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IT Trends: Website Accessibility
- 1. IT Trends: Website Accessibility Presenter: Cindy Leonard Technology Services Manager The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at Robert Morris University
- 2. Agenda • What is website accessibility? • How people with disabilities use the web • Achieving accessibility • Q&A as time permits
- 5. % of Population with Disabilities in Pennsylvania Population with Disabilities Total Population 13%
- 14. WCAG 2.0 vs. Section 508 • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) – by Website Accessibility Initiative (WAI) part of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) • 4 Guidelines – Perceivable – Operable – Understandable – Robust
- 15. WCAG 2.0 vs. Section 508 • Section 508 – § 1194.21 Software applications and operating systems – § 1194.22 Web-based intranet and internet information and applications • Based on WCAG 1.0 • Federal government mandated standards for federal websites and for agencies who receive federal funding
- 16. Site Testing for Accessibility • Cynthia Says http://www.contentquality.com/ • Total Validator http://www.totalvalidator.com/ • Truwex Online http://checkwebsite.erigami.com/accessibility.ht ml • Live user review (external to agency) • Download trial version of assistive devices (screen readers, etc.)
- 17. Q & A
Editor's Notes
- Agenda What is website accessibility? How people with disabilities use the web Achieving accessibility Q&A as time permits
- Wiki link
- Web accessibility is the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed and coded, all users can have equal access to information and functionality. The ultimate goal of web accessibility standards is to accommodate users with disabilities while not impacting on the usability of the site for people without disabilities. Because website accessibility tends to increase the overall usability of a website, a site that is accessible tends to provide a better experience for all users. If your website’s goal is to attract viewer/users (uh, everyone’s goal?) you cannot afford to ignore web accessibility. On either an ethical or financial level. Universal Design – curb cuts example
- More than 1.6 million people in Pennsylvania are living with a disability and many rely on public services to assist them with their housing, transportation, education and employment needs. People with disabilities represent over 13% of Pennsylvania’s population and include over 800,000 working-aged adults. http://voteonorato.s3.amazonaws.com/555/Disabilities_policy_paper2010.pdf
- Physical: a condition that substantially limits physical activity such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying. Employment: difficulty working at a job or business. Mobility: difficulty going outside the home alone to shop or visit a doctor’s office. Mental: difficulty learning, remembering or concentrating. Sensory: blindness, deafness, or a severe vision or hearing impairment. Self-care: difficulty dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home.
- I call this the “Everyday Things” exercise because it’s every day things we take for granted that can give people with disabilities their greatest challenges. First part – close eyes, find the piece of paper and pen in front of you, take up the pen, and write down the name of your favorite color. Next – keep your eyes closed, pass the paper to the person on your right. Keep your eyes closed. What does the paper you received say? (This is an example of what it can be like for someone with a disability to use the Internet. The information is right there in front of you and you know it’s there, but you just can’t get to it.) Next part – Open your eyes, put the pen back down. Take the hand you normally write with and sit on it. Now take the pen and write your name on the paper. Pretty difficult, eh? Last part – I need two volunteers from the audience. (Tape fingers together.) Now sit on the hand you normally write with and write your name on the paper. How did you feel when trying to do this?
- Accessible websites are more useable. Accessibility standards require developers to adhere to a set of web standards to produce html documents that put content into an intuitive hierachy of info. When discussing accessibility for your website, important to think in terms of progressive enhancement. Graceful degradation – the way it’s been done for years – design for most feature rich user device and strip out features to make it work for older/less capable devices. Progressive enhancement – design the best possible experience for the lowest level of user device, and then add features. The graceful degradation perspective Graceful degradation focuses on building the website for the most advanced/capable browsers. Testing in browsers deemed “older” or less capable usually takes place during the last quarter of the development cycle and is often restricted to the previous release of the major browsers. The progressive enhancement perspective Getting into the progressive enhancement mindset is quite simple: just think from the content out. The content forms the solid base on which you layer your style and interactivity. If you’re a candy fan, think of it as a Peanut M&M: The Chocolatey Layers of Progressive Enhancement - Start with your content peanut, marked up in rich, semantic (X)HTML. Coat that content with a layer of rich, creamy CSS. Finally, add JavaScript as the hard candy shell to make a wonderfully tasty treat (and keep it from melting in your hands).
- Accessible does not have to mean ugly or boring. Good programming practice – the ideal is to separate content from style from behaviors. HTML for content CSS for style Javascript for behaviors Separating the style from the content keeps the content intact while allowing the designer to place content elements anywhere on a page. Along with device detection, a developer can visually do just about anything without compromising the accessibility of a page.
- Explain origins of Section 508 standards WCAG updated in Dec. 2008 – is gold standard for web accessibility 4 principles – -Perceivable (information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive (text alternatives, contrast, adaptable design Operable – user interface components and navigation must be operable (keyboard accessible/tabbing, enough time, seizures, navigable – ability to bypass features) Understandable (information and operation of user interface must be understandable (readable, predictable, input assistance) Robust (content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies (compatible – forward thinking – note: standard HTML controls already meet this success critieria when used according to specification.