Transcript Priority Level 1

Web accessibility
Web accessibility and Disability
A Practical introduction
Jon Gooday & Robin Christopherson
AbilityNet
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What is web accessibility?
accessibility is about
“ Web
designing sites so as many people
as possible can access them effectively
and easily, independent of who they are
or how they access the net
“
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Web standards
Standards
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
Guidelines created in 1999 to explain how to make websites and
intranets accessible to people with disabilities.
They are prioritised into three levels:
Priority Level 1 - 'Must' or level ‘A’
Minimum
Priority Level 2 - 'Should', or level ‘Double-A’
Best practice
Priority Level 3 - 'Ought' or level ‘Triple-A’
Beyond best practice
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Key accessibility issues
 Images not labelled properly
 Inaccessible Flash
 Language - use of complex text, jargon, poor headings and layout
 Multimedia - lack of captioning and transcripts
 Frames – poor frame titles makes pages hard to navigate for
blind web users
 Tables - information in tables not coded so they are
readable by blind web users
 Scripts – JavaScript and applets which are not compatible with
adaptive technology with no alternative content provided
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Who does it affect?
9.8 million people in the UK have a disability under the DDA. The
groups that have specific Issues with web and intranet accessibility are:
 Vision – including blindness, colour blindness and tunnel vision
 Hearing – both total deafness and hard of hearing
 Mobility problems with hands and arms
 Cognitive, Mental and learning disabilities
~ Many have more than one disability
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Vision
As a very visual medium, the Web presents unique
problems to the millions who have low, restricted or
no vision.
There are 4 broad categories of vision impairment:
 Colour blindness – red/green impairment most common, affects
5% of male population and 1% female – test at vischeck.com
 Mild vision impairment – larger font size, different background
 Moderate vision impairment – screen magnification software
 Blind/severe vision impairment – screen readers
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Mild vision impairments –
Adjust the Browser
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Magnification software
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Key guidelines for mild/moderate
visual impairments
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Do not use colour alone to convey information (level 1)
Ensure a consistent and uncluttered page layout (level 2)
Avoid using graphics for text (level 2)
Choose colours that ensure sufficient background and
foreground contrast and avoid combinations of red/green
and blue/yellow (level 2/3)
 Ensure all font size definitions are relative -re-sizeable (level 2)
 Offer a hi-viz skin and/or link to a page explaining how to change
colours and font sizes (level 3)
 Use a clear non-seriffed font such as Arial, Tahoma or
Verdana (recommended)
 Avoid using Flash for text – there are resizing issues
(recommended)
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Screen-Reader Users
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Key guidelines blind web users

Ensure all images have alt tags - especially links, logos and
important pictures. Use empty alt tags (alt=“”) for decorative
images (level 1)

If you use Flash make sure it works with modern screen readers
and provide an accessible alternative for older readers (level 1)

If you use frames make sure they have titles and names that make
sense - screen readers navigate in and out of individual frames on
a page (level 1)

Make sure tabular data is coded accessibility – use the correct
table header tags for column titles (level 1)
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Key guidelines blind web users

Provide transcripts for Multimedia if you use it(level 1)

Ensure both JavaScript and Applets work with screen readers –
provide alternative content if they don’t. (level 1)

Choose text for hyperlinks with care – make sure it makes sense
out of context and avoid repetition (level 2)

Position labels in forms to the left or above input fields and the
right of checkboxes and radio buttons (level 2)

Offer a “Skip to content” link to jump over navigation links (level 3)
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Hearing
Hearing impaired people have particular problems
with inaccessible multimedia, including video and
audio clips on the web, which lack captioning and
transcripts.
Additionally for those whose first language is BSL
(British Sign Language) there are words in English
that do not exist in their vocabulary.
For example recent research by the BBC found
terms such as ‘marinade’ in their recipe section were
not understood by BSL users, highlighting the need
to provide a glossary for key words
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Hand/Arm Mobility problems
People with mobility impairments face challenges when
navigating and interacting with web pages.
They may experience difficulty moving the cursor with the
required precision or may lack the manual dexterity or
hand-eye co-ordination required to use a standard
keyboard or mouse.
Some people will use voice recognition to
navigate and interact with web pages
.
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Hand/Arm Adaptive technology
Alternative Pointing Devices
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Hand/Arm Adaptive technology
Alternative Keyboards
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Key guidelines for Hand/Arm
problems Mobility
For Keyboard users:

If you use flash or scripts make sure
pages are useable with the keyboard
(level 2)

Ensure a logical tabbing order
through all page elements (level 3)

Use shortcut links – ‘AccessKeys’
for top navigation links (level 3)

Limit the number of links on the
page (recommended)
For Mouse users:

Graphical or text links should be a
decent size(recommended)

Avoid graphical or text links in close
proximity not 1/2/3 (recommended)
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Cognitive Difficulties and Dyslexia
Cognitive impairments include dyslexia,
memory impairments and attention deficit disorders.
Recommendations:
 keep the language clear and avoid jargon (level 1)
 use consistent navigation, sitemaps and breadcrumb trails (level 2)
 keep movement to a minimum or allow user to it turn off (level 2)
 use graphical icons as navigation aids (level 3)
 content should be organised logically and clearly (level 3)
 there should be sufficient spacing between lines,
paragraphs or sections, use bulleted lists (recommended)
Use a clear non-seriffed font and don’t fully justify text
(recommended)
 Dyslexic web users prefer a beige background (recommended)
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Future trends
 Software tools providing more accessibility features to help
designers build accessible sites for example Dreamweaver 2004
 More designers creating websites to W3C web standards
which includes accessibility – compatible with handheld devices such
as mobiles,Palms and Pocket PCs
 More accessible Flash
 More examples of main stream accessible websites
 Clarification of relevant legislation – UK, Europe and World
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Sources of help
Organisations such as AbilityNet and RNIB offer a wide range of
services to help you make your websites and
intranets accessible, Including:
• Audits,
• Training
• Site design
• Disabled user testing
Key resources on the web include:
 W3C Web accessibility initiative -http://www.w3.org/WAI/
 Irish National Disability Association (NDA) - http://www.accessit.nda.ie/
 BBC Research -http://www.bbc.co.uk/commissioning/newmedia/websites.shtml
 A list Apart –developer resources - http://www.alistapart.com/
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State of the eNation Report
September 2004Conclusion
– Premiership Clubs
The eNation Report is a quarterly review of key websites in a
particular industry sector.
The latest report looks at the 20 football clubs in the Premiership.
21 sites were reviewed in total as Manchester United also has an
alternative accessible site.
A 5 star scale was used:
*
= Very inaccessible
***
= Satisfies a base level of accessibility
***** = Very accessible.
 1 site had a ** ranking
 20 sites had a * ranking
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Contact AbilityNet
To find out more about AbilityNet’s
web services
Call: 0800 269545
Visit: http://www.abilitynet.org.uk
Email: [email protected]
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