The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Web AccessibilityWeb Accessibility

Writing for the Web

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Contents

Accessibility background Accessibility guidelines References

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Accessibility: BackgroundAccessibility: Background

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Intended Audience of Accessibility Initiatives

Users unable to: See, hear, move. Process some types of information. Read or understand text or language. Use a keyboard or mouse. Use a large screen. Have fast Internet connection. Have new browser.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Web Accessibility Initiative of the World Wide Web Consortium

Developed accessibility guidelines.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C WAI Standards

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.

2. Don't rely on color alone.

3. Use markup and style sheets properly.

4. Clarify natural language usage.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C WAI Standards

5. Create tables that transform gracefully. 6. Ensure that pages featuring newer

technologies transform gracefully. 7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content

changes. 8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user

interfaces. 9. Design for device-independence. 10. Use interim solutions.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C WAI Standards

11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines.

12. Provide context and orientation information.

13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms.

14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C WAI Priority 1

A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document.

Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C WAI Priority 2

A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document.

Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C WAI Priority 3

A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document.

Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Accessibility GuidelinesAccessibility Guidelines

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

Images Graphical representations of text (including

symbols) Image map regions Animations (e.G., Animated gifs) Applets and programmatic objects ASCII art Frames Scripts

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

Images used as list bullets Spacers Graphical buttons Sounds (played with or without user

Interaction) Stand-alone audio files Audio tracks of video Video

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

Provide redundant text links for each active region of a server-side image map.

Provide an auditory description of the important information of the visual track of a multimedia presentation.

For any time-based multimedia presentation, synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

2. Don't rely on color alone

Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also available without color (e.g., from context or markup).

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

3. Use markup and style sheets properly

Not priority 1

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

4. Clarify natural language usage

Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a document's text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions).

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

5. Create tables that transform gracefully

For data tables, identify row and column headers.

For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully

Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets.

Ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when the dynamic content changes.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other programmatic objects are turned off or not supported.

If this is not possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible page.

6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes

Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid causing the screen to flicker.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces

Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

9. Design for device-independence

Provide client-side image maps instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

10. Use interim solutions

Not Priority 1

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines

Not Priority 1

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

12. Provide context and orientation information

Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and navigation.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms

Not Priority 1

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple

Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site's content.

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Tools for Evaluating Tools for Evaluating AccessibilityAccessibility

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

Bobby

Web-based public service offered by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST).

Analyzes Web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities and compatibility with various browsers.

http://www.www.cast.org/bobby/

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

The Wave

Tool to help determine your page's accessibility by presenting the "linearized" reading order, ALT text for images and image map areas, and the applet alternatives.

http://www.temple.edu/inst_disabilities/piat/wave/

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

TOM, the Text-Only Maker

Developed at developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

Converts graphical Web pages into text-only pages or text and graphics Web pages.

http://www..eot.org/TTF/Access/tom.html

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

W3C

Checks HTML documents for conformance to W3C HTML and XHTML recommendations and other HTML standards.

http://validator.w3.org/

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

ReferencesReferences

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

References

W3C WAI www.w3c.org/wai Access Adobe access.adobe.com IBM Accessibility Center www-

3.ibm.com/able/overview.html Microsoft Accessibility

www.microsoft.com/enable

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e

References

Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) www.cast.org

Do-IT www.washington.edu/doit WebABLE www.webable.com

The Internet Writer’s Handbook 2/e