Topic: Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

Information Architecture and Design (LIS 385T)

Heejung Lim

The University of Texas at AustinSchool of Information

March 7, 2003

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

What is Accessibility?

Groundwork of universal information architecture for the people having various levels of physical, cognitive, and economic abilities.

Accessibility enables every the use of software and hardware no matter what people’s level of ability is, and where and when they use it

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

Accessibility is the Law

Section 508 (Information Technology and People with Disabilities)

All federal agencies’ electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities.

All vendors providing information to federal sites be fully accessible to the disabled.

Websites are no longer the province of a few privileged people : “the Web has become obligatory for anyone who wants to succeed in our information-driven culture” (Lazzaro, 1998)

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

Who are the disadvantaged people?

People with visual impairment.

People who are blind..

People who are color blind.

People with hearing impairment.

People with a learning or cognitive impairment (such as dyslexia)

People who have outdated equipment (such as older computers, older version of browsers, and slower modems)

"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect."

-- Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web

W3C and WAI

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)

Pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work : Technology guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research development

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Develops interoperable technologies to lead the Web to its full potential.

Guidelines for Accessibility

1. Text and Coding issues2. Use of Colors3. Textual link issues4. Image, graphic, and chart on websites5. Image maps and PDF file

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

Guidelines for Accessibility

1. Text and Coding issues

Use logical styles for tags Examples of logical tags : DFN(definition), EM(emphasis- italics), Strong (bold), H1, H2, BIG, SMALL Examples of Physical tags : Font size =14, B(bold), I (Italics)

Avoid fixed font size http://www.nytimes.com

No moving text Avoiding using BLINK and MARQUEE. Use another method to draw attention, such as text size or color. http://www.ebay.com / http://www.adsled.com/Welcome/index.html Use clear and simple language. http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam113-0.htm

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

2. Use of Colors

Guidelines for Accessibility (Cont.)

Be careful of colors used against each other

Test for color deficiency http://www.toledo-bend.com/colorblind/Ishihara.html

Avoid color to convey meaning. http://www.delta.edu/emptrain/usability/color.html

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

3. Textual link issues

Words on your links http://www.utexas.edu/web/guidelines/file_naming.html

Length of links : Keep your links less than 10 words. http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam97-0.htm

Navigating without a mouse/The order of the links http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam74-0.htm http://oc.nci.nih.gov/web508/tabexample.html

Guidelines for Accessibility (Cont.)

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

4. Image, graphic, and chart on websites

Guidelines for Accessibility (Cont.)

ALT attribute of images http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam2-0.htm http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam13-0.htm

Animations : the animations should be stopped after one or two rotations. <IMG SRC=“fish.gif” HEIGHT=“45” WIDTH=“55” ALT=“A green animated cartoon fish swimming up and down the right side of the image boundary.”>

Use LONGDESC http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam3-0.htm http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam92-0.htm

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

5. Image maps and PDF file

Guidelines for Accessibility (Cont.)

Client-side image maps : more accessible. http://www.reeusda.gov/1700/statepartners/usa.htm Server-side image maps http://agprogram.tamu.edu/agropolis http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Counties/state.html http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam19-0.htm http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/sam24-0.htm

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

Using the adobe access site http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/alternate.html Provide equivalent HTML files

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

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

2. Netmechanic http://www.netmechanic.com/toolbox/html-code.htm

3. W3C HTML Validation Service http://validator.w3.org

4. CSS Validator http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

Testing in your website

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

“Much information architecture work is focused on helping people find information of complete tasks efficiently and effectively” ( Rosenfeld & Morville, 2002, p312)

Conclusion

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility

Architecting and designing accessibility of the website will not involve any more expense if it is considered at the very beginning.

Brewer, J. (2001). How People With Disabilities Use the Web. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/Drafts/PWD-Use-Web/.

 Brewer, J & Chuter, A. (2003). Policy relating to Web Accessibility. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from

http://www.w3.org/WAI/Policy/.  Chisholm, W. & Vanderheiden, G. & Jacobs, I. (1999). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from

http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/.  Lazzaro, J. (1998). Web Accessibility. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.webreview.com. Rosenfeld & Morville (2002). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly

& Associates, Inc. Slatin, J.M. & Rush, S. (2003). Maximum accessibility. Boston: Addison-Wesley. Solomon, K. (2002). Building Accessible Web sites in Seven Steps. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.techsoup.com/articlepage.cfm

?articleid=381&topicid=12&cg=accessibility&sg=article381. Usability by Design (2003). Benefits of Usability. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.usability.uk.com. Vaas, L. (2000). Web blind spots. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek

/stories/news/.  Watchfire.com (2003). Website Accessibility. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.watchfire.com/solutions/accessibility.asp Wiebke, J. & Ffolliott, L. (2001). Web Site Accessibility. Retrieved February 1, 2003 from http://www.lgta.org/accessibility.  Williams, M. (1999). Accessibility. Adobe magazine: Summer, 39-41.

References

Architecting and Designing for Accessibility