Transcript MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format

Beyond WAI:
Thoughts On Web Accessibility
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath, BA2 7AY
Email
[email protected]
URL
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Contents
• Background
• Shared Assumptions
• My activities
• The Challenges
• WAI Limitations
• The Broader Perspective
• Thoughts On Solutions
• A Model
• Quality Assurance
• Strategic Questions
• Other Issues:
• Strategic challenges
• WAI WCAG 2.0
A centre of expertise in digital information management
Note
The views given
are based from a
particular
perspective and
from an
understanding of a
particular sector.
The views are
meant to help start
a debate.
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Background
Common Assumptions (1)
Things we should have in common:
• A desire to see widely-accessible and
interoperable services
• Use of open standards to provide platform
and application-independent services
• A recognition of the challenges faced within
the sector in achieving these aims
(funding, time scales, expertise, user
requirements, …)
• A desire to provide advice on how to
achieve the aims whilst acknowledging the
challenges
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Background
Common Assumptions (2)
We also recognise that:
• The W3C is the authoritative body which
is driving the development of Web
standards
• W3C WAI has driven the agenda for Web
accessibility
• W3C WAI has been successful in raising
awareness globally that:
• Digital resources can be made accessible
• Digital resources should be made accessible
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Background
My Activities In The Area
My activities include:
• Attended the public launch of W3C WAI at the
International WWW conference
• Representing JISC on the W3C
• Organising an accessibility panel session at
WWW 2003, Budapest (with Judy Brewer &
Wendy Chisholm, W3C, myself and Jenny
Craven, CERLIM, MMU)
• Joint participation with TechDis in workshops for
FE sector
• Joint paper with Lawrie Phipps, following
recognition of shared views on approaches for
implementing best practices
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
UK HE Web Sites (1)
In Sept 2002:
• Article based on survey of 164 UK HEI home
page published in Ariadne e-journal
• Survey used Bobby and reported on errors
capable of being detected automatically
• Four sites seemed to comply with WAI AA – but
only 3 did comply
• 70 complied with WAI A
• <http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/web-watch/>
Community is aware of WAI, SENDA, … and seeks to
implement best practices.
Subsequent discussion led to concerns over whether
WAI AA guidelines were achievable / desirable
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
UK HE Web Sites (2)
Following survey publication one Web manager said:
• "I too have been struggling with just how
rigorously the WAI guidelines should be
implemented … I certainly aspire to comply as full
as I can with the WAI guidelines but …"
• Some guidelines are too theoretical
•
•
•
•
•
I will have a pragmatic approach:
Will use tables for positioning
Will not associate form controls for search boxes
Will not necessarily nest headers correctly
…
Concerns
These are seen as WAI
requirements. www.ukoln.ac.uk
Are they?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
Challenges
Accessibility & E-Learning
E-learning accessibility provide additional challenges:
• It is intended to make information resources easy
to access; in learning students may be expected
to engage in thinking
Specific problems encountered include:
• Providing images and asking students what they
have in common (ALT text gives the game away)
• Environments with well-liked drag and drop
interfaces (how to make this accessible without a
mouse)
• 3D visualisation, …
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
WAI Guidelines
Some thoughts on the WAI WCAG guidelines:
• The A / AA / AAA guidelines:
• AAA is for Oxbridge / A for the FE sector
• A addresses most areas of disability -> AAA
unusual disabilities
• A addresses aspects which can be dealt with
using today’s mainstream technologies; AAA
with future XML browsers
•…
• WAI guidelines address accessibility issues and
promote W3C standards
• WAI guidelines ignore wider IT issues (out-ofscope for them)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
Accessibility Beyond The Web
W3C WAI:
• Raised awareness of accessibility issues
• Ideas taken onboard by others:
• OS Vendors (accessibility aids in Windows XP)
• Application vendors such as Adobe PDF) and
Macromedia (Flash)
The response from the market place means it is not
longer true to say (for example) that fixed font sizes
can’t be resized (Windows XP now allows this, as does
Opera)
Web accessibility could be regarded as a subset of IT
accessibility
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
WAI
W3C WAI are a very successful body
But are they too blinkered?
