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Internet Accessibility

* Introduction * Education * ISO Standards * Web Standards * Section 508 * W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative * Accessibility Tools and Validators * Usability * Reading Web Pages * Web Site Design * Accessible PDF Files * Browser Detection * Tools for Cleaning Your HTML * Accessibility / Disability Logos and Graphics

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Introduction

This page contains information about making the Internet accessible. Web Accessibility problems may involve

Cognitive
Reading disorders, learning disabilities, reading disabilities, thinking, remembering, sequencing disabilities, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Useability will be enhanced with illustrations, good graphics, organized content with headings, and visual cues for navigation.
Hearing
Deafness and hard of hearing. Users may need assistive technology to read audio transcripts or view fully captioned multimedia content.
Motor
Physical disabilities, lack of a digit or hand, epilepsy, or short stature. Users may have limited strength, reach or manipulation, tremor, lack of sensation, inability to use a mouse, slow response time, or lack of fine muscle control. Users may need to use assistive technology to adapt the computer interface to their disability such as mouth sticks to type keyboard commands; eye-tracking software that uses eye movement for computer commands; height control for desktops, chairs, and keyboards; keyboards with raised ridges in-between the keys; and voice input.
Speech
Voice input, speech output, inability to speak, stutter, strong foreign accent, or speech impediment. Users may require an environmental noise filter to hear correctly, high quality noise-cancellation technology of the sound card and/or microphone, a faster CPU with enough memory for processing the speech without slowing it down, the ability to enter foreign words and phrases, technical and scientific terms, or other speech that is easily recognized by the software, or the user needs to pause mid-sentence to catch his/her breath or read from a manuscript.
Visual
Blindness, low vision, color-blindness, and lack of color perception. Users may require the use of a screen-reader application to feed Braille or text-to-speech browsers. Screen-reader applications read a Web page one line at a time, horizontally across the page. Screen readers may also be used by sighted users who don't have sound on their computer or who don't want to turn sound on in public places such as airplanes, libraries, or office cubicles.
Combination of disabilities
Deafblindness. Users may need a variety of input and output devices.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 750 million people with disabilities world wide. According to the U.S. Census, 54 million of these live in the United States and about 25 million of these have difficulty accessing the Internet. It is estimated that this population in the U.S. controls a discretionary income over $175 billion annually. Therefore, people with disabilities can have a powerful economic impact on several segments of the economy. With the aging Baby Boomers, these numbers will increase accessibility needs and their affluence will have a strong affect on market share for accessible devices and business' return on investment (ROI) to provide accessible products and work environments.

 

PDF Note:  Some hypertext links may take you to Portable Document Format (PDF) files. See the PDF File Information in About This Site for how to download and install the free Acrobat® Reader™ plug-in for your browser.

Offsite Links Note:  All offsite links open in a new browser window.

Reference Books and Resources

There are several excellent books about creating and maintaining accessible Web pages. See the suggested reading list for general information and detailed reference books for your library that relate to the accessibility and usability of web pages.

See the Resources page for links to the Internet Accessibility / Usability section of the Resources pages.

Disclaimer

The AccessAbility SIG does not diagnose, prescribe, or endorse. We simply provide information to those who want it. For more information about product endorsements and other disclaimers, please see our Legal Information page.

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Education

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ISO Standards

Richard N. P. Hodgkinson, Fellow of the U.K. ISTC (Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators), is the editor for two new ISO standards related to usability, accessibility, and systems software documentation:

  • ISO/TS 16071: "Ergonomics of human-system interaction — Guidance on accessibility for human-computer interfaces"

    Please complete the requirements survey and help shape an international standard that will add accessibility to the basic quality standards that are applied to online documents.
  • ISO/IEC FDIS 18019:2003(E): "Software and systems engineering — Guidelines for the design and preparation of user documentation for application software"

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Web Standards

Founded in 1998, The Web Standards Project (WaSP) fights for standards that reduce the cost and complexity of development while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability of any site published on the Web. We work with browser companies, authoring tool makers, and our peers to deliver the true power of standards to this medium. They also have a tutorial for Accessible HTML/XHTML Forms: Beginner Level.

