Introduction to Accessibility and Planning an Accessible Website Presented by Everett Zufelt & Mike Gifford for Citizens With Disabilities - Ontario August 10, 2010
Jan 22, 2016
Introduction to Accessibility and Planning an Accessible Website
Presented by Everett Zufelt & Mike Giffordfor
Citizens With Disabilities - Ontario
August 10, 2010
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Achieving Real Accessibility!
What does it mean to have an accessible website?
Who is the target audience of the site? When should you evaluate your site? How do we know when it is accessible enough?
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What is an Accessible Website?
A site where people with disabilities both read & interact like everyone else
One which meets the latest Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - perceivable, operable, understandable & robust
One which has been validated both by automated testing tools but also by people with disabilities
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Standards & Guidelines
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines - (WCAG) Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines -
(ATAG) Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-
ARIA) Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act
(AODA) – still being defined Section 508 – USA federal law – currently being
revised
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Beneficiaries
People with visual, motor/mobility, auditory, photoepileptic seizures, and/or cognitive/ intellectual challenges
Older & injured individuals Mobile technology users Search engines & other data driven machines NOTE: Some accessibility enhancements
benefit some users & disadvantage others
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Planning for Accessibility
For anything more than a tiny site, begin by looking for a CMS with a solid accessible framework
Allow time to find accessibility problems & report them back to be resolved
Requires a more integrated approach to web development, identify your team early & allow time to train them properly
Do not allow accessibility to be an afterthought of project implementation
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Designing for Accessibility
In working with your designer, ensure that the colour pallet they propose has good contrast
Ensure that your design includes skip links & easy means to resize the text up to 200%
Valid Standards Compliant xHTML/CSS should be considered a minimum requirement
Don't use Flash for any design or navigational elements, unless there is an equivalent alternative
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Evaluate Your Site Early & Often
Design & layout – choices of colours & fonts Theme development – valid xHTML structure Pre-launch – automated accessibility review Content review & training – content is still king Focus groups – review by members with
disabilities Looking ahead – user interaction, adoption of
new technologies
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What Type of Site Do You Want?
Informational – are you looking to support more than just anonymous users?
Interactive & Web 2.0 – will you need lots of web forms & Rich Internet Applications?
Design – colours, graphics & dynamic elements all affect accessibility, what do you want it to look like?
Content – are you creating your site from scratch, enhancing an existing site, or migrating content from an existing site?
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Involving Developers
Many web development companies will promise you that they will make your website accessible or meet requirements without full understanding
Some content management systems have accessibility statements but this will not mean that they are accessible
It is worth while seeking a 3rd party opinion on what a system provides & what a developer has created for you
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Questions for Developers
What is your approach to accessibility? How do you deal with conflicting needs of
different user communities? Where have you seen conflicts between
usability & accessibility requirements? Do you work with people with disabilities? How do you evaluate new technology for
accessibility concerns? Are your sites reviewed with a screen reader?
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Evaluating CMS's
Look to see if there is an active community looking at accessibility issues for this product
Run any demo software through basic automated accessibility tools
Look specifically at form elements & how any interactive pages are managed
Review the administration side for potential accessibility challenges
How accessibility friendly are extensions & plug-ins?
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Ongoing Steps
Training the staff who are producing the content about accessibility issues is critical
Filtering new content for accessibility concerns & reading level is advised
Asking for input from your community on accessibility is great
Technological change continues to push accessibility requirements, it's never all done
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Additional Links
Citizens With Disabilities - Ontario: http://cwdo.org
WebAIM's Articles: http://webaim.org/articles
Web Accessibility Initiative: http://w3.org/WAI
Everett Zufelt: http://zufelt.ca
Mike Gifford: http://openconcept.ca