Web Accessibility
Donna Haugh from UCL gave a talk on web accessibility to my UCL class. It was very concise and very good.
She began by reminding us that accessibility makes sense from a marketing viewpoint - allowing the maximum exposure to our web sites. She also made the point that the law requires reasonable adjustment to be made and did not set an absolute standard - she urged the use of disclaimers and offers of further help if all parts of the web site cannot be entirely accessible. But the offer should be made.
The starting point should be an awareness of how the web can be accessed by those with accessibility problems using assistive technologies. These technologies mean that rollovers and dropdown menus might be particularly difficult. Other common problems include: the tab order as some navigate by using the tab key to find the next link; tables as the order may not be clear in an audio setting; contrast and screen resolution (make sure site looks good using 800 by 600 resolution.
For example, as some people cannot use the mouse, it makes sense to check that the web site works for those using keyboard strokes - so web designers should try out their site using only keyboard strokes to see how it performs.
Other people might use screen readers where the text is turned into speech. One example which can be used for checking a web site is: http://www.soundlinks.com/pwgen.htm
Screen readers depend upon the alt tag in pictures, which should all be tagged with a reasonable description so that those who cannot see the picture can understand what it was about.
To check the site for accessibility issues use Wave http://www.wave.webaim.org/wave/wavetoolbar/mo_install.jsp
or Cynthia says http://www.cynthiasays.com/
For issues of colour blindness use www.vischeck.com which will show what an image will look like given various common colour blindnesses.
Dyslexia best to use short sections of text clearly laid out.
Any mistakes in the above are mine not Donna's!
She began by reminding us that accessibility makes sense from a marketing viewpoint - allowing the maximum exposure to our web sites. She also made the point that the law requires reasonable adjustment to be made and did not set an absolute standard - she urged the use of disclaimers and offers of further help if all parts of the web site cannot be entirely accessible. But the offer should be made.
The starting point should be an awareness of how the web can be accessed by those with accessibility problems using assistive technologies. These technologies mean that rollovers and dropdown menus might be particularly difficult. Other common problems include: the tab order as some navigate by using the tab key to find the next link; tables as the order may not be clear in an audio setting; contrast and screen resolution (make sure site looks good using 800 by 600 resolution.
For example, as some people cannot use the mouse, it makes sense to check that the web site works for those using keyboard strokes - so web designers should try out their site using only keyboard strokes to see how it performs.
Other people might use screen readers where the text is turned into speech. One example which can be used for checking a web site is: http://www.soundlinks.com/pwgen.htm
Screen readers depend upon the alt tag in pictures, which should all be tagged with a reasonable description so that those who cannot see the picture can understand what it was about.
To check the site for accessibility issues use Wave http://www.wave.webaim.org/wave/wavetoolbar/mo_install.jsp
or Cynthia says http://www.cynthiasays.com/
For issues of colour blindness use www.vischeck.com which will show what an image will look like given various common colour blindnesses.
Dyslexia best to use short sections of text clearly laid out.
Any mistakes in the above are mine not Donna's!
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