Transcript Working to Section 508: Understanding Web

Working to Section 508:
Understanding Web Pages
Lori Gillen
McKesson Health Solutions
Agenda
• Demo: Processing information slowly
• Cognitive barriers to the Web
• How to conquer these barriers
– Section 508
– Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Demonstration
Cognitive barriers to the Web
• Reading disorders:
– Inability to relate new ideas to those stored in
memory
– Inability to distinguish or separate sounds in
spoken words
– Inability to focus attention on reading material
– Slow to process information from reading tasks
Section 508
• Refers to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973
• Requires federal agencies or companies
working with federal agencies to provide
accessible electronic and information
technology to federal employees and to the
public that these agencies service
Section 508
• Consists of 16 individual standards that
must be met for improved accessibility
• Most standards pertain to accessibility for
people with low-vision
• Two standards pertain to people with
cognitive disabilities
– Flicker
– Timed responses
Section 508
• Flicker
– Avoid causing the screen to flicker. It can cause
seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy
– People with an attention disorder are too
distracted to concentrate when they see flicker
– If you must have flicker, it should not be
greater than 2 cycles per second
Section 508
• Timed responses:
– When a timed response is required, alert the
user and give a sufficient amount of time
– Some people may need more time to read a
page than is given in the timed response
– Some accessibility experts suggest that you
allot 15 minutes for a timed response
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
• First recommended by the World Wide
Consortium (W3C) in 1999
• Section 508 was drawn from these guidelines
• Within guidelines are checkpoints for determining
accessible technology
• Checkpoints are categorized by priority to
facilitate implementation into existing web sites
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
• Priority 1 indicates that a web site MUST
satisfy a specific checkpoint
• Priority 2 indicates that a web site
SHOULD satisfy a specific checkpoint
• Priority 3 indicates that a web site MAY
satisfy a specific checkpoint
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
• These WCAG guidelines pertain to people
with cognitive disabilities:
– Provide context and orientation information
– Provide clear navigation mechanisms
– Ensure that documents are clear and simple
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
• Provide context and orientation information
• Why should you follow this guideline?
– To help users who cannot relate new ideas to
those stored in memory
• What should you do?
– Group related elements together using labels,
headers, names for frames
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
• Provide clear navigation mechanisms
• Why should you follow this guideline?
– To keep users who are easily distracted or who process
information slowly from getting lost in the web site
• What should you do?
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Provide a way to return Home
Provide breadcrumbs
Provide a site map
Use navigational icons, ex. front and back arrows
Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG)
• Ensure that documents are clear and simple
• Why should you follow this guideline?
– To help people who have trouble processing
information quickly
– To facilitate usage for people whose native language
may not be used on your site
• What should you do?
– Use clear and concise language
– Present information in small manageable chunks
Resources
• URLS
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http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG
http://diveintoaccessibility.org
http://jimthatcher.com/webcourse1.htm
http://www.boston-ia.org
http://www.paciellogroup.com
http://www.trace.wisc.edu
Contact Information
Lori Gillen
McKesson Health Solutions
275 Grove Street, Suite 1-110
Newton, MA 02466
617.273.3167
[email protected]