Accessibility and the Internet
Review written by John
Elmer
Shoreline Community College. April, 2000.
"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
Contents
Applying the ADA to the Internet: A Web Accessibility Standard
Documents: The following on-line documents provide detail of guidelines for creating accessible sites on the WWW.
Techniques For Evaluation And Implementation Of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: W3C Working Draft 15-March-2000 (http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/IG/ert/)
This document describes techniques that Web accessibility validation tools may use to evaluate the conformance of HTML documents to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0). This document also describes techniques that Web authoring tools may use to help authors modify HTML documents to conform to WCAG 1.0. We anticipate that tool developers may develop validation and/or repair modules to be incorporated into commercial authoring tools, validation tools, and perhaps user agents.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 W3C Recommendation 5-May-1999 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/)
These guidelines explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are intended for all Web content developers (page authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility. However, following them will also make Web content more available to all users, whatever user agent they are using (e.g., desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer, etc.) or constraints they may be operating under (e.g., noisy surroundings, under- or over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free environment, etc.). Following these guidelines will also help people find information on the Web more quickly. These guidelines do not discourage content developers from using images, video, etc., but rather explain how to make multimedia content more accessible to a wide audience.
Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 W3C NOTE 5-May-1999
(http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS/)This document is a list of techniques that implement the checkpoints defined in "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0". This document is part of a series of accessibility documents published by the Web Accessibility Initiative.
Accessibility Access Audit Programs: These programs will check specified URL's and provide feedback on potential access issues. While this is an excellent way to begin evaluating a site, it is not a comprehensive evaluation of a site. There are currently two programs available:
Bobby: [Considered the current standard in access audit programs.] at: http://www.cast.org/bobby
Bobby is a web-based tool that analyzes web pages for their accessibility people with disabilities. CAST offers Bobby as a free public service in order to further its mission to expand opportunities for people with disabilities through the innovative uses of computer technology.
The NCAM host a number of important research efforts in the area of accessibility and media, including "convergent media."
Current Projects include:
- Access to Convergent Media Project
- DTV Access Project
- Web Access Project
- CD-ROM Access Project
- Motion Picture Access Project
- Cornerstones Literacy Project
The Web Access Project includes work on captioning and descriptive captioning for the WWW.
NCAM's Access to Convergent Media Project was established in 1999 to address the problems of universal access to the growing body of programming and related services arising from the convergence of television, computer, and internet technologies.
Center for Applied Special Technologies (CAST) Home of "Bobby"
Some of their other projects include
- "Mind, Media and Instructional Design:" A Book and Web Site on Universal Design for Learning
- Various projects on Universal Design
- An excellent set of "Resources" links
International leader in research and development in the area of access and disability. Based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Check their "New and Highlighted Items" Link.
Universal Web Design by Crystal Waters, 1997.
"Every Web designer should read this eye-opener because it deals with accessibility considerations that other books don't. Crystal Waters applies Universal Design principles--designing to be useful to the greatest possible number of users--to the Web. Her examination encourages consideration of whether sites are usable, for example, by people with disabilities (one in five Americans have one) or environmental restrictions. Is an audio-rich site worthwhile to a hearing impaired user, or to a user who must maintain a quiet area? She provides examples and alternatives showing how to widen the reach of a site without losing excitement. The companion CD-ROM includes an array of useful design tools."
Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity by Jakob Nielsen, 1999.
"Creating Web sites is easy. Creating sites that truly meet the needs and expectations of a wide range of online users is quite another story. In Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity, renowned Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen shares his insightful thoughts on the subject. Packed with annotated examples of actual Web sites, this book sets out many of the design precepts all Web developers should follow.
This guide segments discussions of Web usability into page, content, site, and Intranet design. This breakdown skillfully isolates for the reader many subtly different challenges that are often mixed together in other discussions. For example, Nielsen addresses the requirements of viewing pages on varying monitor sizes separately from writing concise text for "scanability." Along the way, the author pulls no punches with his opinions, using phrases like "frames: just say no" to immediately make his feelings known. Fortunately, his advice is some of the best you'll find."
One of the unique aspects of this title is the use of actual statistics to buttress Nielsen's opinions on various techniques and technologies. He includes survey results on sizes of screens, types of queries submitted to search portals, response times by connection type, and more. This book is intended as the first of two volumes--focusing on the "what." The author promises a follow-up title that will show the "hows" and, based on this installation, we can't wait. --Stephen W. Plain Topics covered: Cross-platform design, response time considerations, writing for the Web, multimedia implementation, navigation strategies, search boxes, corporate intranet design, accessibility for disabled users, international considerations, and future predictions.