Web Accessibility - Part 1
Do I need to be concerned?
Yes!
Points to consider:
- More and more web sites are being accessed via non-traditional devices
that pose limitations: PDAs, cell phones, kiosk stations, WebTV. These devices
may have a limited screen area, limited resolutions, lack of color, or lack
of navigation tools (such as a mouse). The more compliant and accessible
your site is (in code), the easier it will be read by a device other than
a web browser.
- 25% of the general audience is in the "disabled" category (visual, physical,
cognitive, learning, etc.). Many rely on the web to get info they can not
obtain otherwise (due to difficulty traveling, seeing, etc.)
- Being a part of a medical university, most of the outside (non-employee)
audience will be people in need of medical information or treatment. The
percentage of special needs cases is probably much higher than the general
25%.
- Consider how many temporary cases are affected each day: someone breaks
his wrist while on vacation or has surgery on her shoulder that will immobilize
that limb for about 6 weeks or so. For that period of time, they can't use
a mouse, only the keyboard and one hand. Maybe someone has eye surgery and
can only see a small, limited clear area for a period of time.
- Have you ever navigated through your site without using a mouse (only using keyboard to tab through)?
- Have you ever used only one hand or one finger to perform tasks (imagine filling out a form that requires your e-mail address, with the use of only one finger)?
- Have you ever listened to your site through a site reader?
- Does your site still make sense if all the graphics are turned off?
- Examples of various vision obstacles:
Normal page
Tunnel Vision - or symptom of a small screen, like a PDA
Blurred Vision
Using Large Fonts
Images turned off
No colors - color blindness or a no-color screen/monitor
How do I make my site accessible?
- Test, test, test
- Physically go through your site using only the keyboard and discover how manageable it is.
- Turn off the images and see if all your navigation is still clear.
- Increase the text size several times to see how readable your site still is (or what items on your page don't change in size).
- Run it through a text reader and listen to how easy or difficult it is to navigate through your menu and content. Can you get to all the information or are some pages so hidden a non-visual user would never realize they existed?
- Have some users with disabilities go through your site and provide feedback. - HTML Tidy - http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/ - cleans up code
- W3C's Tools for
evaluation, repair and transformation of websites for accessibility
- Validate your code:
- W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Validator - http://validator.w3.org/ **
- WDG (Web Design Group) Validator - http://www.htmlhelp.com/tools/validator/
- Aprompt accessibility Verifier - Use Dreamweaver's Accessibility tools:
- General: "use <strong> and <em>
- Code Format: default to lowercase tags and attributes; check the "override tags and attributes" and "no break after TD" boxes
- Code Rewriting: check all boxes (according to your preferences)
- New Document: check the box "Make XHTML Compliant"
- Validator: Select XHTML 1.0 Transitional
- Screen Readers:
- MAGic is a product that magnifies the screen (up to 16x) for low vision users and comes with or without speech. You can use this product with JAWS. The with-speech version is $545.
- JAWS is $900-1200 - the top-of-the-line reader
- HAL is $700
- IBM has one called Homepage Reader (with a 30-day trial download that could be used for a demo, but a permanent version should be considered for testing.) It's $150.
- WindowEyes also has a demo version to download. Its price is around $600.
- Accessibility - Part 2: XHTML in 5 steps
- Accessibility - Part 3: General Rules (Overview)
** In order to use W3C's validator, you must have a DOCTYPE specified in your document. For a list of DOCTYPEs, visit http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html and select the one that best fits your document (HTML, XHTML, MathML, SVG).
- Edit menu --> Preferences --> walk through categories to specify your preferences
What's the difference? - some different features may include the ability to scan through a document's headings, Table of contents, subheadings, or links without reading through the entire documents first. Some reader require the user to highlight or select a section to be read separately. Also some had the ability to read tables in various ways depending on the content. Also compatibility is an issue; some products are supported by many browsers and versions of Windows or other applications, others are specific to DOS-only or specific browsers/applications. The "you get what you pay for" argument seems to apply here; it's important to determine your level of need.
References:
Webstandards.orgUnderstanding Web Accessibility
SNOW Web Resources - links on Accessibility, validators, screen readers, definitions
W3C Disabilities matrix This matrix summarizes which checkpoints are expected to benefit users with certain types of disabilities.
W3C's Tools for evaluation, repair and transformation of websites for accessibility
Accessibility features of some operating systems (sticky keys, toggle keys, etc.)
Glossary of terms (in Accessibility Guidelines)
How People with Disabilities Use the Web
Accessibility Resource links and tools
Constructing Accessible Web Sites (book)