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.
#27415
A Journey Through Accessibility
Identifies web accessibility problems throughout the web generations, and summarises where we are now, and what we can expect for the future.
Scano, Roberto. Juicy Studio (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#27663
Denne boka vil besvare to spørsmål. Det første spørsmålet er «Hvorfor bør jeg gjøre nettstedet mitt mer tilgjengelig?» Om du ikke har et nettsted, så er ikke denne boka for deg. Det andre spørsmålet er «Hvordan kan jeg gjøre nettstedet mitt mer tilgjengelig?» Er du ikke overbevist av svaret på det første spørsmålet, vil du nok ikke være interessert i det andre.
Pilgrim, Mark. Dive Into Accessibility (2002). (Norwegian) Books>Web Design>Accessibility
#22963
Keyboard Accessibility Techniques
Keyboard accessibility is one of the most important aspects of disability access. Blind people generally cannot use a mouse because they cannot see where to click. They use their keyboard almost exclusively.
WebAIM (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#29657
Landmarks, Links, and Search Engines: Designing Websites for Sex and Gender Navigation Differences 
Although there is myriad research on the Internet and the web, there is limited research on sex and gender differences in web use, especially regarding navigating websites. As a step towards understanding possible differences, I draw from an extensive research study on sex and gender differences in web use. From this study, I present three key areas of sex differences in web navigation and two key areas of gender differences. Along with these differences, I provide several implications for web design. I recommend technical communicators consider not only these differences, but other possible differences to better create truly 'users'-centered design.
Bowie, Jennifer L. STC Proceedings (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Gender
#19349
The more time I spend browsing various Web sites, the angrier I get with those developers who take liberty with the amount of software I need to view their pages and navigate their site. I realize that developers want to stay on top of what is cool and unusual and eye-catching and create a site that is visually appealing, engaging and all that. But do they realize that your average member of the browsing public doesn't care at all about these things?
Strom, David. Software Development Times (2000). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#18602
Laws, Regulations and Other Governmental Efforts for Universal Usability
A directory of laws and regulations to support accessibility in new media.
University of Wisconsin. Resources>Usability>Accessibility>Universal Usability
#26766
Learning Difficulties and Web Accessibility
Accessibility is about making it as easy as possible for all members of society to fully take part in that society. It is about removing barriers. It is about inclusion and empowerment. It is about creating the sort of world that we all want to live in - a message that should resonate with us all.
Fidgeon, Tim. Webcredible (2006). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#22802
A growing debate pits accessibility against usability. From our point of view, it’s like pitting peanut butter against jelly. This article helps you create a page that is both usable and accessible, saving readers the trouble of scrolling with a little help from JavaScript and the Document Object Model.
Gustafson, Aaron. List Apart, A (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#13611
Sometimes technological progress backfires, and the 'better' technology turns out to be worse for users. The Web is no stranger to this problem, and has experienced many innovations that would have been best avoided. Examples include frames, changing the color of browser scrollbars, and scrolling text. Another example of harmful Web technology comes with the increasing use of style sheets, which let web designers specify the exact size of text down to the pixel. Unfortunately, many designers are using this ability, leading to reduced readability of an increasing number of websites.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Design>Accessibility>Web Design>Typography
#22943
If you are serious about getting your web site accessible, you need to get the right tools for the job. Can Lift for Dreamweaver deliver the goods?
Accessify (2003). Articles>Reviews>Accessibility>Web Design
#19601
List Provides Way for Developers to Reach Testers with Visual Impairment
A mailing list now connects users with visual impairments willing to act as testers and website developers concerned with accessibility.
Light, Ann. Usability News (2003). Articles>Usability>Accessibility
#29658
Making Accessibility Part of Your Web Site Management Routine
Making accessible design part of your Web site management routine is not simple. Habit, practicalities, and even your Web publishing software seem to work against you, making it easy to skip important aspects of accessible design. This paper attempts to outline a framework for including accessible design in your Web publishing routine. Accessible design is the result the interaction of seven design aspects and two management processes. The design aspects are standards, structure, alternative texts, labeling, timing, linearity, and usability. The management processes are site design and page design. Developing a workflow that incorporates the seven aspects into the two processes, dealing with each aspect appropriately within each process, is our objective.