The Web Standards Group is a resource site and discussion list for "web designers & developers who are interested in web standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT etc.) and best practices (accessible sites using valid and semantically correct code)."

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U.S. Government Section 508 Website Accessibility Guidelines

  • Section 508 government Courses and resources. The 508 Universe offers a series of interactive web-based tutorials on different sections of the 508 standards, such as how to create accessible web sites and how to plan an accessible conference.
  • Section508.gov provides government resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508 for Federal employees and the public. This site is from the Center for IT Accommodation (CITA), Office of Governmentwide Policy, U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
  • The Access Board an independent Federal agency devoted to accessibility for people with disabilities.
  • "Final Rules: Federal Acquisition Regulations; Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility, Federal Register FAC 97-27, 25 April 2001 (Volume 66, Number 80)" (48 K PDF file) for the Department of Defense (DoD), General Services Administration (GSA), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council (Councils) have agreed on a final rule amending the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) to implement Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Subsection 508(a)(3) requires the FAR to be revised to incorporate standards developed by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (also referred to as the "Access Board").

    …The common thread among these regulations is a provision that requires reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities; program accessibility; effective communication with people who have hearing or vision disabilities; and accessible new construction and alterations. For instance, the provision of interpreting services for deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind Federal employees could be an element of an agency's ability to satisfy their obligation under Sections 504 and 501. The provisions of Section 508 will ensure that the software procured and used by an agency is compatible with screen reading technology or other technologies that a blind individual could use to access the information.

  • "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998: Final Rule" also available in a PDF (344 K PDF file) 80500 Federal Register (Vol. 65, No. 246), Thursday, December 21, 2000. Rules and Regulations from the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board. See section 1194.21 for information specific to software accessibility.
  • 1998 Amendment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 U.S.C. 794d), as amended by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-220), August 7, 1998.
  • Also see the U.S. Government Website Accessibility Guidelines. This is an annotated table created to assist NASA webmasters in the goal of making all Government websites accessible to persons with disabilities.
  • Section 508 online training for Webmasters.
  • "Section 508 Guidelines for RoboHelp Authors" paper by Lori Gillen (82 K PDF file)
  • The benefits of Web Standards to your visitors, your clients and you!
  • STC Boston Chapter Program Report Making Documentation Accessible presented by Mike Paciello. Report by Anne Kinsella, 22 January 2003.
  • U.S. Government Website Accessibility Guidelines. This is an annotated table created to assist NASA webmasters in the goal of making all Government websites accessible to persons with disabilities.

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W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative

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Accessibility Tools and Validators

Inaccessible Website Demonstration

An Inaccessible Website Demonstration has been put together by the Disability Rights Commission, a UK Government organisation. The demo gives you a flavour of the kind of difficulties a range of disabled visitors can face. The demonstrations make a few suggestions on improving accessibility. [United Kingdom]

Forrester Accessibility Reviews

Search Web accessibility reviews Forresster Research, Inc. is an independent technology and market research company that provides advice about technology's impact on business and consumers. Reports are available to the public at no cost. Their accessibility test category provides reports about Web sites that fail accessibility testing. Other categories in their technology research are customer experience and user interface design.

Tools

See also: Internet Accessibility / Usability resources.

Accessibility Browser Extensions, Favelets, and Toolbars
Accessibility Favelets. Accessify offers useful downloadable scripts (such as converting abbreviations and acronyms) to help you check web pages easily.
Accessibility Validator, HTML Validator, Spell Checker, Link Checker all in one tool! The Total Validator is a free one-stop validator or all-in-one validator comprising an HTML validation against the W3C Markup Specifications or ISO/IEC definition using the published DTDs (2.0, 3.2, 4.0, 4.01, ISO/IEC, XHTML 1.0 and 1.1), an accessibility validator that validates against the W3C WAI Accessibility Guidelines and US Section 508 Standard, a spelling validator (English, French, Italian, Spanish), a broken links validator, and the ability to take screenshots with different browsers to see what your web pages really look like.

