Transcript Accessibility Basics for the Web

Accessibility Basics for the
Web
OSU Professional Development Class
Gabriel Merrell – Office of Equity & Inclusion and Disability Access Services
Before the class beings, open a web browser and navigate to
http://oregonstate.edu/accessibility/class.
On the page you will find a 2 minute pre-class survey, please
complete it so I can assess the class.
This PowerPoint can also be found on the page if you want to
follow along.
Accessibility Basics for the
Web
OSU Professional Development Class
Gabriel Merrell – Office of Equity & Inclusion and Disability Access Services
Accessibility Basics for the Web: Outline
• Vision for the Course
• Goals for the Course
• Why Web Accessibility Should be a Focus
• IT Access Policy
• User Perspective
• Resources & Tools
• Website Accessibility
• Documents
• Multimedia
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Vision for the Course
For you to see that web accessibility:
• is important
• is easy
• is a challenge
• can’t be fully learned, and that is okay
• is a process
• is all about lack of restrictions, opening pathways to all
• is an even playing field
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Goals for the Course
1. To express why web access is important and how people with
disabilities interact with the web
2. Discuss the IT policy and how it applies to participants
3. Learn basic concepts about web accessibility
4. Introduce you to resources and tools so you can continue to
learn
5. Influence you to make small (or large) changes to increase the
access of your sites
6. Motivate you to share with others, help create positive
change
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Why Web Accessibility Should be a Focus
Ethical Sense
•To prevent the intentional or unintentional exclusion of others
on the basis of a disability
•Reach the widest possible audience – 20% of U.S. Pop has a
disability (2000 Census) – largest underrepresented group
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Why Web Accessibility Should be a Focus
Legal Sense
•It’s the Law – the Dept of Justice maintains that the ADA
applies to the web, and is currently creating new regulations
•Legal obligation to provide equal access through
communications – ADA “communications with people with
disabilities must be as effective as communication with nondisabled persons”
•Many instances of legal cases and complaints that apply to us
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Why Web Accessibility Should be a Focus
Business Sense
•Accessibility standards have been researched and vetted to
work with all emerging technologies (smart phones, tablets,
cross-platform compatibility)
•Will increase web traffic and search optimization
•Web increasingly becoming way we all do business
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The IT Access Policy
How Was It Developed?
• Many peer institutions already have policies with defined standards:
Cal State System (2004 - Accessible Technology Initiative)
Purdue (2010), Michigan State (2009), UC Davis (2006), NC State (2006),
Ohio State (2004)
• Research and integration of peer policies into OSU language
• Updated wording and standards to follow ANPRM
• Talked with campus constituents (Provost’s Council, Cabinet, General
Counsel, VP for Information Services, COSID, ITCC, Web Comm & Central
Web)
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The IT Access Policy - Requirements
Web page designs consistent with policy standards
• All new and revised pages, templates and themes published after the
effective date must comply with policy standards
• Users must be able to report difficulty accessing site content
• Certain high priority pages, such as pages with core institutional
information, regardless of current status, will need to comply with the
policy. These units will be contacted and offered assistance in ensuring
the accessibility of their web pages
Electronic documents & multimedia on web pages consistent
with policy standards
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The IT Access Policy - Conditions
Applicability
• All OSU web presence; inclusive of web pages, web applications,
electronic documents and multimedia used to provide university
programs, services or activities
Exemptions
• Archived (no intention for alteration again), or legacy pages (published
prior to effective date – Feb 22, 2012) not deemed high priority
• Undue burden and non-availability as determined by OEI through
consultation with others with expertise and/or perspective (Media
Services, CWS, DAS, etc.)
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Website Accessibility - The User Perspective
Visual disabilities
Screen Readers
Magnifiers
Speech Recognition
Increased contrast
Hearing disabilities
Captions/Transcripts
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Mobility disabilities
Speech Recognition
Keyboards
Headsticks
Mouthwands
Cognitive/mental disabilities
Speech Recognition
E-text/e-books
Content most impt
Website Accessibility - The User Perspective
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Testing for Accessibility & Resources
Laws, Standards & Guidelines:
Articles & Other Resources:
• Section 508 (Draft Update)
• Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)
• OSU Accessibility website
• WebAIM out of Utah State
• Jim Thatcher Accessibility Course –
original screen reader creator
Testing Tools:
Multimedia Resources:
• WAVE by WebAIM
• U of Illinois Firefox Accessibility
Extension
• W3C complete list of tools
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• MAGpie (free captioning tool)
• YouTube captioning
• WebAIM - Captioning
Website Accessibility
Important Items to Implement
1. Headings
2. Navigation
3. Layout & Tab Order
4. Color Combinations - Is this hard to read?
5. Alt Text (Images)
6. Descriptive Links
7. Fonts
8. Forms
9. Tables
10.Lists
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Headings
When thinking of structure, think outline. It’s about organization.
Never use bold, italicize, underline or font size to create this structure.
Headings are a proper standard, as headings provide structural navigation.
Headings are the only way to create structural sections on your page.
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Headings
Headings should be used to define sections, should be properly nested,
usually one (maybe two) H1s per page, and that H1 should usually be the
same as the page title.