• They promote W3C standards … but should this
be in the remit of an accessibility body
• Accessibility of proprietary formats, OSs, etc. is
outside their remit
• Unsuccessful engagement in addressing such
issues at WWW 2003 - see <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
web-focus/events/conferences/www2003/>
• W3C privacy work provided technical framework
and delegated implementation, policies to
community. Why isn’t this approach being used
by WAI?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
Background To QA Focus
QA Focus:
• JISC-funded project to help ensure JISC’s digital
library programmes are functional, inter-operable
and widely accessible
• Approach based on development of a quality
assurance methodology
• Approach is developmental and based on:
• Documented policies
• Systematic processes for ensuring compliance
• Have developed matrix for selection of standards
• Peer-reviewed conference papers published
• See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/>
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
Standards Selection Matrix
QA Focus has developed a selection for
selection of standards:
• Open standards are good, but some can be
immature, expensive too use, fail to be deployed
• Proprietary formats are deprecated but some can
be well-established (PowerPoint), provide lowcosts solutions, become more open (Flash/SWF),
be perceived as open (Java), …
QA Focus selection matrix:
• Seeks to addresses these (and related) issues in
a systematic way
• Can be deployed by (a) third party checking (cf.
NOF-digi) (b) peer review or (c) self-assessment
<http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/briefing-31/>
ASee
centre
of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
Quality Assurance
QA Focus has developed a QA methodology:
• Documented policies, including policy,
architecture and exceptions:
Web Standards: Policies
Policies: Compliant XHTML 1 and CSS 2
Architecture: Save from MS Word / Zope CMS
Exceptions: HTML files derived from MS Office files
• Systematic procedures for ensuring policies are
implemented (and underlying causes addressed)
Web Standards: Procedures
Compliance checking: ,validate and ,cssvalidate
used after page created. Monthly batch validation
Audit
trail: Batch audit trail & notes published www.ukoln.ac.uk
A centre of expertise in digital information management
Solutions
Accessibility Policies
What type of accessibility policies could be
applied:
• The Web site will comply with WAI AA
But scope, feasibility, compliance checking, …
• The institution has a policy on accessibility.
We seek to ensure … On the Web site we will
seek to comply with appropriate WAI
guidelines, accessibilities guidelines and …
Relates to wider accessibility policies. Recognises
wider Web issues. But danger of being too woolly,
unless advice on implementation and compliance
checking measures provided
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
Accessibility Procedures
If a QA methodology is adopted we need to
define compliance checking procedures:
• Use Bobby: no!
• Use a range of automated tools: still overemphasises problems capable of automated
detection
Better approaches should probably address
usability and accessibility:
• Usability and accessibility testing regime when
new services deployed
• Simple batch automated accessibility / standards
compliance checking to spot workflow errors
• Tools for user feedback and procedures for
responding to feedback
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
A Richer Implementation
Framework
IETF
W3C
Objective
standards /
best practices
JISC
Implementation
Advice
Mainstream
Research
Individual
Implementation
HEI / FEI
Implementation
A centre of expertise in digital information management
A proposed model
NB JISC's forthcoming
ITT and synergies with
other sectors
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Issues
Accessibility Strategies
Some thoughts on e-learning accessibility strategies:
• Can we not seek an accessible learning
environment, even if the e-learning environment
may be in-accessible?
• Is just-in-time accessibility an option rather than
just-in-case accessibility, especially in difficult
areas such as 3D visualisation, etc.
• Is accessible Flash, PDF ... an option (RNIB’s /
BECTa’s view?) or does the open standards card
trump this? Should we (JISC) mandate this view
or seek to persuade others but leave it to them to
decide?
• Isn’t the term “e-learning accessibility” misleading
– shouldn’t be refer to “e-learning usability (and
accessibility)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Issues
WAI WCAG 2.0
The updated WAI WCAG guidelines 2.0 are
now available:
• Should JISC give an official response when these
are voted on?
• What should are views be?
Questions, comments, rebuttals welcome
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk