Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

“The power of the Web is in its universality.

Access by everyone regardless of disability is an

essential aspect.” — Tim Berners-Lee

“For me, being online is everything. It's my hi-fi, my source of income, my supermarket, my telephone. It's my way in.” — Lynn Holdsworth,screen reader user, Web Developer and Programmer

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

What is Accessibility?

• Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web.

• Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web.

• Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities.

source: W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

5 Common Mistakes

• No alternative content for inaccessible or unsupported features (i.e. noflash or noscript alternatives)

• Images used in place of markup language• Missing ALT attributes on images• Text prompts for links lacking context (e.g. “click here”)• Tables or DIV elements that have little or no narrative thread

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

Assistive Technologies

• screen readers• screen magnifiers• speech recognition software

How can developers and designers account for the possible use of assistive technologies?

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

Legal and Ethical Issues

• In the USA, Government websites are legally bound to meet a minimum of ADA compliance standards (section 255 guidelines and section 508 standards).

• In higher education, organizations such as WaSP, the Web Standards Project, are attempting to raise awareness among instructors, administrators and web developers.

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

Questions of “Good” Design

• What is “good” design?• Is “good” design purely aesthetic?• What are the lines of intersection between

developers and designers?

Answers to these questions aren’t simple.And at PhilaU, we fall short of 100% accessible design. Too often. But awareness is essential.

Sometimes, we get close: see http://www.philau.edu/disabilityservices(but even then, issues of accessibility abound)

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

The future is now: Web 2.0

• improved semantics• push application widgets• embedded scripting languages• increased interactivity

Will disabled users be barred from these benefits?

Power to Do.Philadelphia University • www.PhilaU.edu

Web Accessibility

The Challenge

• All designers and developers should strive for a level of accessibility that, at the very least, allows for those with a disability to have alternatives.