So a proper heading structure on one page would be similar to…
H1 – Page Title
H2 – First Main Content Section
H3 – First Section
H4 – Subsection
H4 – Subsection
H3 – Second Section
H3 – Third Section
H2 – Second Main Content Section
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Navigation
Page structure and navigation should be related – be similar.
If you have a web page with a lot of content, consider using a Table of
Contents (TOC). (Ex: DAS)
Navigation should be consistent from page to page within a site.
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Navigation
A note about Drop Down Menus.
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Layout & Tab Order
Tab order refers to how the web page will be read by a screen reader.
Linearization is most important.
You can change the tab order of your site using <tab index=“#”>
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Color Combinations or: Is this hard to read?
Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning.
1 in 12 men in the US has some form of colorblindness
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Color Combinations or: Is this hard to read?
People with low-vision are most affected by contrast
Use sufficient contrast
WCAG 2.0 Guideline 1.4.3 requires at least 4.5:1 contrast ratio
But how do you check for that without doing math?
My Favorite: Web Accessibility Toolbar from Paciello
For Mac Users: Paciello Contrast Analyzer for Mac
Others: Snook.ca, WebAIM, Juice Studio (Firefox add-on)
Learn more about color, and simulate colorblindness, at Vischeck.
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Alternative Text
Alt Text provides screen reader users the ability to interact with images
Context matters most when deciding what to write for the ALT text, and if the
image is meant to convey info or meaning
Avoid using words such as “image” “photo” “graphic” in the alt text as the
screen reader announces what the item first
Many types of images: simple, with text, link images, decorative, complex
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Alternative Text
Simple/Standard Images
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Alternative Text
Images with Text
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Alternative Text
Images that serve as Links
If a college mascot icon was used as a link, we would want to identify what
clicking the link would do, not describe the image
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Alternative Text
Decorative Images
Many images are just used for visual interest – for decoration only.
In this case it is best to use <alt=“”> NULL alt text. This hides the image from a
screen reader, and can drastically reduce time spent navigating a page.
This is not possible with our text editor in Drupal (well it is, but it’s
complicated). In this case, be as concise and simple as possible.
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Alternative Text
Complex Images
Sometimes we use charts, graphs, tables that are images and not HTML code.
Sometimes the meaning of the image is much more complicated that a
simple short alt text is appropriate for.
In these cases, it is always best to describe the image in the content of your
page as this will describe the image in detail for all users.
You must always still use alt text for the image,
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Alternative Text & a Note about CAPTCHAs
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Descriptive Links
Use descriptive link text, don’t use ambiguous text like “click here”
Use this: Visit the Disability Access Services website.
Instead of: To visit the Disability Access Services website click here.
Screen reader software announces what the function/content is.
Which would be easier to understand?
[link http://ds.oregonstate.edu/home]
[link click here]
[link Disability Access Services]
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Fonts
Real text instead of pictures of words is always preferred.
Size – larger font size enhances accessibility, some fonts are larger by default
(Verdana)
Ease of Reading – fonts without much embellishment/with clean lines are
generally thought to be easier to read (sans-serif – without “details”)
Serif vs. Sans-Serif fonts
Georgia is a serif font
Tahoma is a sans-serif font
From Wikipedia
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Forms
The biggest difficulty with forms is in making sure they are labeled properly,
usually with a <label> <id> tag.
Ask yourself:
• Does the form linearize well
• Are labels for the form boxes listed before the form box/radio button/etc
• Are you using color to identify
required fields
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Tables
Tables have a bad rap in the accessibility field, sometimes for good reason,
but if implemented well tables can be fully accessible.
Seed Cost
Monsanto
Pioneer
Dekalb
Corn
$100/acre
$90/acre
$80/acre
Soybean
$60/acre
$65/acre
$70/acre
If you have a simple table, consider using a list instead. At the least, try to
linearize your data.
Current Seed Prices per Acre
•Corn: Monsanto $100, Pioneer $90, Dekalb $80
•Soybean: Monsanto $60, Pioneer $65, Dekalb $70
If using tables for layout make sure the tables linearize well.
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Lists
Lists (bulleted and numbered) are linear by nature, so usually they are
accessible from the outset.
Check to make sure lists are actual lists, not just independent bullets. Screen
readers will announce the presence of a list.
[list of 9 items: one, two, three….]
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Documents
All of the items we’ve talked about so far are the same (or very close) when
talking about document accessibility.
Additional Items to consider in documents:
• Do you have a tagged document (PDF)
• Use Styles built into the software
• Use Acrobat Pro to check Accessibility
• Convert with Accessibility Features
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Multimedia – Captioning & Transcribing
All multimedia (video plus audio)
presentations must be captioned
Free (and paid) software exists to help you
caption your own videos
Many companies also exist that will gladly
caption your videos for you
DAS could be a low cost on-campus solution
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Testing for Accessibility & Resources
Laws, Standards & Guidelines:
Articles & Other Resources:
• Section 508 (Draft Update)
• Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)
• OSU Accessibility website
• WebAIM out of Utah State
• Jim Thatcher Accessibility Course –
original screen reader creator
Testing Tools:
Multimedia Resources:
• WAVE by WebAIM
• U of Illinois Firefox Accessibility
Extension
• W3C complete list of tools
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• MAGpie (free captioning tool)
• YouTube captioning
• WebAIM - Captioning
Thank you for coming
Questions?
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