Total Validator Tool - the Online tool that allows you to check up to 5 pages at a time.

Firefox Extension for the Total Validator Tool - the Online tool that allows you to check up to 5 pages at a time.

Total Validator Desktop Tool - the FREE desktop tool that checks one page.

Total Validator Desktop Tool Pro - the Pro desktop tool (GB£20, approx US$36, or €29) that allows you to check a whole site in one go - includes a Firefox extension. (Runs on Mac OS X 10.4+; Windows XP, 2000, 2003; and Linux supporting Java 1.5+)

aDesigner is a disability simulator that helps Web designers ensure that their pages are accessible and usable by the visually impaired. aDesigner also helps users to check accessibility of ODF documents and Flash content. It also has accessibility information (MSAA/IA2) inspection functions. Developed by the IBM - Tokyo Research Center. Download from http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/adesigner/download
Cynthia Says
Cynthia Says Portal logoCynthia Says is a web-based and desktop tool that analyzes web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities. It is endorsed by the American Council of the Blind (ACB). Cynthia Says identifies errors in design related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines. The online tool tests one page at a time. The AccVerify Professional 2005 Edition desktop version costs $495.00 and tests complete Web sites in batch (Windows platform only). Purchases made will contribute $5 to the American Council of the Blind. The Cynthia Says Portal is a joint education and outreach project of the Internet Society Disability and Special Needs Chapter (ISDSN), HiSoftware, and the International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI).
 
