Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product (e.g., device, service, environment) is accessible by as many people as possible, and the ventures to produce accessible products and services. Accessibility is often used to focus on people with disabilities and their right of access to entities, often through use of assistive technology.
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Accessibility from the Ground Up
This accessibility thing sure is catching on. And it’s ready for prime time. Yes, Web accessibility is growing up.
May, Matt. Digital Web Magazine (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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An Accessibility Frontier: Cognitive Disabilities and Learning Difficulties
With this paper... we are primarily concerned with the problems people with cognitive and learning difficulties might have when using the web and offering a few practical suggestions on how these problems might be addressed.
Hudson, Roger, Russ Weakley and Peter Firminger. Usability.com.au (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Cognitive Psychology
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The Accessibility Hat Trick: Getting Abbreviations Right
AAA-level compliance is the ideal of accessibility, the bonus-round of accessible design: AAA-level compliant pages meet the needs of every group of users. AAA is achievable, but requires preparation and forethought.
Lieberman, Colin. List Apart, A (2006). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Accessibility Humanized: A User-Centred Approach to Web Accessibility
Most web developers act in blindness when they design accessible websites, since they know next to nothing about disabled people and the technology they use. Accessibility guidelines and validation tools doesn't provide this insight. Accessibility should rather be approached from a user centred perspective.
Olsen, Henrik. GUUUI (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>User Centered Design
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The next time you open a Web browser, try this: don’t use your mouse. Use your keyboard to navigate through your favorite site. You may very well find that keyboard navigation is not at all straightforward. On Yahoo.com, for example, you must press the Tab key over 75 times to get to all the options on the home page, and you must press the Tab key 10 times just to get to the main Search frame. Many sites, such as those that extensively use Macromedia Flash, aren’t accessible using the keyboard at all. The problems described here are problems of accessibility. In some cases, relatively minor changes can make the difference between an information design that can be used by anyone and a design that excludes people with certain disabilities – or preferences.
Birge, Colin. EServer (2001). Design>Accessibility>Web Design
#26626
A strict focus on accessibility as a scorecard item doesn't help users with disabilities. To help these users accomplish critical tasks, you must adopt a usability perspective.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
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Accessibility Links and Resources
An annotated collection of dozens of online resources in web accessibilty.
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This paper identifies challenges for a user–centered design process with respect to infusing accessible design practices into electronic and information technology product development. Initially, it emphasizes that when user–centered design is paramount and concurrent with accessible design, electronic and information technology can be accessible for all. Next, it provides an overview of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Section 508. Last, it provides basic accessible design heuristics that can be integrated into the design process. It concludes with recommendations for a paramount and concurrent user–centered design approach to product development.
Reece, Gloria A. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Accessibility>Usability
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Accessibility Meets Usability: Designing for Multimedia Using Digital Storytelling 
Initially, this article provides an overview of digital storytelling that describes its uses, technology, a methodology for creating a digital story, tips for creating a digital story, assessment strategies for digital stories, and links to current examples of digital stories. Next, this article recounts the third author's first experience with digital story-telling, in the context of helping children with hearing loss adopt a more positive frame of reference toward their disability. It describes the storyboarding process, explains how writing is still a primary concern, and gives some valuable advice concerning the pros and cons of dabbling in high- technology. Last it discusses accessibility and usability requirements for digital stories.
Reece, Gloria A. and Judy Vinegar. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Multimedia>Usability
#26788
Accessibility of AJAX Applications
AJAX is a smorgasbord of web technologies put together to allow dynamic client-server interactions to occur in web applications without requiring pages to reload or refresh. AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. AJAX itself is not a technology--it is a combination of technologies used in a certain way.
WebAIM (2006). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Ajax
#22971
Accessibility of Online Chat Programs
This article will evaluate the accessibility of three types of popular synchronous communication tools: IRC, Web-based chats and instant messengers.
WebAIM (2003). Articles>Collaboration>Accessibility>Online
#22974
Accessibility of the Internet in Postsecondary Education: Meeting the Challenge
This article explores the many-faceted nuances of the challenge of trying to make Web content accessible in higher education. It includes an analysis of the seriousness of the problems that students face as well as an optimistic vision for the future.
Rowland, Cyndi. WebAIM (2000). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#22939
Accessibility of UK Government Web Sites Investigated
The UK’s first e-Minister, Patricia Hewitt, gave a commitment in February 2001 that all new government websites should be accessible. Two years later, UK government sites are a long way from being accessible.
