1. Web Accessibility Issues

2. Why Consider Access Issues ? Discrimination Numbers of disabled students in HE likely to increase Sites designed for the disabled improved usability for all You could be sued !

3. Disabilities Sight impaired Hearing impaired Colour blindness Dyslexia Lack of fine motor control Epilepsy

4. Strategies Assistive Technology Software to assist spelling or word prediction Speech to text Text to speech e.g. Kurzweil reader Braille embosser Screen magnifiers Note these are not specific to internet use

5. Strategies Changing the browser settings: Increase or decrease size of text Remove the style sheet Add personal style sheet Reset the colours Windows software (located in Accessories)

6. Guidance W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 14 general principles of design 3 “Priorities” or “Checkpoints” http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-WAI-PAGEAUTH/full-checklist.html UK Law – SENDA 2002 Websites should conform to “Level 1 Priority of the WAI” Make “reasonable adjustments” – this includes providing access to materials in an alternative format

7. Guidance cont. TechDis – 7 Precepts http://www.techdis.ac.uk/seven Accessible Curricula: Good Practice For All RNIB http://www.rnib.org.uk/access/welcome.htm

8. Design Guidance Sound pedagogic reasons for any non-text content Ensure text is accessible by other means Order materials logically to assist text readers http://www.webaim.org/tutorials/context http://www.webaim.org/tutorials/context Site map/overview at start of each section

9. Design Solutions - Images Give text alternatives Alt Longdesc D + link to separate page Avoid image maps

10. Images cont. Avoid text as images distorts when enlarged Avoid image interface slow download Colour ensure high colour contrast avoid obvious difficulties e.g. red and green http://www.vischeck.com

11. Multimedia Flash & Shockwave elements Provide text alternatives Video and Sound files Provide transcripts

12. Text Use relative sizes (e.g. %) Avoid long passages in italics or UPPER CASE Avoid blinking text Avoid rainbow text Avoid animated text

13. Links Underline links Make links clear E.g. Play sound file of Water Music and not Click herePlay sound file of Water Music Click here Warn user what type of file will open PDF - printing only Use.txt or html alternative for max accessibility Avoid opening in a new window Scripts/applets provide information in alternative form

14. Validation Check pages in a variety of browsers Use text only browser e.g. Lynx http:// www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html Use HTML validator E.g. Bobby http://www.cast.org/bobby/http://www.cast.org/bobby/ Dr HTML http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/ Turn off mouse and graphics (Tools>Internet Options>Advanced) Tab to links

15. Issues Find balance between aesthetically pleasing and accessible “Inclusive” or “Universal” design principles should improve access for all users References: Nielsen J (2000) Designing Web Usability http://www.useit.com

16. References Accessible Curricula, Good Practice For All http://www.techdis.ac.uk/pdf/curricula.pdf Please refer to list of “useful resources” on page 60 TechDis Accessibility Database http://www.techdis.ac.uk Web Accessibility and Usability Evaluation Resource http://www.techdis.ac.uk/seven/ National Federation of Access Centres http://www.nfac.org.uk