Issues related to the development of accessible web sites Steven Builta October 2002

Part 1: Section 508 and Related Legislation

Staggering Stats Americans with disabilities spend twice as much time on the Internet.  500 million disabled worldwide  54 million disabled in US  Aging population  Temporary disabilities not included

Rehabilitation Act  Defined rights of the persons with disabilities to help them re-enter the workforce  Non-discrimination on basis of disability in programs or activities receiving Federal money

1998 Amendments  Workforce Investment Act (1998) included amendments to the Rehabilitation Act  Section 501 requires reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities  Section 504 prohibits discrimination of persons with disabilities by Federal agencies in any federally funded or federally conducted programs or activities

Section 508: What’s Covered  All Electronic &Information Technology (E&IT) developed, procured, maintained, or used by Federal agencies must be accessible  Alternative means of access when accessibility cannot be achieved  Authorizes lawsuits after June 21, 2001

Section 508: What’s Not  Does NOT require:  Agencies to provide AT to the general public  All workstations to be fitted with AT  Retrofitting of E&IT (e.g., Web pages)

Other Documents of Interest  World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines ( (  Illinois Web Accessibility Guidelines

Part 2: Why You Need to Care About Accessibility

Why we should care "The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." Tim Berners-Lee

Barriers to Access  Visual  Auditory  Mobility

Visual Disabilities  Blindness  Weak vision  Tunnel vision  Dimness  Extreme near- or far-sighted  Color blindness

Hearing Disabilities  Deaf  Hard of hearing  High/low frequency hearing loss

Mobility Disabilities  Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI)  Arthritis  Stroke  Spinal Cord Injuries  ALS  Loss of limbs or digits

Benefits of Accessible Design Accessible design benefits everyone!  Older technology  Slow connection speeds  Newer wireless technology  Personal preference

Part 3: Techniques for Developing Accessible Web Pages

Color  Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning

Images and animations  Use the ALT (alternate text) attribute for all graphics

Multimedia  For audio - provide transcript  For video - provide transcript and closed captioning

Hypertext links  Make sure that links make sense out of context (avoid “click here”)

Page organization  Use headings (H1 - H6) - be consistent  Use lists where possible

Scripts, applets & plug-ins  If you use them, they must be accessible or provided in alternate way  If you use a plug-in:  Choose one that is accessible  Provide adequate instructions for downloading and installing it

Adobe PDF Files  PDF files were inaccessible  PDF becoming accessible?   Users can obtain a converted PDF file via or a utility  Convert PDF to HTML or text

Equivalent Pages Guideline (k): A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a Web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.

Part 4 Testing, Validation, and Budgeting

Accessibility Features of Popular Browsers  Netscape Navigator  Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)  Opera  Amaya

Test for Browser and Version Differences  May interpret standard HTML elements differently  Accessibility features  Style sheet support  Deprecated elements

Browsers Designed for Persons with Disabilities  Complete keyboard control  Speech synthesis  Screen magnification

Quick Test Your Site: Format  Turn all the images off  Turn off style sheets  Use the largest custom font size  Resize the browser window  Select all text and copy it into a word processor

Quick Test Your Site: Navigation  Navigate using only the keyboard  Press Tab to move through the links  Does the link text tell you where the link will take you?

Quick Test Your Site: Media  Turn off sounds  Disable all applets and scripts

Quick Test Your Site: Color Scheme  View the page on a monitor set to black & white resolution  Print the page on a black & white printer  Set a color monitor to high contrast

A More Thorough Test  View your site in a text-only format  Lynx Viewer ( )  Turn off “Play Animations”  Use a combination of various AT to view the site

Let Someone Else Test It!  Bobby ( )  HTML checkers ( )

Credits  This slide show was adapted in large part from