Transcript Accessibility Gotchas

http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/workshops/eemlac-2005-01/
Accessibility and Usability
For Web Sites:
Accessibility 'Gotchas'
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
In this session we will:
• Explore a number of common
misunderstandings
• Explore your understanding
and interpretations of WAI
guidelines
Email
[email protected]
• Explore some of the
difficulties of implementing
URL
WAI guidelines
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/
UKOLN is supported by:
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
To Logo Or Not?
http://www.openia.com/accessibility/modaccessibility
You see sites with
accessibility logos (WAI,
Bobby, Cynthia Says, …)
Issues:
• Are they patronising?
• Do they distract from
page design?
• Are they confusing (who
is Cynthia?)
• Do they tell the truth?
Web site with:
Note that displaying an accessible
• WAI AAA logo
logo does not make your site
• WAI AA alt text
accessible – and having a
misleading logo is dishonest and
But not HTML-compliant so:
makes you vulnerable to legal
• WAI A only (at best)
claims. A centre of expertise in digital information management
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Text-Only Web Sites
Text-only Web sites are great
for people with disabilities?
WCAG Facts Sheet at
<http://www.w3.org/1999/05/WCAG-REC-fact#text>
Text-only pages should not be necessary
to ensure accessibility of Web pages that
follow the "Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines, "except in very rare cases. In
fact, text-only pages are frequently
counterproductive to accessibility since
they tend to be kept less up-to-date than
"primary pages," or in some cases leave
out information that is on primary pages.
Beware Web developers who
provide Web sites with WAI logos,
text-only features, …
Let's now explore other possible
areas of confusion
Many other issues:
• Many visually impaired users
have some sight
• Needs of dyslexic users
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• Why should I miss out?
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Understanding / Interpreting WCAG
Exercise
• Complete the Exploring Your Knowledge Of
Web Accessibility Issues form
• Do not spend too long on this – the aim is to
explore the extend to which there is a shared
agreement and interpretation of various aspects
of Web accessibility
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Web Accessibility – It's Easy?
In order to provide accessible Web sites all you need to do is:
• Follow the WAI guidelines
• Add ALT tags for your images
• Make sure your Web page is HTML compliant
• Use CSS
• Not using colour alone to distinguish between content
• …
You find many Content Management System (CMS) vendors
(licensed and open source) who will claim to do this 'out-of-thebox'
So why do we need a day's workshop if it's simply a question
of following some simple rules or using standard software?
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Web Accessibility – It's Difficult!
Surveys show that many public sector organisations
have difficulties in providing accessible Web sites:
UK University Home Pages
• Surveys in 2002 and 2004 used Bobby to analyse University
home pages. Results showed that only 1.8% and 5.6%
comply with WAI WCAG AA
Disability Rights Commission (DRC) Survey
• DRC commissioned survey published in April 2004 which
used Bobby to analyse 1,000 home pages. Results showed
that over 80% fail to comply with WAI WCAG A
(Note that in Dec 2004 the report itself was not available in
HTML format )
Note that the UKOLN Benchmarking Web Sites workshops for
NEMLAC and EEMLAC Regional Agencies give similar results
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Conclusions From Surveys
It should be noted that:
• The automated survey can only prove that a page
is inaccessible so that the findings are likely to be
worse than reported
• Only the home page was analysed
What can we conclude from the findings:
• The community doesn't care about Web accessibility
• WCAG AAA and AA compliance can be difficult to
achieve (even on a single, high profile page)
• There are other issues to consider
• There may be other approaches to Web accessibility
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WCAG AA and AAA Compliance
In order to achieve WAI WCAG AA compliance:
• Avoid deprecated features (e.g. FONT)
• Use W3C technologies when available and
appropriate (no Flash, MS Word or PowerPoint).
• Use the latest versions [of W3C formats]
• Create documents that validate to published
formal grammars (i.e. HTML must be valid)
In order to achieve WAI WCAG AAA compliance:
• Provide information so that users may receive
documents according to their preferences (i.e.
markup language)
• Specify document collections with the LINK
element and "rel" and "rev"
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Concerns Over WAI WCAG
Guidelines Too Theoretical
• Some WCAG guidelines appear theoretical
• WCAG seeks to promote W3C standards
(including new ones) in addition to addressing
mainstream accessibility issues
• Overall WAI approach is dependent on content,
authoring tools and user agent guidelines – the
latter two are outside the remit of Web authors
Developments Outside Of W3C
• WAI has succeeded in raising awareness of
accessibility – and commercial sector has
responded (cf. accessibility in OS, proprietary
formats, …)
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Standards Or Guidelines
Are WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:
• Pragmatic and much needed guidelines which can
help authors to make Web pages more accessible
• To be interpreted and applied sensibly - on par with
Jakob Neilson's usability guidelines
or:
• Mandatory standards which must be implemented in
order to (a) claim WAI compliance and (b) abide with
legislation
• No room for interpretation
Do you use GIF images or FONT tags? Use HTML 4.0? HTML
validation errors? WAI A is best you can achieve!
11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and
appropriate for task and use the latest versions when supported.
[Priority
2]
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Universal or User-Centred Design?
Universal Design:
• The design of products and environments to be usable by all
people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for
adaptation or specialized design
<http://www.design.ncsu.edu:8120/cud/univ_design/princ_overview.htm>
• Underlying principle behind WAI activities
User-Centered Design:
• Ask 'Who will be using the product?'. … Once this target
audience has been identified [ask] questions such as: What
do you want the product to do for you? In what sort of
environment will you be using the product? What are your
priorities when using the software? …
<http://www-3.ibm.com/ibm/easy/eou_ext.nsf/Publish/2>
The word 'universal' implies a single solution will apply to all. This
does not appear to reflect experiences in developing educational or
cultural
or aninformation
environment
which values diversity.
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Any Questions?
Any Questions?
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