#212 – S. Mone & J. Lee

Video to be posted soon…

Session 212:  Creating Accessible Web Sites

Sharon Mone & Josh Lee

The speed of change in the world.

Changes in how we get our news and other information.

The internet

Disabilities and access to news and information

Web Sites:  Importance in today’s world.

Barriers to use for people with disabilities

Accessibility:  Guidelines, policy, and law

Guidelines:  POUR

Perceivable

Operable

Understandable

Robust

Principles of Accessible Design:

Images:  alt text tag; put image in background, using CSS, so doesn’t interrupt HTML flow

Josh presented and explained sample html source code for examples.

Headings for data tables;  CSS is better option for tabular info.

Ensure users can complete & submit all forms..  Try not to use Javascript.

Ensure links make sense out of context.

Caption and/or provide transcripts for media

Lay out pages to facilitate using screen readers.

Using anchor tags for elements to allow user to skip ahead.

Use Cascading Style Sheets

Don’t rely on color alone to convey meaning.

Content should be clearly written and easy to read.

Making Javascript accessible

“Progressive Enhancement” involves making the site work for everyone at the beginning.  Then can add javascript features.  And don’t use Flash.

Design to Standards:  WWW Consortium publishes standards.

Can test accessibility of your site:  Available testing web sites.

Wave.Webaim.org

Presentation was interspersed with questions for m audience, all of which were addressed by the presenters.

Popular Screenreaders: Most popular is Jaws, available at UVM.

Demonstrated site accessibility testing using WAVE.

Also, www.contentquality.com which also includes the standards for accessibility.

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