Transcript Web Accessibility

Web Accessibility
IT and AT: Powerful enablers
 IT = Information Technology
 AT = Assistive Technology
 IT has made the world better for the disabled
community.
 IT can also pose barriers.
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What is web accessibility?
“Accessible” means that people are able to use your
website even under limiting conditions.
To be accessible, your website must be:
 Perceivable (see, hear, touch)
 Operable (device independent)
Web accessibility  wheelchair ramp
 Making your website accessible is like
providing a wheelchair ramp for your
building.
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Why make websites accessible?
 Over 1 billion people worldwide use the Internet.
 Internet traffic in the world is growing by 214%
annually; and in US, by 113.7% annually.
 There are more than 100 million websites on the
Internet.
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Benefits: Increased Reach
Estimates on the
number of people
with disabilities in the
United States vary,
but most are derived
from U.S. Census:
1 in 5 Americans
have some kind of
disability.
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Benefits
Making your website accessible:
 Helps people with disabilities use the web and “levels
the playing field.”
 Separates content from presentation, making the
website easier to manage and web pages quicker to
download.
 Increases your site’s usability.
 Increases your websites visibility in search engines.
 Provides good publicity and addresses questions of
possible liability.
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Web Accessibility Standards
 W3C WCAG – Worldwide Web Consortium Web
Content Accessibility Guidelines
 Federal Section 508 – Web-based Intranet and
Internet Information and Applications (1194.22)
 Commonwealth of Massachusetts Web Accessibility
Standards, version 2.0
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Accessibility Basics
“Think about what you are trying to visually communicate and try to
communicate it in other ways.” [Derek Featherstone]
 Structure – Use headings and standard markup to structure your
web pages and documents.
 Links – Include link text that can be understood out of context.
 Images – Write appropriate text equivalents (“alt text”) for all images.
 Color – Do not use color as the only way to convey information.
 Video/Multimedia – Caption your video content, or provide a
transcript.
 Audio – Provide a transcript.
 File types – Choose appropriate file types, and use HTML whenever
possible.
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Web Accessibility Standards 2.0
 HTML markup – A state agency web page must use
HTML markup tags according to industry standards. [1.1]
 Forms – Forms designed to be completed online and
other interactive elements must be accessible by people
using assistive technology. [1.5]
 Text Equivalents – A state agency web page must
provide a text equivalent for every non-text element. [3.1]
 Multimedia – A state agency web page must provide
synchronized auditory and readable text descriptions of
the important information on the visual track of a
multimedia presentation. [3.2]
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Web Accessibility Standards 2.0
(continued)
 Audio – A state agency web page must provide a text
equivalent for information provided in audio format. [3.3]
 Color – A state agency must ensure that the use and
selection of color do not affect the information conveyed
on a page. [3.5]
 Document File Formats – All information published on a
state agency web page must be published in HTML,
whenever possible, to eliminate the need for additional
software. [4.1]
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Web Accessibility Standards 2.0
(continued)
 File Size Optimization – A state agency must optimize
files to improve download time. [5.1]
 Web Accessibility Statement – A state agency web site
must provide a link to a web accessibility statement. [6.1]
 Website Validation – A state agency must validate web
content against these Standards prior to posting and at
regular intervals after posting. [7.1]
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Choosing file types: open, accessible, and
usable
 Open – Open standards are specifications for systems that are
publicly available, developed by an open community, and affirmed by
a standards body. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is an example
of an open standard.
 Accessible – Web accessibility refers to the practice of making web
pages accessible to all users, including those with disabilities,
including all kinds of limitations (low vision, color blindness, inability to
use a pointing device).
 Usable – The extent to which a product achieves specified goals with
effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use.
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Document file formats
Some reasons agencies give for publishing in a
document format, rather than HTML/XML include:
 Ease of maintenance. Laws, regulations, reports, legal
documents and charts that require consistent formatting can be
processed more efficiently if published directly to the web in their
original format.
 Ease of printing. Some documents, particularly long
documents, are more likely to be read off-line, and it makes
sense to make them available in a document format that ensures
consistent presentation.
 Accuracy. Some documents, such as those that include
dosage information, require consistent formatting in order to
ensure accurate information dissemination. These may use
superscripts or subscripts that may not display properly in a
more browser-friendly format.
 Document purpose. Some materials are meant primarily for
marketing/printing. Examples include the Women, Infants, and
Children (WIC) program posters, which are available in 9
languages, and employment posters required by law.
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Best Practices
To publish content that is as open, accessible, and usable as possible:
 Establish business processes to ensure a legitimate business need
for publishing documents in a format other than HTML.
 Ensure that all documents are created to maximize accessibility.
 Publish an alternate HTML version of all document files, where
possible.
 Publish an RTF version of PDF or PowerPoint files.
 Publish a DOC version if the RTF file size is excessively large.
 Publish a summary page in HTML that provides links to the document
file(s).
Doing this well requires a centralized, empowered web governance
structure.
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Accessibility Checking Tools
Firefox Browser
Firefox Add-Ons:
1. Web Developer Toolbar
2. Accessibility Toolbar
1.2.-
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Accessibility Checking Tools
Document Structure Check – Headings
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Accessibility Checking Tools
Meaningful-Link Check
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Accessibility Checking Tools
Meaningful “Alt Text” Check
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Accessibility Checking Tools
Color Contrast Check
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Questions?
Valerie McKay, [email protected]
Barbara Casaly, [email protected]