Transcript Accessibility - an introduction Patrick H. Lauke

Web Accessibility - an introduction
Patrick H. Lauke
Date
reference - 22/11/2004
ISIor
presentation
Introduction
What we’ll cover today:
• some of the misconceptions about accessibility
• reasons why accessibility is important
• highlight some web accessibility guidelines
Q&A at the end, but please shout out any questions.
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So why am I here?
• involved in web since early 90s
• university webmaster since 2001
• responsible for writing and enforcing web
strategy and guidelines
• involved in global discourse on accessibility
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Some misconceptions
What is accessibility?
“making sure our web site works for the blind…”
There is a wide range of disabilities:
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visual impairments
auditory impairments
mobility impairments
cognitive disabilities
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Some misconceptions
Why bother?
Marketing executive:
“such a small market is not worth the hassle”
Web designer:
“no time to create a separate accessible site”
Site owner:
“blind people won’t be using my web site”
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Some misconceptions
Marketing executive:
“such a small market is not worth the hassle”
It is estimated that there are 7 million disabled
people in the UK and that around 19% of the
working age population has some form of
disability.
Source: Disability Rights Commission – Disability briefing January 2004
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Some misconceptions
Web designer:
“no time to create a separate accessible site”
In majority of cases, no need for special “disabled
only access” site.
• Inclusive design, not segregation
• Separation of content and presentation, using
web standards, structural markup: single site,
accessible to all
• Accessibility included in planning stage, not as
an afterthought
• “Text only” is not a solution
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Some misconceptions
Site owner:
“blind people won’t be using my web site”
Accessibility not just about the blind, but…
A possible scenario: visually impaired customer
buying photographs or paintings for a sighted
relative?
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Legal requirements
If the ethical / moral and financial reasons were not
enough, there are legal requirements:
• UK - Disability Discrimination Act 1995
provision of goods and services
• Australia – Disability Discrimination Act 1992
• USA – Americans with Disabilities Act
• USA – Section 508 of Rehabilitation Act
procurement policy for federal government agencies
Other countries have similar legislation.
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Cases are being brought to court: SOCOG, RNIB,
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Ramada/Priceline…
Access for all
More importantly
• Accessibility is not just about users with disabilities
• Provisions and changes made for accessibility can
benefit all users
“Real world” example: access ramps
With regards to web: benefits to users of alternative
browsing devices (PDAs, web phones, etc)
Google: world’s largest “disabled user”
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Crossover between usability and accessibility
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W3C Guidelines
So…what’s a web designer to do?
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) committed to
accessibility
"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access
by everyone regardless of disability is an
essential aspect.“
Tim Berners Lee, W3C Director
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) produced
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
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W3C Guidelines
WCAG 1.0, 5 May 1999
• 14 guidelines (general principles), broken down into
checkpoints
• Checkpoints categorised into 3 priority levels
[Priority 1] A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint.
Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access
information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic
requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.
[Priority 2] A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint.
Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information
in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant
barriers to accessing Web documents.
[Priority 3] A Web content developer may address this checkpoint.
Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access
information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve
access to Web documents.
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W3C Guidelines
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Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.
Don't rely on color alone.
Use markup and style sheets and do so properly.
Clarify natural language usage
Create tables that transform gracefully.
Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully.
Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes.
Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces.
Design for device-independence.
Use interim solutions.
Use W3C technologies and guidelines.
Provide context and orientation information.
Provide clear navigation mechanisms.
Ensure that documents are clear and simple.
Not going to go through all, but give a few examples
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WCAG examples
An example that may be “closer to home”:
accessing the web on an old laptop.
1) Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory
and visual content.
2) Don’t rely on color alone
6) Ensure that pages featuring new
technologies transform gracefully
9) Design for device-independence
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WCAG examples
1) Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual
content.
ALTernate text for images
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WCAG examples
1) Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual
content.
Captions and transcripts for audio/video files
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http://www.splintered.co.uk/experiments/66/
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WCAG examples
2) Don’t rely on color alone
Coloured buttons without any additional information
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WCAG examples
2) Don’t rely on color alone
Coloured links surrounded by normal text
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WCAG examples
6) Ensure that pages featuring new technologies
transform gracefully
Java-based navigation
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WCAG examples
6) Ensure that pages featuring new technologies
transform gracefully
Javascript popups
<a href=“#” onclick=“window.open(‘foo.html’)”>bar</a>
Replace with something like
<a href=“foo.html” onclick=“window.open(this.href);
return false;”>bar</a>
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WCAG examples
9) Design for device-independence
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Mouse
Keyboard
Voice activation
Switches
Headwands
Don’t rely on mouse, e.g. onmouseover/onmouseout
javascript event handlers. Choose deviceindependent alternatives instead: onfocus/onblur
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WCAG examples
9) Design for device-independence
Ensure sensible tab order (links, form elements, etc)
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WCAG examples
…and many, many more.
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Conclusion
Hopefully, what you’ll take away from this presentation:
• Accessiblity not just about “the blind”
• Moral, financial and legal reasons to ensure web
sites are accessible
• Accessibility can benefit all users
• W3C WAI WCAG and some examples
Worth noting: accessibility not about rote mastery of
a few guidelines. Many cases where there is no
one single solution – requires judgement and
compromise.
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Resources
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/WAI/
• Accessify
http://www.accessify.com/
• Accessifyforum
http://www.accessifyforum.com/
• WebAIM: Web Accessibility In Mind
http://www.webaim.org/
• Isolani
http://www.isolani.co.uk/
• Dive into Accessibility
http://www.diveintoaccessibility.org/
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