Transcript Session 1 - Australian Education International

Web Accessibility training
Introduction to web accessibility
Outline
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Session 1. Web accessibility introduction
Session 2. Semantic markup
Session 3. Creating content
Session 4. Publishing content
In todays session
• What is web accessibility
– How people with disabilities use the web
– What are assistive technologies
– What are the web content accessibility
guidelines
– Government accessibility policies
About us
• Work in the Shared Services Centre
– Web Accessibility testing team
– Everyday work is assessing websites, web
applications and web content to ensure it’s
accessible
– We assess web content to the WCAG 2.0
standard
What is web accessibility?
• practice of removing barriers that prevent
interaction with or access to websites by
people with disabilities
– It sounds daunting but it’s pretty
straightforward once you understand some of
the steps involved
Challenges with web content
• Mouse only navigation
• Video content not captioned
• The use of graphics
The potential
• The internet can revolutionise disability
access to information
– But if we’re not careful we can place
obstacles in the way
Everyone is different!
A11y Bytes
How people with disabilities use the
web
• need to consider four types of disabilities:
– Visual
– Auditory
– Motor and cognitive
– Seizure disorders
What is assistive technology
Assistive technology is an umbrella term that
people with disabilities use to interact with
web content, may include:
– Screen readers
– Voice Navigation
– Zoom text
Screen reader
• Piece of software
• Announces the content on the screen
– Reads aloud text, links, images and many
other HTML elements
• Enables a user to move around the
webpage and hear the sections being
announced
Screen reader example
The following example demonstrates
navigating a website with a screen reader
• This site is not marked up correctly
Navigating the New York Times with a screen reader
Alexandra Qin
What is WCAG 2.0
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0,
comprised of 4 principles:
• Perceivable – can you see it
• Operable – can you use it
• Understandable – can you understand it
• Robust – it won’t break future technologies
WCAG 2.0 principles
• Within each principle are a number of
criterion which you use to test web content
WCAG 2.0 guidelines
• Example of criterion
– 1.1.1 all non-text content that is presented to
the user has a text alternative that serves the
equivalent purpose, except for the situations
listed below (Level A)
WCAG Criterion explained
• In plain English, for every element which is
not text, a text alternative exists, for
example:
– Images
– Video
– Audio
All must have a text alternative
WCAG Criterion continued
• Every criterion has
– Sufficient techniques
– Advisory techniques
– Failures
Sufficient Techniques
• techniques which can be used to make
content accessible
• 1.1.1 all non-text content that is presented to the user
has a text alternative that serves the equivalent
purpose, except for the situations listed below (Level
A)
Sufficient Techniques example
• ALT=“View of Sydney Harbour”
• ALT=“”
Advisory Techniques
• techniques which can be used in addition
to the sufficient techniques to further
improve the usability experience
– i.e. “keeping short descriptions short”
Failures
• which can be used to test against
– if your web content does this it is not
accessible.
WCAG 2.0 levels
• 3 levels to assess web content against
– A, AA, AAA
• WCAG 2.0 AA is the required level for
government web content
– To pass at WCAG 2.0 AA need to pass at
single A as well
Not technical conformance
• Web accessibility is making the user
experience better WCAG 2.0 helps a lot
but don’t blindly follow it
Technical conformance is bad!
• An example of when technical
conformance is the sole consideration
– a mother in the UK requested improved
access for her disabled daughter, their house
had a number of steps that were difficult to
navigate. The council fixed the problem at a
cost of 40,000 pounds.
Problem solved
Problem solved
• The ramp is now a magnet for
skateboarders
• They cant see their garden
• Its accessible, but there was no thought
given to the user experience.
Government policy
• Number of policies in place
– Most important is the Disability Discrimination
Act (DDA)
Australian Human Rights
• Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
– Equal access to information is a right
– Equal access to information is law
• If equal access isn't provided, you can be found in
breach of the Act and legal action can begin
Disability Discrimination Act
• Advisory Notes 2014
– Notes are not legally enforceable, however
claim of disability discrimination is less likely
to succeed if advisory note recommendations
are followed
The Coles case
• Vision impaired woman had difficultly
ordering from the Coles website
Blind woman Gisele Mesnage sues Coles over online shopping website
Sydney Morning Herald
The Coles case
– Request to fix the website resulted in nothing
being done
• Coles settled out of court
Lack of understanding
I'm sorry but I fail to see how it is Coles' responsibility to
cater to this woman or any other individual. If she is
unhappy with the service they provide, the simple
solution is not to use it. Has she tried Woolworths? She
may as well sue every retailer who doesn't provide
online shopping at all because, using this kind of logic,
they are all discriminating against her. It is ridiculous and
garbage like this makes me fear for the future.
MotorMouth November 06, 2014, 9:58AM
It’s about a level playing field
• Technology can address these problems
easily
• If we can fix it and we don’t, then it isn’t
fair
Especially important in Government
• An inaccessible government website
affects
– The Minister
– The Department head
– Section head
– And us
• If affects everyone
Other government policy
• National Transition Strategy (NTS)
• Digital Service Standard (DSS)
National Transition Strategy (NTS)
Australian Government websites to
implement WCAG 2.0 over a 4 year period
• Web content had to reach WCAG 2.0 AA
• Ended in Dec 2014
• Placed great emphasis on accessibility
– Technical compliance was often the objective
over practical usability
Digital Transformation Office
• Created in 2015
• Aim was to streamline government web
services putting the user first
Former Minister for Communications Malcolm Turnbull discussing the DTO
Malcolm Turnbull
Digital Service Standard (DSS)
• Created by Digital Transformation Office
• Came into effect in June 2015
• All new web content now has to adhere to
the standard
Digital Service Standard (DSS)
• 13 Criteria
• Point 9. “make it accessible” is most
applicable for accessibility requirements
– “the plan to meet accessibility requirements in
the design of the product, for example how it
will meet WCAG 2.0 AA”
Summary
• We have discussed
– What web accessibility is and some of the
challenges such as video, audio and graphics
– What assistive technology is
– What is WCAG 2.0
– Government policy which we have to abide by
• Disability Discrimination Act
• NTS
• DSS
Any questions?
[email protected]