1. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Web Site Accessibility: Implementation Challenges Brian Kelly UKOLN University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY Email B.Kelly@ukoln.ac.uk URL http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/ UKOLN is supported by:

2. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Contents Auditing Legal Issues Work Flow Costs Usability Issues For You Conclusions E

3. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Cultivate Interactive Cultivate Interactive: Is an e-journal funded by the EU. Is published 3 times per year. Seven issues published so far Aims to comply with accessibility guidelines but: Three editors over lifetime Errors creep in Cultivate Interactive: Is an e-journal funded by the EU. Is published 3 times per year. Seven issues published so far Aims to comply with accessibility guidelines but: Three editors over lifetime Errors creep in

4. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Bobby Analysis Following analysis by Bobby application: 287 URLs analysed Six P1 errors (two pages) Many P2 and P3 errors What should we do?

5. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Dealing With Errors Missing ALT Tag An ALT tag was missing from one image. This was fixed. The error occurred when a new editor was appointed, who was not familiar with all checking processes. Online Game An online game which is inherently inaccessible – and requires a browser which supports DHTML. The game is not a fundamental part of the Web site. Left, but limitations documented.

6. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Link Anchors This Web page fails WAI guidelines with a P2 error Fixing this error will mean artificially changing the content Is this desirable? Fixing this error will mean artificially changing the content Is this desirable?

7. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Your Possible Concerns You may have concerns: Is universal design possible? Do we treat WAI guidelines as mandatory or inspirational? How much resources should we provide? Is the problem solvable in a distributed authoring environment and no centralised CMS? Links with the real world?

8. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Universal Design Universal Design: Implies that if we make use of appropriate design principles resources will then be universally accessible and reusable We may feel that if we have difficulties implementing this we are doing something wrong But: Web browsers have bugs We have little control over the output of Web authoring tools Web specs themselves have bugs, ambiguities, etc.

9. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk WAI / Browser Issues The WAI guidelines talk about stylesheets and “when user agents …” This is too fuzzy What should I do with Netscape 4? The WAI guidelines talk about HTML technologies such as LONGDESC: This is not implemented in mainstream browsers There is little implementation experience or usage guidelines There has been talk around replacing its functionality with other approaches

10. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Case Study Kenny Hermansen, Web Development Officer, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: “I too have recently been struggling with just how rigorously the WAI guidelines should be implemented. … I certainly aspire to comply as fully as I can with the WAI guidelines but …” Some guidelines are too theoretical Will have a pragmatic approach: Use tables for positioning Will not associate form controls for search boxes Not necessarily nest headers correctly

11. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk What To Do About WAI Should you: Regard WAI guidelines as a “must do” Regard WAI guidelines as best practices to aspire to, but don’t get too concerned about legacy pages Regard WAI as a successful lobby organisation, but ignore many of its guidelines as: Fixing esoteric errors on a large Web site is a waste of money (which could be used to fit wheelchair ramps) WAI only addresses W3C standards and fails to recognise that proprietary format (such as Flash, PDF, etc.) are being made accessible

12. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Costs Have you estimated the costs for dealing with accessibility on large Web sites: The costs of running automated tests The costs of manual tests The costs of fixing problems The costs of updating workflow procedures, purchasing new tools, retraining, etc. The costs of providing support for buggy browsers such as Netscape 4 How much should you be prepared to pay? If you are willing to sign a blank cheque, will this prevent a wheelchair ramp from being built? How much should you be prepared to pay? If you are willing to sign a blank cheque, will this prevent a wheelchair ramp from being built?

13. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Can You React To Specialist Needs? Rather than fixing obscure problems, is it permissible to react to know problems: If a student or member of staff with disabilities reports a problem, that specific problem is addressed Real World Solutions If a problem is reported which is inherently inaccessible (e.g. a flight simulator, a 3D visualisation of a molecule) rather than trying to fix the Web site, a real world alternative is provided

14. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Is Legislation Appropriate? It is desirable: To make Web resources accessible To ensure that there are no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors in Web pages To provide networked resources everywhere To ensure students and staff have adequate grants and salaries To send flowers to your mother on Mother’s day Aren’t all of these statements: True “Motherhood & apple pie” inspirational statements Why should the first statement get the high profile, legislation,. …

15. A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk Discussion