1 Can you read this? Accessibility and Public Library websites Penny Garrod UKOLN University of Bath Bath, BA2 7AY UKOLN is supported by: URL

2 Contents  brief introduction to UKOLN  the Public library agenda - Lifelong Learning; ICT skills; social inclusion; UKonline centres; digitisation projects  accessibility and usability: why they matter  compliance with standards: - tools to gauge web site accessibility  survey findings  conclusions

3 UKOLN national focus of expertise in digital information management based at the University of Bath funded by JISC (HE and FE sector) and Resource: The Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries, together with project funding (e.g. EU and JISC) around 27 staff carries out applied research (e.g. in metadata), software development and provides policy and advisory services

4 Public Library Networking Focus My role: “to contribute to strategic, policy-making, awareness-raising and development activities in the area of public library networking and lifelong learning”.

5 Background - connecting up Public Libraries CALL- Community Access to Lifelong Learning Programme NOF funding - £230 million People’s Network Programme ICT infrastructure- managed by Resource NOF funding - £100 million Bill & Melissa Gates donation £4 million NOF staff training Programme £20 million NOF Digitise Programme £50 million

6 Why Public Libraries Government’s commitment to get all UK citizens online  People’s Network: all public libraries to have Internet & ICT learning facilities by end of 2002 [70% now online] Social inclusion and learning agendas:  PLs now ‘street corner universities’: UKonline and Learndirect centres;access to national resources; Community Grids for Learning e-Citizenship & e-local government:  empower local populations (ICT skills=jobs)  engagement in local/national politics

7 Web accessibility: a brief overview  the Web was designed as a visual medium  the Web is a democratising medium –  the web is about content and accessing that content using technology - therefore: 1. the technology must be accessible: e.g. hardware; Operating Systems; descriptive URIs Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs, aka URLs); browsers; adaptive technologies; connection speeds (uploading and downloading) etc. 2.the content must be accessible: e.g. easy to navigate; well-structured; concise; easy to understand; easy to locate using search engines; Universal Design; adhere to standards

8 The case for Universal Design RNIB – states that accessibility should be incorporated into design brief (as requirement) when tendering for website development Georgia State University, USA “We are currently building a new economy, a new government, a new society that is based around the Internet. How ironic it would be if the foundation stones don't include accessibility, and then when we need it in our old age -- we can't access it? The access you ensure today may be your own, tomorrow!” rsal_design.html

9 APLAWS initiative Accessible & Personalised Local Authority Websites London-based consortium of councils To develop a content management system to standardise the way content is laid out and navigated on council web sites Pathfinder project – working towards all services online by

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11 Accessibility: standards and guidelines. Is there a consensus? Use W3C WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) Guidelines Use HTML validation service: Aim for Universal Design or “design for all” Aim for W3C Double A conformance – aim to meet Priority One and Two guidelines for accessibility Use Bobby for automated checking of pages

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13 Best Practice manual:

14 Web-based tools: the WAVE Pennsylvania’s Initiative on Assistive Technology from: cannot tell you if page is accessible - no tool can adds icons and text to help you judge if page is accessible; provides information to help you exercise judgment downloadable tutorial Incorporates browser check e.g. –“I'm using a recent browser” (Internet Explorer 5, Navigator 6, Opera 4 or higher) –Analyze No-Frame Version Downloadable ‘Wave’ button (like Google)

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17 Web-based tools: Bobby from: Offers choice of guidelines: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C)Web Accessibility Initiative Section 508 guidelines developed by the U.S. Federal Government.Section 508 guidelines Select the WAI/W3C guidelines

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normal view

21 Easy access version of UKonline

22 Results of recent UKOLN benchmarking survey Bobby (accessibility compliance) undertaken on 23 April 2002 by Brian Kelly, UKOLN Web Focus sample taken from SPIN SOCITM Website awards, Local Authority entry level pages analysed for accessibility (5 x England; 5 x Scotland; 4 x Wales; 4 x N. Ireland ) Priority 1 (P1) errors: one site had NONE; two sites had 5 P1 errors; one had 6 P1 errors Priority 2 (P2) errors: ranged from errors; average P2 errors = 2.4 See: focus/events/conferences/spin-2002/

23 Guidelines and resources Techdis: for HE community but useful stuff e.g. How People with disabilities use the web Web/Overview.html RNIB: guidelines + ‘See it right campaign’ NLB website: Best practice manual Jakob Nielsen (2000) Designing Web usability : the practice of simplicity. Indianapolis, Ind. : New Riders. Lynx view:

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25 IDeA website viewed through Lynxviewer

26 Any questions? 'image: