Web Accessibility: changes and developments over 10 years from a UK perspective

WEB ACCESSIBILITY Accessibilitat de Web 10 years of development and changes from a UK perspective School of Computing University of Dundee, Scotland David Sloan Universitat de Barcelona, 16 de Abril, 2009

Outline of my talk
Developments in Web accessibility research, policy and practice
My view as a researcher and consultant
A Web accessibility timeline: 10 years in 4 stages
Early days - all about guidelines
Accessibility becomes part of Web standards movement
Evidence emerging that guidelines weren’t working
Now: a more enlightened approach to using the Web to improve accessibility?

Who am I?
Researcher and consultant at University of Dundee, Scotland
A research centre specialising in information technology for older and disabled people since 1980
Worked in web accessibility and user experience since 1999
My PhD is in the impact of web accessibility evaluations on organisations and individuals
I run the University of Dundee Web Accessibility service

Supporting disabled people on the web
Impairments
Visual
Hearing
Mobility
Cognitive
Solutions:
User has assistive technology
Web site designer uses best practice in accessible design

Disability and innovation
Examples of disability triggering innovation with wider benefit:
Cassette tape recorder
Kerb/curb cuts
Predictive text for mobile phones
Ford Focus car

Web Accessibility in the Beginning
“ The power of the web is in its universality…”
Accessibility to computing technology had been badly affected by the emergence of the graphical user interface (GUI)…
… so W3C established the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) in 1997
Bringing together expertise and knowledge
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG version 1) published 1999

Stage 1 - Advocacy and compliance
Raising awareness of accessibility as an issue
Developing business, moral, technical and legal arguments
Explaining how disabled people use the Web
Encouraging conformance with WCAG 1.0
Tutorials
Evaluation tools
Web audits

Research and development
UK:
Awareness-raising in Higher Education community
RNIB and other charities begin promoting accessibility
Elsewhere:
WebAIM established
Mike Paciello publishes first book on web accessibility
The rise of the ‘Text only’ web site
Evaluation tools: Bobby, The WAVE
Flash, PDF - accessibility problems

Web design 1999: BBC News

Business and policy milestones
Legislation:
Australia: Sydney Olympics 2000 web site unlawfully inaccessible under DDA
US and UK: unclear as to whether disability discrimination legislation applies to Web
UK: Tesco supermarket creates accessible version of their grocery web site

Stage 2: Accessibility and Web Standards
Jeffrey Zeldman writes ‘Designing with Web Standards’
Web accessibility books from Joe Clark; Jim Thatcher and colleagues; John Slatin and Sharron Rush
WCAG conformance becomes a technical skill along with knowing (X)HTML and CSS
So accessibility is embraced by grass-roots web developers

Innovation in Standards-based approaches for web development
Showcasing good practice - CSS Zen Garden
More evaluation tools, some commercially priced/aimed at large organisations
Yahoo! promoting web standards
Academic research - transcoding existing sites to improve accessibility
Jakob Nielsen talks about usable accessibility
Accessibility surveys begin to be published regularly: mainly using automated tools

UK: encouraging better design
RNIB and Standard Life: See it Right web accessibility award
Visionary Design web site awards
Global: benchmarking of accessibility begins to be a major activity
US legislation:
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act has impact on accessibility of web technologies: Flash, PDF
Southwest Airlines web site case: confusion over ADA and the Internet

Stage 3: Guidelines are not enough!
UK Disability Rights Commission survey (2004)
Most web sites failed basic WCAG conformance
Yet some could be used successfully by disabled people
E-learning developing concept of ‘blended learning’
Using multiple channels of supporting learning tailored to individual needs
Using available and appropriate resources
This inspires development of ‘Holistic Accessibility’ approach

Ongoing developments in web standards
Refining design techniques to be more accessible
Rejection of parts of WCAG 1.0 becoming obsolete
Standardisation in e-learning accessibility
Work on accessibility in learner profiles and learning object metadata: basis for ISO 24751
Microsoft research on benefits of accessibility features: useful to c. 60% of people
Research on annotating web pages to enhance accessibility (e.g. for non-visual navigation)

UK: Legal and General case study gave business benefits of accessible web site redesign project
Result was more business and reduced costs
Policy and guidelines:
EU desire to harmonise web accessibility measurement - policy, evaluation processes
Global: dissatisfaction with WCAG 2; formation of WCAG Samurai
UK: Development of PAS 78 - a standard for commissioning web sites

Stage 4: Using the web to make the real world accessible
Web 2.0
Web applications introduce new challenges
User-generated content
iPhone gives value to Mobile Web and accessible web crossover
Emergence of a more practical view of Web accessibility
WCAG 2 published - acknowledging value of formats beyond HTML (PDF, Flash, JavaScript)
Holistic, human-centred view of accessibility becoming recognised as of value

Rich internet applications and WAI-ARIA
Accessibility and user generated content
Reviews of accessibility of social networking sites
Accessibility and CAPTCHAs
Tools to support accessible authoring
Content management systems (CMS)
Open Source accessibility more visible:
research (e.g. AEGIS), products (NVDA screen reader), education (from Opera, Web Standards Project)
More focus on ageing and accessibility

UK: accessibility maturing as a quality control measurement?
BBC drops use of microformats because of accessibility issues
UK government exposed over Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) web site accessibility problems
EU: ‘Mandate 376’ aimed at increasing profile of accessibility in technology procurement
And still a desire to harmonise web accessibility measurement across EU

Achievements?
Web Accessibility is no longer a niche issue or specialism
The human aspect of accessibility increasingly recognised - not just about automated checking
(Many) Organisations have visible accessibility policy
Accessible doesn’t have to mean ugly or boring
Many good examples of accessible and aesthetically pleasing
Emerging technologies and design techniques are considering accessibility early on (or are being forced to!)

Ongoing challenges
Maintaining and enhancing profile of accessibility in evolution of the Web
Web content authors are increasingly not professionals
How do we help a Facebook or Youtube user - or VLE user - to create accessible content?
Matching users to their accessibility requirements
Accessible web pages require a user to have the right technology to access them…
… how do we meet this challenge if someone doesn’t know they have an accessibility need?

Thankyou for listening!
Questions?

Contact me
David Sloan
Digital Media Access Group, School of Computing
University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
Scotland
Email: dsloan@computing.dundee.ac.uk
Twitter: @sloandr
Blog: http://www.58sound.com

Web Accessibility: changes and developments over 10 years from a UK perspective

by David Sloan on Apr 19, 2009

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Web Accessibility: changes and developments over 10 years from a UK perspective — Presentation Transcript