Test Your Site Now


for example, http://www.isocdisab.org/









Firefox Accessibility Extension (FAE) supports people with disabilities and Web developers in navigating, styling, and accessing text equivalents that are useful to people with disabilities. Developers can use the tool to test their Web resources for functional accessibility features based on the iCITA HTML Best Practices. Developed by Dr. Jon Gunderson, (Illinois Center for Information Technology Accessibility (ICITA)). Download from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/5809
Graybit.com is an online accessibility testing tool designed to visually convert a full-color Web page into a grayscale rendition for the purpose of visually testing the page's perceived contrast.
LinkChecker Addon for Firefox checks the validity of links on any Web page. LinkChecker ncludes ability to check selected links, avoid checking links on an customizable keyword exclusion list, and adjustable link highlight colors. There's also a toolbar button that can be added for easier access to LinkChecker. Just right click on your toolbar, choose "Customize" and look for the button with the underlined blue check. LinkChecker is by Kevin Freitas. Download from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/532
Firefox Page Validator Extension. Validates the current webpage using W3C's website validation service. By right-clicking and selecting "Validate Page", a new tab will open with validation results. Similarly this can be done from the Tools menu. Download from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2250
Firefox RSS Validator Extension. Validates a page using the W3C RSS Validator. Adds an option to the right-click context menu and to the Tools menu to allow for easy validation of the RSS feed. Opens the results in a new tab. The RSS feed must be opened in the browser window for this extension to work. Download from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2294
Opera Voice - Opera Software ASA - Opera with Voice allows you to control Opera's interface by talking to the browser. Any ordinary browser command can be done by voice, such as navigating to and following the next link in a document, going to the next slide in an Opera Show presentation, or logging on to a password protected Web site. Opera can also read from documents. Opera FAQ: Opera is not currently recommended as a replacement for screen readers, though Voice may be an appealing feature for those with residual vision. Download from http://www.opera.com/products/desktop/voice/ (Note: Voice is not currently available for Mac OS X.)
TAW3 with a click The TAW (Web Accessibility Test) analysis engine is available as different tools. TAW3 standalone, TAW3 Web Start, and TAW3 with a click. TAW3 with a click is a Firefox extension that allows to verify, with just a click, the accessibility of the Web sites that you are visiting, by means of the TAW3 online service. By Fundación CTIC. Download TAW3 with a click from https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1158
Usablenet Assistive (UA) creates a dynamically generated, text-only, and accessible (compliant with standards such as ADA, Section 508, W3C, etc) view of a company's entire web site and services. UA is not a 'second' site, but instead creates a dynamic accessible view of the main site that always reflects the most up-to-date content and services. As the main site changes constantly (in the way of enterprise web sites), each and every change is dynamically reflected in the accessible view created by the UA platform. UA requires no client technical or web development resources. No re-coding. UA is a fully managed service that requires no infrastructure, maintenance, updating, or administration. For an example of Usablenet Assistive, see the Text-Only view of the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), Education, Research, and Service Web site.
Web Accessibility Toolbar (WAT) for Windows Internet Explorer. The Web Accessibility Toolbar is provided by the Accessible Information Solutions (AIS) team of Vision Australia. WAT for IE aids manual examination of Web pages for a variety of aspects of accessibility. It provides a range of functions that identify components of a Web page, facilitate the use of 3rd-party online applications, simulate user experiences, and provide links to references and additional resources. Download from http://www.visionaustralia.org.au/info.aspx?page=1569
Web Accessibility Toolbar (WAT) for Windows Opera. The Web Accessibility Toolbar is provided by the Web Accessibility Tools Consortium. WAT for Opera aids manual examination of Web pages for a variety of aspects of accessibility. It provides a range of functions that identify components of a web page, facilitate the use of 3rd-party online applications, and provide links to references and additional resources. Please Note: Some of the toolbar functions will only work when you are connected to the Internet as the functionality accesses Javascript (.js) Style Sheet (.css) and Image (.jpg and .gif) files located on the WAT-C server or uses third-party Web-based services (For example, W3C HTML Validator). Download from http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/wat-about.html
Web Accessibility Toolbar DE. WAT is now available in German. Download from http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/WAT/WAT20-de.exe
Web Accessibility Toolbar ES. WAT is now available in Spanish. Download from http://www.wat-c.org/WAT/versions/es/WAT_ES_1.2.exe
Web Accessibility Toolbar (WAT) in other languages. Download for: English, Danish, German, Korean, Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.
Web Accessibility Tools Consortium - collection of free tools for developers and designers for accessible Web content development and testing.
Web Developer Extension. The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar to the browser with various Web developer tools. It is designed for Firefox, Flock, Mozilla, and Seamonkey, and will run on any platform that those browsers support including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The extension provides very helpful Web developer tools including accessibility and code validators, Edit CSS, code outliners, display features, and much more. By Chris Pederick. Download from: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/60
LIFT Server
LIFT Machine automates the Web site analysis process, which means Web designers can focus on the repair work that must be done to make a site accessible. Through its integration with Dreamweaver and FrontPage, the LIFT Machine makes it easier to learn and incorporate accessibility principles as new content is being created, thus saving time in the production process.
LYNX Validators
Check out your site with a text-based browser at: http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html
Yellowpipe Lynx Viewer Tool. RightLynx displays a Lynx view of a Web page with a right-click or Tool menu (RightLynx opens in a new, small window), preview the page you are on with a Lynx Viewer. Note: This extension cannot run locally unless it embeds the whole Lynx browser. It's a *real* Lynx viewer, not an extension that simply strips HTML tags. By Yellowpipe Web Hosting. Download from: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1944
Validating an entire site
Installing the W3C HTML Validator on Mac OS X
Watchfire® Bobby, WebXACT, and WebXM
As of February 1, 2008 the Watchfire WebXact and Bobby Online products will no longer be publicly available. As an IBM Company, Watchfire will continue to invest in accessibility through the IBM Rational Policy Tester Accessibility Edition solution (previously WebXM Accessibility Module). More... http://www.watchfire.com/products/webxm/bobby.aspx
Adobe accessibility
Adobe Accessibility Resource Center. Need your Web site Section 508 compliant? Get information and tools to make your web pages accessible, including the ability to test your Acrobat, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Flash, and Shockwave files.
Professional help
Electronic and Information Technology (E&IT) Accessibility – TecAccess is an SBA 8(a), Small Disadvantaged Business (SDB) certified, and woman-owned company in Rockville, Virginia. The company provides comprehensive solutions for Section 508 Compliance and E&IT Accessibility needs. TecAccess helps companies become Section 508 compliant and assists companies in making products, services, and websites accessible and usable. They provide a complete suite of compliance and accessibility solutions that can be tailored to best meet an organization's needs. Solutions include
  • Section 508 compliance planning
  • Section 508 assessment and testing
  • Accessibility and compliance testing
  • Accessibility and compliance training
  • Section 501, 504 and 508 consulting
  • Engineering and reengineering services
  • Focus groups
  • Document conversion and form accessibility

