Web Accessibility
What is it and Why we need it
Introduction and Overview:
The World Wide Web is an educational tool like none other in our history. Information is available in an overwhelming array and at a startling speed. In order to participate as in our information laden world, our students will need the ability to use the vast resources of the Internet effectively. In order to teach, our teachers will need to use the internet to gather materials, teach classes, and educate students.
What are we doing to assure access to this necessary resource for all students and staff? How can those who are blind see the internet? How can those who are deaf, hear the internet. How can those with physical disabilities get where they want to go? And how will we supply information to our dyslexic students who can not read?
The world is increasingly paying attention to the design and use of the Internet by those with disabilities. As a public school district, it should be our goal to make the internet accessible to all our students. It’s the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do and it’s the law.
Following is a resource guide for you to peruse. This was provided by Barbara Cannon who spoke to the Senior Center Computer Club in July 2004. Take a trip over the internet to see what is going on in the world of Internet Accessibility…..
IF you do nothing else, Watch this movie:
http://www.webaim.org/info/asdvideo/index.php
The Barriers:
| The disability | The problem | The solution | Web design issues |
| Blindness | Inability to see web content | Use
of screen and text readers make it possible for web
materials to be read aloud to the user. Braille displays can be used in place of keyboards and screen readers. |
Well
designed sites make it possible for readers to read most
information on a page. Poorly designed sites are
confusing, hard to navigate and often leave out
significant amounts of important information. See for yourself: Web Simulation http://www.webaim.org/simulations/screenreader.php |
| Low Vision | Inability to see web content. | Use of screen magnification makes material larger and more visible. | Magnification
is seldom imbedded into websites. Use of graphics instead of text makes text clarity deteriorate as it is enlarged. Poor design makes navigation during zoom confusing and poor quality. See for yourself: Web Simulation |
| Hearing impairments | Inability to hear web content | Use of captioning so that directions and spoken content are presented in a visual format | Many sites give directions and important information in auditory format only. |
| Physical disabilities | Inability to navigate site and make choices. Inability to use a mouse device. | Use of keyboard commands and the ability to tab thought a site make it possible for those with physical disabilities to navigate and make choices. | Many
sites can not be accessed through the keyboard alone.
Tabbing often leaves out important choices or makes it
necessary for the user to tab extensively to get to the
main content of the page. Some sites contain hidden tabs
which are confusing to the user. Tabs are usually not
highlighted well so it is difficult to tell what content
is currently selected. Many sites contain links that are
too small to be easily accessed by those with even slight
disability. Try to tab through the following two sites. The first is well designed, the second is not. Try tabbing through each site to see what happens. Accessible: http://www.ebuddies.org/ Not accessible: http://www.usatoday.com/ |
| Dyslexia | Inability to read web content | Use of text readers make it possible for those who can not read to access web content and interact with it. | Sites often use graphic representation of text. Text readers can not read graphics. Many educational sites contain content that is necessary for students to use but which is not readable by text readers. |
| Cognitive disabilities and ADHD | Content is confusing and over stimulating | Use of simple design principals without extraneous graphics and animation help many of use find what we want on the web. | Many
sites are overloaded with graphics and eye catching
animations that are unnecessary and divide our attention.
Use of graphics beside text and use of simple design and
easy navigation schemes help us all. See for your self: Web Simulation |
Articles:
Following are several articles which define and explain the overall issue of internet accessibility.
| Article Name | Description | address |
| Adaptive
Technology for the Internet: Making Electronic Resources
Accessible for All by Barbara T. Mates |
This work seeks to guide information providers in establishing accessible Websites and acquiring the hardware and software needed by people with disabilities. The book focuses on access to the Internet using large print, voice, and Braille. | http://www.ala.org/ala/products/books/editions/adaptivetechnology.htm |
| How
People with Disabilities Use the Web |
This document provides an introduction to use of the Web by people with disabilities. It illustrates some of their requirements when using Web sites and Web-based applications, and provides supporting information for the guidelines and technical work of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) | http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/Overview.html |
| Keeping
Web Accessibility in Mind for Our Children Cindy Rowland, Jared Smith, Peter Blair, Mike Kyman, Jenny Virgin |
A collection of articles through WebAim that explore the use of the Internet for education both inside and outside of traditional classrooms in the U.S. 4 articles focus on the barriers to internet accessibility for students with disabilities | PDF article – located in documents folder on this CD. |
| Introduction
to Web Accessibility Author: Paul Bohman |
History and use of the Internet by persons with disabilities. | http://www.webaim.org/intro/ |
How to check for accessibility:
Accessibility Validation Tools
| Site Name | Description | Address |
| The Bobby Site | This is a free service site that reviews websites and gives a report of the site’s accessibility and what needs to be done to make the site accessible. Sites which pass are "Bobby Approved" | http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp |
| AWARE | AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education, and our mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility. | http://aware.hwg.org/ |
| A Prompt | Web authors can use A-Prompt to make their Web pages accessible to people with disabilities. The A-Prompt software tool examines Web pages for barriers to accessibility, performs automatic repairs when possible, and assists the author in manual repairs when necessary. These enhanced Web pages are available to a larger Internet audience. | http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ |
| HTML Tidy | When editing HTML it's easy to make mistakes. Wouldn't it be nice if there was a simple way to fix these mistakes automatically and tidy up sloppy editing into nicely layed out markup? Well now there is! Dave Raggett's HTML TIDY is a free utility for doing just that. It also works great on the atrociously hard to read markup generated by specialized HTML editors and conversion tools, and can help you identify where you need to pay further attention on making your pages more accessible to people with disabilities. | http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett/tidy/ |
| UsableNet | UsableNet provides the industry-leading software that empowers web developers and organizations to automate website accessibility and usability testing, repair and delivery | http://www.usablenet.com/ |
Test your web site now:
Just go to http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
and type in the URL address
to get an accessibility report within seconds.