Transcript 8th Annual Accessing Higher Ground: Accessible Media, Web

The Online Experience:
Accessibility & Usability
for Everyone
Richard W. Smith
What is Accessibility?

Refers to providing access for ALL people to the
computer environment, including those people with
disabilities.
(Source: http://www.csus.edu/uccs/training/online/glossary.htm)
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Designing sites and systems for the way that screen
readers, text browsers, and other adaptive
technologies interact with the Web. Choosing
contrasting colors for readability, and providing
alternative tags for graphics are examples of making
Web sites more accessible.
(Source: http://www.csus.edu/uccs/training/online/glossary.htm)
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Accessibility can be tested for.
What is Usability?

Concerns how easy it is for a user to find the
information they require from a given Web
site.
(Source: http://www.bized.ac.uk/educators/1619/business/marketing/lesson/sup_glossary.htm)

Usability cannot be tested for. Studied, but
not tested.
Usability vs. Accessibility

A site that is usable is not necessarily
accessible.

A site that is accessible is not necessarily
usable.
Why should we make web pages
Accessible?

Ethical reasons.

Accessible design makes your design and
the code behind the design better.
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Legal reasons.
Legal Reasons
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Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Americans with Disabilities Act.
Office of Civil Rights. Their mission is to
ensure equal access to education and to
promote educational excellence throughout
the nation through vigorous enforcement of
civil rights.
State laws.
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

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In 1998, Congress amended the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require Federal
agencies to make their electronic and
information technology accessible to people
with disabilities. Law went in effect in 2001.
Legality in relation to State and Local
organizations are unclear.
Many colleges and non-federal agencies are
adopting 508 standards “just in case”.
ADA & Atlanta MARTA

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In 2002, three physically disabled individuals filed a
lawsuit against Atlanta's mass transit system
(MARTA) for alleged violations of Title II of the ADA.
One portion of their lawsuit focused on the lack of
availability of information about bus routes on their
website.
On October 15, 2002, U.S. District Judge Thomas W.
Thrash, Jr. ruled that MARTA had 30 days to address
their violations of the ADA.
Accessibility Standards

Section 508.

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the The
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ . International
standard for Web accessibility.
WAI is much more strict than Section 508.
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Potential Accessibility Problems
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Blind users. Users of screen readers.
Deaf users. Need for text equivalents for
audio/video.
Non-Mouse users. Some people cannot use a
mouse to navigate the web.
Screen color issues. Color blindness.
Other vision issues.
“Blinking” web pages. May cause seizures to certain
individuals.
How to check for Accessibility

Validation websites

Jaws

Mozilla Firefox Extensions
Validation Websites

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http://webxact.watchfire.com/ . Successor to
the Bobby analyzer tool.
http://www.contentquality.com/mynewtester/c
ynthia.exe . Cynthia Says!
WAVE from WebAIM.
http://dev.wave.webaim.org/index.jsp
Jaws

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Screen Reader software from Freedom
Scientific.
Available in HCC Assistive Technology Lab.
Using Screen Reader allows a designer to
“experience” the web in a whole different
way.
http://www.webaim.org/simulations/screenrea
der-sim.htm
Mozilla Firefox Extensions

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Mozilla Firefox has extensions, or extra tools
that can be added to enhance browsing and
development.
Web Developer.
http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
Fangs Screen Emulator.
http://www.standardsschmandards.com/fangs
Web Developer extension
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http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/
Adds a menu and a toolbar to the browser
with various web developer tools, including
automatic links to a Section 508 and WAI
validation tool.
Also has links to check IMG/ALT tags and
other various image viewing options.
Fangs Screen Emulator extension

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Creates a text version of a web page similar
to how the page would be read by a screen
reader.
Works well in situations where access to a
Jaws equipped machine is not possible.
Image Tags

Most problematic parts of a web page, in
regards to Accessibility.

But proper use of image tags on a web page
are the quickest fix to accessibility problems.
IMG tag without an ALT attribute

<img src=“image1.jpg”>

A screen reader will read this out loud as:
“image1.jpg”
IMG tag with an improper ALT attribute

<img src=“image1.jpg” alt=“spacing bar
graphic”>

A screen reader will read this out loud as:
“spacing bar graphic”
IMG tag with a proper ALT attribute.
Image provides a user function

If the image on a web page is linkable or
provides valuable information, then an
appropriate ALT tag must be used.

<img src=“image1.jpg” alt=“click here to
proceed to the catalog”>
IMG tag with a proper ALT attribute.
Image provides no user function

If the image on a web page offers no value to
a non-graphical user, a null or empty ALT tag
must be used. A space holding graphic is an
example of this.
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<img src=“image1.jpg” alt=“”>
Other Fixes
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Tables need to be defined as to whether they
are used for data or just for layout.
PDF files can be accessible with a lots of
work.
Alternatives to multimedia.
Powerpoint conversions.
Retrofitting the Web
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Retrofitting the web is time consuming, but it
is needed to make the web accessible and
usable.
Numerous resources are available for web
testing.
Proper use of image tags will fix most
accessible issues.
The Future:
Universal Design and Web Standards
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Universal Design is a method of design,
where the user experience is the same for
any user, on any platform.
The use of Web Standards will help in this
regard.
Unfortunately, Web Standards are not yet
standard………….