of errors – but vast majority false errors Some errors found in areas provided by others Others my fault – and mostly fixed Issues: We can't always rely on tools Why weren't errors spotted previously? What to do with large no. of errors? Issues: We can't always rely on tools Why weren't errors spotted previously? What to do with large no. of errors? Tools

6. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 6 Tools: Missing Functionality A Web site may not be usable because: The features it provides can't easily be used It omits features which are needed in order to be used Example: A search facility Issues Does your Web site have a search facility How well does it work? Note that free third party search facilities may be useful if you have limited resources Issues Does your Web site have a search facility How well does it work? Note that free third party search facilities may be useful if you have limited resources Tools

7. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 7 http://webxact.watchfire.com/ Tools: Accessibility Many accessibility testing tools are available Tools WebXact (formally known as Bobby) is probably the best known http://www.wave.webaim.org/ The WAVE is one other alternative NOTES Automated tools can't detect all (many?) accessibility problems Findings from tools can be inconsistent Underlying WAI guidelines are open to interpretation NOTES Automated tools can't detect all (many?) accessibility problems Findings from tools can be inconsistent Underlying WAI guidelines are open to interpretation

8. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 8 Tools: Usability Of The Tools (1) There can be usability barriers to regular use of such testing tools: They require going to Web page, copying and pasting URL, etc Sometimes only single pages can be tested Simple solution: On UKOLN Web site can append,tools to any URL to run various tools on page Simple to implement – see QA Focus briefing no. 59 http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/ documents/briefings/,rvalidate http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/ documents/briefings/,rvalidate Tools:,validate,rvalidate,checklink,rchecklink,cssvalidate… Tools:,validate,rvalidate,checklink,rchecklink,cssvalidate… Tools

9. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 9 Tools: Usability Of The Tools (2) 'Bookmarklets' and Firefox extensions can make use of tools much easier and provide additional features Web Developer allows: Features disabled Additional information to be provided Tools to be used Checky allows: Validation Link checking Access to misc tools These tools are very useful and their use by all is strongly encouraged Tools

10. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 10 Tools Aren’t Enough! Warning: Tools may lead you to think you have an accessible Web site when this isn't the case! Manual Checking - no ALT tag: detectable by tools - an inappropriate ALT tag. Needs testing by humans. What do we need: An awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of automated testing An awareness of approaches to use of manual testing A usable framework for a testing regime

11. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 11 Role of Automated Tools Automated Checking Tools: Spotting problems which can be found by software Detecting (then fixing) such errors to allow (scarce) human effort to focus on problems with tools can't detect: Don't tell your testers to check that links work; link checkers are better for this * Dangers of Automated Checking Tools: I use such tools; I don't bother with manual checking because: I'm a techie and we like software solutions to problems Checkers are difficult to find; may be expensive; … It's time-consuming.. Manual Checking * Is this always true?

12. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 12 Approaches To Manual Checking 1 Hire a profession body: Firms such as RNIB, DMAG; (and many others) can be hired for usability & accessibility checking: Have a knowledge of the disable community; their needs; the tools they use; etc. May use people with disabilities to provide realistic feedback and comments Report can inform organisation and recommendations applied elsewhere  May be expensive  Not always applicable Manual Checking The Logo Issue Should you add an accessibility logo to your Web site? What are the pros and cons? The Logo Issue Should you add an accessibility logo to your Web site? What are the pros and cons?

13. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 13 Approaches To Manual Checking 2 In-house checking: Always needed, so let's get in right! Simple approach: Email colleagues for comments. What happens? What re the limitations of this approach? Better approach: What do you hope to gain? Document this! Provide structured tasks Seek a variety of testers, representative of user community Testing by people with disabilities is desirable but may be difficult If not possible, provide similar environment for testers (or yourself) e.g. images off, CSS off; … Manual Checking

14. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 14 Quality Assurance The tools aren't sufficient by themselves. Also need: Documented policies: so we know what we're expected to check for Systematic procedures: for checking that we are implementing our policies Enhancements made to workflow processes, and not just fixing individual problems In addition it can be useful to have: Audit trails: to spot trends and identify possible problems in workflow processes (e.g. new tools deployed, new staff involved, …) Sharing experiences, so that we and others can learn Quality Assurance

15. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 15 QA Examples (1) Example of QA policies & procedures for file formats Policy:The Web site will use XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0 standards Architecture: The Web site will be based on XHTML templates and use of SSIs Monitoring: New and updated pages validated using,validate and,cssvalidate. Every month,rvalidate will be used & record kept Exceptions: HTML derived automatically (e.g. Save As HTML in PowerPoint) need not comply with standards. The files will be stored in a standard directory to enable such files to be excluded from checks. Policy for QA Focus Web site Quality Assurance

16. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 16 QA Examples (2) Example of QA policies & procedures for links Policy for QA Focus Web site Policy:QA Focus will seek to ensure that links are functional. Monitoring: New and updated pages checked using,checklink and,rchecklink. Every month,rchecklink will be used & record kept and quarterly Xenu will be used. Exceptions: Links in "publications" (e.g. papers which are formally published) which become broken may not be fixed. If there are large numbers of broken links which would be time-consuming to fix we may not fix them. We make no commitment to fix broken links once the QA Focus funding finishes. Quality Assurance

17. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 17 Conclusions To conclude: Tools can help in identifying problems areas However tools may be flawed, inconsistent and difficult to use Tools aren’t enough in themselves – manual checking is also need Systematic application of automated and human checking as part of a QA framework is desirable

18. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 18 Questions Any questions or comments?