1 Testing Web site Accessibility Review of disabilities, legislation & techniques

1

Testing Web site Accessibility

Review of disabilities, legislation & techniques

2

What we’ll cover

Web accessibility overviewAccessibility toolsBreak out sessionSummarise findingsAccessibility toolkit

3

Web Accessibility Overview

DisabilitiesLegislationICT Compliance

4

What is Web site Accessibility?

Assistive technologies TTS (text-to-speech) browsersText-only browsersVoice-enabled browsersKeyboard or mouse commandsBraille devicesScreen magnification

5

Why is it Important?

More people accessing the webDisabled : 10% to 20%Average age of population in many countries is increasingCarry-over benefits for other usersLegal requirements

6

Disabilities

Low VisionHearingMotor SkillsCognitive AbilitiesLow Grade Technology

7

Low Vision

Background colourContrastColour scheme can be over-riddenAvoid GraphicsItalicsUnderlineCAPITALISATION

8

Hearing

CaptionsTranscripts

9

Motor Skills

Key Tabs <IMG SRC="banner.gif" ALT="Navigation banner" WIDTH="580" HEIGHT="21"BORDER="0" usemap="#bannermap“>

<MAP NAME="bannermap“> <AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="internal.html" ALT="Employee information" COORDS="506,2 577,18" TABINDEX=“3“>

<AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="news.html" ALT="News and events" COORDS="186,2 303,18" TABINDEX="1“>

<AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="searches.html" ALT="Search" COORDS="311,2 475,18" TABINDEX="2"> </MAP>

10

Cognitive Abilities

Use clear languageSimple NavigationWrite for the webUse non-text examples

11

Low Grade Technology

BandwidthOld MachinesOld Browsers

12

Legislation

HistoryWhat’s Affected?Responsibilities

13

Legislation History

Disability Discrimination Act of 1995Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001

01 September 2002‘Reasonable Adjustments’

Assistive TechnologiesAccessible Services

14

What’s Affected - Accessible ICT

Departmental, Faculty, Institutional Web sitesIntranetsVLEs & MLEsInformation GatewaysResource portalsWeb-based applicationsany digital resource

15

Responsibilities – in theory

‘Reasonable Adjustments’

16

Responsibilities – in practice

Validate using available toolsW3C Guideline compliantAccessibility Policy in place

17

Accessibility Tools

Preliminary ReviewConformance EvaluationAutomated Evaluation

18

Preliminary Review

Turn off imagesTurn off soundChange font sizeSet screen resolutionChange display colourUse tab keys

19

Conformance Evaluation

Images & animations Image mapsMultimedia/Scripts & appletsHypertext linksPage organisationFramesTables

20

Validation ToolsW3C Validation Service

HTML and CSS validation servicehttp://validator.w3.org

Bobby CASTAutomated Accessibility service

http://www.cast.org/bobby

Lynx CheckerA tool that simulates a text-based web browser

http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

VischeckA tool that simulates colour-blindness

http://vischeck.com/vischeckURL.php3

21

Break out session

Your HE WebsiteSelect 3 key pages (home, prospectus, other)

Preliminary ReviewConformance EvaluationAutomated Evaluation

22

Techniques to keep in mind

Provide text equivalents for all non-text elementsProvide summaries of tablesOrganise content clearlyProvide alternative content for all plug-in elements

23

Accessibility Policy

We are committed to ensuring accessibility of our Web sites for people with disabilities. New and updated Web content produced by us organization will conform to W3C/WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, Conformance Level A…

24

Web site help

25

Prioritise Compliance

Home page and high-traffic pagesAll new pagesMedium-traffic pages longer-term goal of overall compliance

26

Accessibility Toolkit

Resources handoutWeb site evaluation checklist

Preliminary reviewConformance evaluationAutomated evaluation

27

Thank youQuestions…?