Accessify (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>United Kingdom
#22946
It pains me to say that pretty much any computer user with a relevant disability ought to be using Windows, not a Mac.
Clark, Joe. Tidbits (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Macintosh
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Accessibility on the Web: A Brief Overview
In order to make your website as accessible as possible, not only to users with disabilities, but also to those with slow connections, or different browsers or operating systems, the best guidelines to follow are those offered by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative.
McCarthy, Dave. TechDis (2001). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Accessibility or Design Integrity
This paper presents two sides of a debate over user-controlled text sizing of Web-based documents, and a suggested approach for designing Web sites that support full use of user-controlled text sizing, while maintaining the integrity of a site’s visual design.
Payne, John and Phil Oye. STC Proceedings (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
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Accessibility has come a long way. Not only most public places but even many private areas now claim to be 'accessible'. However, this term usually implies that a person in a wheelchair is able to get to the inside of a venue. This is not enough. If I am using a wheelchair, I would like to be completely autonomous and move around freely. I don’t want to have to go along a long dark corridor to use a service lift in order to get to another floor. Although I always appreciate it, I don’t want to have to count on the generosity of passersby to help me open a door or push my wheelchair up a slope. My only wish is to blend in with other people, and enjoy life as much as anyone else.
Vais, Fabien. STC Proceedings (2003). Design>Accessibility>User Centered Design>Universal Usability
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Accessibility Testing on a Budget
How do you find out how your site sounds? Without dipping in to the wallet, here are some suggestions about how you can test your pages.
Accessify (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Visual
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Accessibility Testing: Case History of Blind Testers of Enterprise Software 
How do software companies evaluate whether accessibility criteria mandated by law are met? Confirmation is often provided by filling out a checklist. However, the method used for determining compliance to the checklist is not specified. Typically the task of filling out the checklist is done by accessibility specialists, usability professionals, quality assurance testers, or, in one case we know of, the development team that wrote the software. We have conducted several types of accessibility evaluations, walkthroughs, and testing with scenarios by sighted test participants and testing by blind test participants. While testing with blind participants takes considerable preparation time, we have uncovered important findings that were not revealed with sighted participants. We consider accessibility testing by blind participants an important component of our evaluations.
Bayer, Nancy L. and Lisa Pappas. Technical Communication Online (2006). Articles>Accessibility>Testing>Visual
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Developers put a lot of effort into ensuring their sites can be viewed in outdated browsers, but all too often ignore newer browsers, or worse still, a whole range of visitors. Accessibility means access to information for all. Information to all, regardless of the device used to view the document, or abilities of the visitor. You're extremely proud of your latest masterpiece. The choice of colours is striking, the layout fits perfectly on your screen, but how does it look on a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)? How does it look to a colour-blind visitor? Does it read correctly using assistive technologies, such as screen reading software? Can a visitor navigate the site without the use of a mouse? Is the site usable when JavaScript and images are switched off in the browser?
Lemon, Gez. Juicy Studio. Design>Web Design>Accessibility>JavaScript
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A collection of tutorials to help web designers understand accessibility issues.
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This page shows the user a view of how people with various visual disabilities would experience a website. Includes colour blindness, Diabetic Retinothopy, Cataracts, Macular degeneration and Glaucoma.
Aylward, Rhona. Alpha Squared (2004). Resources>Web Design>Accessibility
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Accessibility, Web Standards, and Authoring Tools
It's been a long trip, but we’re almost out of the dark. We finally have browsers that offer substantial support for several technologies established by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and other standards bodies. Designers and developers can use many core features of XHTML and CSS and sometimes DHTML without worrying about the hazards of cross–browser chicanery. As browsers have evolved, it’s become easier to comply with the W3C’s Web Accessibility initiative (WAI) and, in the United States, with the amendments to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1974 (commonly called “Section 508”).
Schmitt, Christopher. List Apart, A (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Standards
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Accessibility: The Politics of Design
Herrell deconstructs the new U.S. accessibility regulations and their implications for web designers everywhere. Part of our ongoing series on accessibility in web design.
Herrell, Alan. List Apart, A (2001). Design>Accessibility>Web Design
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Accessible And Attractive Websites
And, as a result, selling the concept is never all that easy. Sure, you can harp on about all the 'business benefits' (potential increased audienced, reduced bandwidth costs, good PR), but what you really need to be able to do is show that it's possible to do this without compromising on the design. That's often where the problems begin.
Lloyd, Ian. SitePoint (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