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Tools for Cleaning Your HTML

Non-standard HTML very often causes problems for screen readers. Run your site through an HTML checker. HTML 4.0 includes accessibility standards.

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Usability

STC Usability SIG

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Reading Web Pages

Improving Usability for Lower-Literacy Users

From Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox, March 14, 2005: "Lower literacy is different than illiteracy: people with lower literacy can read, but they have difficulties doing so. The most notable difference between lower- and higher-literacy users is that lower-literacy users can't understand a text by glancing at it. They must read word for word and often spend considerable time trying to understand multi-syllabic words. Lower-literacy users focus exclusively on each word and slowly move their eyes across each line of text. In other words, they 'plow' the text, line by line. This gives them a narrow field of view and they therefore miss objects outside the main flow of the text they're reading. Unlike higher-literacy users, lower-literacy users don't scan text. ...Lower-literacy users tend to satisfice—accept something as 'good enough'—based on very little information because digging deeper requires too much reading, which is both challenging and time consuming....In addition, having to scroll breaks lower-literacy users' visual concentration because they can't use scanning to find the place they left off. Finally, search creates problems for lower-literacy users...

...The main and most obvious advice is to simplify the text: use text aimed at a 6th grade reading level on the homepage, important category pages, and landing pages. On other pages, use text geared to an 8th grade reading level. You can also improve your site's usability for lower-literacy users in several other ways": Prioritize information, avoid text that moves or changes, streamline the page design, simplify navigation, optimize search. More...

Reading Tools

The following is a list of tools you can use to check the readability of Web pages. For more information about screen readers and how font family choices affect the accessibility of Web pages, see the Visual area of focus. Also, examples of how some popular fonts look on the screen are shown in the Font Comparisons table.

  • A search engine that talks Speegle™. Speakers or headphones are required to hear the results of searches. Users may specify male or female voice and verbosity.
  • How does a Screen Reader Work? http://www.blind.state.ia.us/access/how.htm.
  • "How a blind person will 'see' your web page... http://www.humanfactors.com/downloads/chocolateaudio.asp Listen to the differences between an accessible Web page and an inaccessible Web page. (Requires MP3 or Windows Media Player for the audio files.)
  • Screen Access For All (SAFA), Screen reader in Indian languages
  • Web Talkster software application for Windows that gives you the option of having the browser "talk" the text content of a Web page, speak the clipboard content or the selected text by simply clicking the "Play/ Speak" button. In simple language, it is a talking Web browser. The software has been tested and "talks" most formats of Web sites.