Ells, Rick. STC Proceedings (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#24861
Making Accessible Forms, Part 1
Learn how to make your online forms accessible in this HTML form tutorial
Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#25131
Making Accessible Forms, Part 2
Learn more on how to make your online forms accessible in part 2 of this HTML form tutorial
Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#27670
Making Ajax Work with Screen Readers
The accessibility community is understandably concerned about the accessibility of client-side scripting, in particular using Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (Ajax) to produce Rich Internet Applications. Steve Faulkner of Vision Australia and founder member of the Web Accessibility Tools Consortium (WAT-C) and myself on behalf of The Paciello Group (TPG) have collaborated in an effort to come up with techniques to make Ajax and other client-side scripting techniques accessible to assistive technology.
Lemon, Gez and Steve Faulkner. Juicy Studio (2006). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Ajax
#23732
Making Documentation Accessible to Users With Disabilities
Good documentation takes into account the needs of people with disabilities. Such documentation is termed 'accessible' and provides support for the assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. For example, accessible documentation provides a text equivalent for each graphic element, such as a picture, flow diagram, or icon. This provision is necessary for users who rely on screen readers to read the documentation.
Chappell, Gail B. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Accessibility>Technical Writing
#23091
Making the Web Friendlier for Lower-Literacy Users
Describes techniques for improving the experience of lower-literacy Internet users that do not violate the principles of Web design for other users.
Summers, Kathryn. Intercom (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Writing
#23734
Making Web-Based Online Help Accessible: A Case Study
Accessibility is about providing successful access to information, and the use of information technology by people who have disabilities. The IBM® WebSphere® Commerce development team adopted IBM’s mandate to make its software accessible, and achieved a high level of accessibility in its release of the IBM WebSphere Commerce, Version 5.4, suite of products. Continuing with the next release, the WebSphere Commerce development team strove for an even higher level of accessibility. This paper discusses some of the experiences and lessons learned from making WebSphere Commerce online help and software accessible. It examines some of the most common issues from the User Experience, Information Development, and Test perspectives.
Bot-Roche, Diba, Frances Mullally, Vijay Sivashankar and Donna Sutarno. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Documentation>Accessibility>Help
#22716
Manchester United: Top of the Web Accessibility League?
Manchester United have got a separate accessible website for blind and disabled site visitors. This is not what web accessibility is about.
Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility
#22991
When delivering multimedia content for the three major media players (Windows Media Player, Quicktime and RealMedia Player), the developer must choose whether to have the viewer access the content through a player embedded in a Web page or through a standalone player. Both methods have their advantages. Embedding the player in a Web page allows the user to access the content without another application opening. The standalone players usually have more control options.
WebAIM (2005). Design>Multimedia>Accessibility>Video
#18767
Meet the Special Needs Committee: Many Stories, One Mission
The STC Special Needs Committee was formed in 1998. Its charter is to research special needs in technical communication to find and publish ways in which we can leverage technology both to help technical communicators with disabilities practice our profession and also to help end users with disabilities access information in the products we prepare.
Voss, Daniel W. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Accessibility>Community Building
#18298
Microsoft Active Accessibility 2.0 is a COM-based technology that improves the way accessibility aids work with applications running on Microsoft Windows operating systems. It provides dynamic-link libraries that are incorporated into the operating system as well as a COM interface and application programming elements that provide reliable methods for exposing information about user interface elements. By following accessibility design practices and using Microsoft Active Accessibility, you can make technology products for your customers with accessibility needs.
#22993
Microsoft Word Accessibility Techniques
Most people use word processors incorrectly. Rather than use true headings, they simply enlarge the font size and make it bold. If you do this, the document has no real structure that can be discerned by a screen reader. The correct way to provide structure within Word documents is to use Word styles.
WebAIM (2005). Articles>Word Processing>Accessibility>Microsoft Word
#31913
Middle-Aged Users' Declining Web Performance
Between the ages of 25 and 60, people's ability to use websites declines by 0.8% per year — mostly because they spend more time per page, but also because of navigation difficulties.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Elderly
#25682
Minimizing Bias in Computer Systems
Computer punch card tallying systems pose serious problems for fair elections. In particular, under-educated groups are more likely not to understand how the computerized system works. In this workshop we were concerned with understanding bias in computer systems and developing methods to help minimize bias through the design process.
Friedman, Batya, Eric Brok, Susan King Roth and John Thomas. SIGCHI Bulletin (1996). Articles>Human Computer Interaction>Accessibility
