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Web accessibility

Web accessibility and Disability A Practical introduction

Robin Christopherson and Curt Holst AbilityNet

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What is web accessibility?

Web accessibility is about designing sites so as many peopleas possible can access them effectively and easily, independent of who they are or how they access the net

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Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

Guidelines created in 1999 to explain how to make websites and intranets accessible to people with disabilities. They are prioritised into three levels:

Priority Level 1 - 'Must' or level ‘A’Minimum Priority Level 2 - 'Should', or level ‘Double-A’Good practice

Priority Level 3 - 'Ought' or level ‘Triple-A’Best practice

Standards

Web standards

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Who does it affect?

Vision impairment

Hearing impairment

Motor difficulties

Cognitive impairments and literacy

Many have more than one disability~

9.8 million people in the UK have a disability under the DDA. The groups that have specific Issues with web and intranet accessibility are:

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Vision

As a very visual medium, the Web presents unique problems to the millions who have low, restricted or no vision.

There are 4 broad categories of vision impairment:

Colour blindness – red/green impairment most common

Mild vision impairment – larger font size, colours

Moderate vision impairment – screen magnification, colours

Blind/severe vision impairment – screen readers

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Mild vision impairments – Adjust the Browser

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Magnification software

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Do not use colour alone to convey information (level 1)

Ensure a consistent and uncluttered page layout (level 2)

Avoid using graphics for text (level 2)

Choose colours that ensure sufficient background and foreground contrast and avoid combinations of red/green and blue/yellow (level 2/3)

Key guidelines for mild/moderate visual impairments

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Ensure all font size definitions are relative -re-sizeable (level 2)

Offer a hi-viz skin and/or link to a page explaining how to change colours and font sizes (level 3)

Use a clear non-seriffed font such as Arial, Tahoma or Verdana (recommended)

Avoid using Flash for text – there are resizing issues (recommended)

Key guidelines for mild/moderate visual impairments

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Screen-Reader Users

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Ensure all images have alt tags - especially links, logos and important pictures. Use empty alt tags (alt=“”) for decorative images (level 1)

If you use Flash make sure it works with modern screen readers and provide an accessible alternative for older readers (level 1)

If you use frames ensure they have titles and names that make sense - screen readers navigate in and out of individual frames on a page (level 1)

Make sure tabular data is coded accessibly – use the correct table header tags for column titles (level 1)

Key guidelines blind web users

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Provide transcripts for Multimedia if you use it (level 1)

Ensure both JavaScript and Applets work with screen readers – provide alternative content if they don’t. (level 1)

Choose text for hyperlinks with care – make sure it makes sense out of context and avoid repetition (level 2)

Position labels in forms to the left or above input fields and the right of checkboxes and radio buttons (level 2)

Offer a “Skip to content” link to jump over navigation links (level 3)

Key guidelines blind web users

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Hearing

Multimedia, including video and audio clips on the web - provide captioning and transcripts.

British Sign Language (BSL) users – limited vocabulary for example ‘Marinade’

Provide a glossary of terms

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Motor difficulties

People with motor difficulties face challenges when navigating and interacting with web pages.

Dexterity, fine motor and coordination difficulties can make using a standard keyboard or mouse difficult.

Keyboard and mouse alternatives or voice recognition can be used to navigate and interact with web pages

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Alternative Pointing Devices

Hand/Arm Adaptive technology

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Alternative Keyboards

Hand/Arm Adaptive technology

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Key guidelines for Motor Difficulties

For Keyboard users:

If you use flash or scripts make sure pages are useable with the keyboard (level 2)

Ensure a logical tabbing order through all page elements (level 3)

Use shortcut links – ‘AccessKeys’ for top navigation links (level 3)

Limit the number of links on the page (recommended)

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Key guidelines for Motor Difficulties

For Mouse users:

Graphical or text links should be a decent size(recommended)

Avoid graphical or text links in close proximity not 1/2/3 (recommended)

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Cognitive impairments include dyslexia, memory impairments and attention deficit disorders.

Recommendations:

Keep the language clear and avoid jargon (level 1)

Use consistent navigation, sitemaps and breadcrumb trails (level 2)

Keep movement to a minimum or allow user to it turn off (level 2)

Use graphical icons as navigation aids (level 3)

Cognitive Difficulties and DyslexiaCognitive Difficulties and Dyslexia

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Recommendations continued:

Content should be organised logically and clearly (level 3)

There should be sufficient spacing between lines, paragraphs or sections, use bulleted lists (recommended)

Use a clear non-seriffed font and don’t fully justify text (recommended) Dyslexic web users prefer a beige background (recommended)

Cognitive Difficulties and DyslexiaCognitive Difficulties and Dyslexia

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Sources of help

Many organisations (such as AbilityNet) offer a wide range of services to help you make your websites and intranets accessible, Including:

• Audits, • Training• Site design• Disabled user testing

Key resources on the web include:

W3C Web accessibility initiative -http://www.w3.org/WAI/ Irish National Disability Association (NDA) - http://www.accessit.nda.ie/ Accessify - http://www.accessify.com A List Apart - developer resources - http://www.alistapart.com

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Contact AbilityNet

To find out more about AbilityNet’s web services

Call: 0800 269545

Visit: http://www.abilitynet.org.uk

Email: accessibility@abilitynet.org.uk