Transcript Document
Issues related to the development of accessible web sites Steven Builta October 2002 Part 1: Section 508 and Related Legislation Staggering Stats Americans with disabilities spend twice as much time on the Internet. 500 million disabled worldwide 54 million disabled in US Aging population Temporary disabilities not included Rehabilitation Act Defined rights of the persons with disabilities to help them re-enter the workforce Non-discrimination on basis of disability in programs or activities receiving Federal money 1998 Amendments Workforce Investment Act (1998) included amendments to the Rehabilitation Act Section 501 requires reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities Section 504 prohibits discrimination of persons with disabilities by Federal agencies in any federally funded or federally conducted programs or activities Section 508: What’s Covered All Electronic &Information Technology (E&IT) developed, procured, maintained, or used by Federal agencies must be accessible Alternative means of access when accessibility cannot be achieved Authorizes lawsuits after June 21, 2001 Section 508: What’s Not Does NOT require: Agencies to provide AT to the general public All workstations to be fitted with AT Retrofitting of E&IT (e.g., Web pages) Other Documents of Interest World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT) Illinois Web Accessibility Guidelines http://www100.state.il.us/tech/technology/accessibility/ Part 2: Why You Need to Care About Accessibility Barriers to Access Visual Auditory Mobility Visual Disabilities Blindness Weak vision Tunnel vision Dimness Extreme near- or far-sighted Color blindness Hearing Disabilities Deaf Hard of hearing High/low frequency hearing loss Mobility Disabilities Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI) Arthritis Stroke Spinal Cord Injuries ALS Loss of limbs or digits Benefits of Accessible Design Accessible design benefits everyone! Older technology Slow connection speeds Newer wireless technology Personal preference Part 3: Techniques for Developing Accessible Web Pages Color Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning Images and animations Use the ALT (alternate text) attribute for all graphics Multimedia For audio - provide transcript For video - provide transcript and closed captioning Hypertext links Make sure that links make sense out of context (avoid “click here”) Page organization Use headings (H1 - H6) - be consistent Use lists where possible Scripts, applets & plug-ins If you use them, they must be accessible or provided in alternate way If you use a plug-in: Choose one that is accessible Provide adequate instructions for downloading and installing it Adobe PDF Files PDF files were inaccessible PDF becoming accessible? http://access.adobe.com Users can obtain a converted PDF file via e-mail or a utility Convert PDF to HTML or text Equivalent Pages Guideline (k): A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a Web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes. Part 4 Testing, Validation, and Budgeting Accessibility Features of Popular Browsers Netscape Navigator Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) Opera Amaya Test for Browser and Version Differences May interpret standard HTML elements differently Accessibility features Style sheet support Deprecated elements Browsers Designed for Persons with Disabilities Complete keyboard control Speech synthesis Screen magnification Quick Test Your Site: Format Turn all the images off Turn off style sheets Use the largest custom font size Resize the browser window Select all text and copy it into a word processor Quick Test Your Site: Navigation Navigate using only the keyboard Press Tab to move through the links Does the link text tell you where the link will take you? Quick Test Your Site: Media Turn off sounds Disable all applets and scripts Quick Test Your Site: Color Scheme View the page on a monitor set to black & white resolution Print the page on a black & white printer Set a color monitor to high contrast A More Thorough Test View your site in a text-only format Lynx Viewer ( http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html ) Turn off “Play Animations” Use a combination of various AT to view the site Let Someone Else Test It! Bobby ( http://www.cast.org/bobby/ ) HTML checkers ( http://validator.w3.org ) Credits This slide show was adapted in large part from http://www.section508.gov T itle F e d e ra l IT A c c e ss ib ility In itia tiv e “D e s ig n in g A c c e s s ib le W e b S ite s ”