The leading screen readers are

  1. Job Access With Speech (JAWS) for Windows® (Freedom Scientific)
  2. MacSpeech DictateUses the Legendary Dragon NaturallySpeaking speech recognition engine, works with other applications you have on your Mac. Won the Macworld Expo Best of Show 2008.
  3. Window-Eyes (GW Micro)
  4. Emacspeak (freeware for Linux; T.V. Raman)
  5. SpeakThis (Fonix)

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Reporting Website Accessibility Problems

The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has set up a four-step Web Accessibility Report Tool form to track and provide solutions for commonly encountered accessibility problems such as pages that don't work when frames, images, scripts, or style sheets are unusable, turned off, or not supported by your browser or page reader. You can help authors correct accessibility problems in their pages—your messages are sent directly to the authors. At the same time you will help WAI understand patterns of inaccessible pages, useful for additions to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

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Web Site Design

Accessible Web Developer's favorites | What About Ajax? | Web Design Tools | Accessible PDF Files | Browser Detection | Design Guidelines | Web Design Articles

Accessible Web Developer's favorites

Public bookmarking provided by Ma.gnolia has an Accessible Web Developers group where anyone may post a favorite bookmark about creating accessible and mobile-friendly sites.

What About Ajax?

Controversy surrounds the use of a new method called "Ajax" for developing Web pages. Ajax stands for "Asynchronous JavaScript + XML". It uses Javascript to dynamically update a Web page such as a form.

There are benefits and problems with accessibility and usability using Ajax.

Some benefits are

  • It is possible to create a more advanced user interface that doesn't refresh the page for every change made by the user.
  • It is possible to validate complex form field data or make server side calculations in a field as the user moves through the form.

Some problems and areas of questions are

  • Javascript must be enabled. Not all users have Javascript enabled.
  • There are only four browsers that support the required XMLHttpRequest object currently: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Mozilla, and Safari.
  • On the Windows platform, ActiveX is also required. Many government agencies and corporations do not have Javascript or ActiveX enabled for security reasons.
  • Forms longer than the window may have updated field alerts out of view. How will users know where on the page a change occurred?
  • Screen readers are linear. Ajax is not linear - it can update individual components of the page. The problems are that screenreaders can't automatically identify what has changed and alert the user or give the user the option to access just the modified elements.
  • JAWS does not read text in elements with display:hidden or visibility:none. Dynamically changing elements will not trigger a re-read of the page in JAWS (the user has to trigger a re-read manually).
  • Many users will find it annoying to be alerted for every field that gets changed as they move through a long form.
  • Colors used in alerts may not be accessible for some types of colorblindness.
  • User's expectations for the operation of the Back button will be affected. User's will not be able to return to the state of the page before a change was made using the Back button.

The following are links for references and resources about Ajax:

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Web Design Tools

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Accessible PDF Files

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Browser Detection

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Design Guidelines

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Web Design Articles

  • Access Matters: Seeking Best Practices is a blog started by Bob Easton.

    Are practices and techniques developed several years ago still valid as web technology evolves? Designers and developers are continuously changing their techniques. As we move away from using tables for layout to using CSS for layout, what accessibility techniques need to be updated? This blog uses a quiz format to seek current best practices. Many, but not all, questions ask about techniques that can be used in designs using CSS for layout. I ask about specific situations and see how the best minds in the industry answer.

