1. Web Accessibility 101 UW GAAD 2018
Anna Marie Golden
IT Accessibility Specialist

2. General Guidelines
Assistive technologies rely on a web page’s mark-up to relay content to users
Use HTML elements semantically
Use the correct element for the job and not for its appearance
Use CSS for formatting
Minimize the use of inline styles, especially sizing
Can affect user’s ability to zoom web page for better visibility
“visibility:hidden” and “display:none” hides content from ALL users, including assistive technology users

3. Heading Structure Provide an outline of a page’s content
Visual headings marked-up as HTML headings
Headings in order without skipping levels
Starting with <h1>
Only one <h1> heading per web page
Not used for their visual appearance

4. Images Alt text for images that convey meaning
Alt=“textual equivalent or image’s purpose”
Assistive technologies relay alt text to users
Not necessary to say, “photo of …”
Null alt text (alt = “”) for decorative images
Purely decorative and do not convey meaning
Allows assistive technology to ignore the image
Use text for text instead of images of text
Linked images need alt text for link’s purpose

5. Lists Marked-up as lists Provides context Provides orientation
ATs announce a list and how many items in the list
Provides orientation
Unordered list
Order doesn’t matter
Ordered list <ol> with list items <li>
Order matters
Definition/description list
List of terms with a description of each term

6. Unordered List
<ul> <li>cat</li> <li>dog</li> </ul>

7. Ordered List
<ol> <li>cat</li> <li>dog</li> </ol>

8. Definition/description List
<dl> <dt>cat</dt> <dd>feline animal</dd> <dt>dog</dt> <dd>canine animal</dd> </dl>

9. Links Link text Meaningful link text Make sense out of context
Omit the use of target attributes
e.g. target=“_blank”
It is best to let users decide where links will open

10. Color Contrast Meaning
Adequate contrast between foreground and background
Meaning
Avoid conveying meaning through color alone
Provide a backup

11. UW Web Accessibility Resources
UW’s Accessible Technology website
Developing Accessible Websites
Anna Marie Golden, IT Accessibility Specialist
Feel free to contact me anytime with your accessibility-related questions

12. Web Accessibility 101 UW GAAD 2018
Anna Marie Golden
IT Accessibility Specialist