  • Cognitive design example The Guardianship Tribunal Web site in Australia provides an extremely interesting example of a Web site that also considers cognitive disabilities. Pages are available in long and short versions as well as "easy click" pages where the links are spaced further apart.
  • Juicy Studio promotes best practices for making Web sites accessible for all.
  • Assistive Technology Centre assistive technology shareware and information/resource sites
  • Mac + Accessibility = Maccessibility
  • W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Statement on Web Access Report from the UK Disability Rights Commission, April, 2004.
  • The Illinois Center for Instructional Technology Accessibility provides developers of web-based instructional materials a resource on how to design their resources to be more accessible to people with disabilities.
  • Access Disabled Assistance Program for Tech Students (ADAPTS) from the Georgia Institute of Technology, provides developers some simple techniques for making your website accessible.
  • There is a new discussion list on Web testing by visually impaired users. The main purpose of this discussion list is to facilitate communication between web page developers and visually impaired users. If you would like to subscribe to this discussion list, just send an empty note to:
  • 92 Accessibility Audits Issue.
    An international perspective on website accessibility. The article, all seven glorious pieces, describes a project which Greytower was involved with during the fall of 2002 and spring of 2003. In short, the Swedish National Audit Office commissioned an examination of government agency websites. The analysis work was done by external consultants. Greytower's task was the WAI audits of, in the end, 92 different websites.
  • Accessible WebHelp
  • Web Accessibility: Not Just a Government Issue. (1.75 MB PDF file) Watchfire Corporation presented this online seminar which was attended by AccessAbility SIG Newsletter Editor, Mike Murray (May 2005). Here is an excerpt from his summary of this worthwhile presentation:
    "... the software can monitor for issues specifically related to Section 508, W3C WCAG, etc., then break down each of those into even more detail. Another thing I like is their approach that accessibility applies not only to people with disabilities, but also to people who access Web content via alternative ways in our mobile, wireless world. Therefore, in addition to "doing the right thing" for people with disabilities, it also makes additional good business sense to get ready as soon as possible for the inevitable evolution of technology."
  • World Wide Web Consortium, Web Accessibility Initiative. This group developed the definitive guidelines for Web accessibility. The site is a very helpful resource for information about planning accessible Web sites. A good summary is available at http://www.w3.org/WAI/wcag-curric/overgid.htm.
  • The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Working Group has released a Working Draft for "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0" based on broad design principles. Following WCAG checkpoints makes Web content accessible to people with disabilities and to users of a variety of Web-enabled devices such as phones, handhelds, kiosks and network appliances.
  • "Intranet Accessibility and Section 508" (167 K PDF file) written by Kathy Bine for the Summer 2002 edition of Usability Interface. Kathy designs on-line help systems and manages projects for ICF Consulting in Fairfax, Virginia. She has facilitated numerous usability studies and co-leads ICF's Section 508 task force.
  • "What Makes a Web Site Accessible?" (177 K PDF file) written by Kim McConnell for the Feb/Mar 2002 issue of the Central Ohio Chapter newsletter. This article focuses on how Web accessibility affects technical communicators. The article was updated in September 2002 to include updated the information about "Bobby", which was acquired by Watchfire. As of February 1, 2008 the Watchfire WebXact and Bobby Online products will no longer be publicly available.
  • "Tips: Designing products (including software) for people with disabilities: http://www.asktog.com/columns/048GoodGrips.html
  • IBM Accessibility Center Contains information on how to make websites accessible as well as build accessible software.
    Of particular interest is Understanding Disability Issues When Designing Web Sites.
  • Microsoft Accessibility Center includes accessibility information for developers.
  • Dive Into Accessibility is a site that provides details on how to code accessible web sites.
  • Read about the web accessibility guidelines used in the MIT ATIC Lab, a lab that provides assistive devices for students, faculty, and staff at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • "Tips: Design for accessible Web sites; Making Web sites available to users with disabilities" by David Mertz, Ph.D., Gnosis Software, Inc., 1 November 2000. Tips for making your Web pages and Web sites accessible to people with disabilities. First, how HTML markup lends itself to accessible pages. Second, find out how to avoid HTML coding "gotchas" that make your pages unnecessarily difficult to use for people with limited vision and mobility. We include an overview of free tools to use in evaluating and improving the accessibility of your site.
  • "World Wide Web Review" from Feminist Collections, vol. 21, no.4 (Summer 2000), by Alexa Schriempf, titled Women and Disability Websites
  • Web browsers comply with Section 508 - Government Computer News Feb. 20, 2006
  • Web's blind spot: Disabled users, by Lisa Vaas, PC Week, April 16, 2000 [No longer available online.]
    This is a good article about how Web site developers are ignoring the issue of making their sites accessible to the disabled.

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Karen Mardahl
A-SIG Co-Manager:
international issues
E-mail:

Lisa Pappas
A-SIG Co-Manager:
strategic planning, administration
E-mail:

 

Karen Mardahl
A-SIG Co-Manager:
international issues
E-mail:

Lisa Pappas
A-SIG Co-Manager:
strategic planning, administration
E-mail:

 

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Last updated: 26 April 2008
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