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.
#32857
The Importance of Procurement in Accessibility Policy
Most policies in education focus exclusively on the practices of in-house Web development professionals. Few institutions are looking at the Web content and Web-based applications that come to them from other sources (e.g., content management systems, finance systems, student information systems, healthcare or benefit systems, human resource systems). So, what is missing in current policy? A mechanism to procure accessible Web products and services is missing. Without procurement as part of the policy, true system-level accessibility can only be an illusion.
Rowland, Cyndi. National Center on Disability and Access to Education (2005). Articles>Education>Accessibility
#32858
Manchester United: Top of the Web Accessibility League?
Manchester United have received a lot of press coverage for the separate accessible version of their website. They've probably invested a lot of time and effort to make this separate website, which according to Trenton Moss is totally unnecessary.
Moss, Trenton. Ecademy (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>United Kingdom
#32859
Screen readers are mostly mystical devices for almost all of us. Few of us actually own them. They’re incredibly expensive. Fewer yet know how to use them well, what their capabilities are, or how they actually work. Is it little wonder then, that big names in our web design world question how screen readers handle modern layout techniques? Not at all. The two gurus quoted below have other strengths, and specialities. They probably haven’t used a screen reader in ages.
Easton, Bob. Access Matters (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>CSS
#32860
Screen-Reader Usability at a Standards-Compliant E-Commerce Site
An E-commerce site was redesigned with Web standards in mind. The revised site used semantic HTML markup that usually passes validation tests and also incorporated many common accessibility features. A study was carried out with screen-reader users to determine how well compliance with Web standards and accessibility guidelines translated into actual usability and accessibility.
Clark, Joe. JoeClark.org (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>E Commerce
#32861
Secret Benefits of Accessibility Part 1: Increased Usability
Web accessibility has so many benefits that I really do wonder why such a large number of Websites have such diabolically bad accessibility. One of the main benefits is increased usability, which, according to usability guru, Jakob Nielsen, can increase the sales/conversion rate of a Website by 100%, and traffic by 150%.
Moss, Trenton. SitePoint (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#32862
Secret Benefits of Accessibility Part 2: Better Search Ranking
One of the main benefits of Web accessibility is that a Website that's more accessible to people is also usually more accessible to search engines. The more accessible your site is to search engines, the more confidently they can guess what the site's about, giving your site a better chance at the top spot in the search engine rankings.
Moss, Trenton. SitePoint (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Search Engine Optimization
#32863
Seven Accessibility Mistakes (Part 1)
There are several reasons inaccessible Web products get published. One we discussed in my last article is that some clients just don’t care about accessibility. Their reasons make a lot of sense if you put yourself in their shoes. Another reason is developer mistakes. Making mistakes is natural, and suffering the consequences and learning from them is what makes us better developers and better people.
Heilmann, Christian. Digital Web Magazine (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Case Studies
#32864
Seven Accessibility Mistakes (Part 2)
This two part-article discusses reasons why some projects fail to result in properly accessible products.
Heilmann, Christian. Digital Web Magazine (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
#32865
Seven Screen Reader Usability Tips
Simply ensuring that your Website is accessible to screen reader users is, unfortunately, not enough to guarantee that these users can find what they're looking for in a reasonably quick and efficient manner. Even if your site is accessible to screen reader users, its usability could be so poor that they needn't have bothered stooping by in the first place.
Moss, Trenton. SitePoint (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#32866
I have a few late model screen readers and I also have simple audio recording tools. I'll use them to get you closer to what these screen readers actually say. I'll start a collection of recordings so you can hear for yourself what these tools say.
Easton, Bob. Access Matters (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability
#32867
The Convergence of the Aging Work Force And Accessible Technology
This paper discusses the effects of America’s aging work force on business growth and productivity and illustrates how accessible technology can equip employers and mature workers to face the challenges posed by this demographic trend.
Mosner, Ellen and Craig Spiezle. Microsoft (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Elderly
#32868
The Lifecycle of Web Accessibility
In this article we'll divide the life cycle of web accessibility into 5 different phases and we'll see how they are strictly interconnected with other disciplines such as graphic design, development and content management.
Volpon, Antonio. evolt (2002). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
#32871
WCAG and the Myth of Accessibility
Kevin Leitch explains why he feels that the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines have failed in their mission to ensure that web content is accessible to all.
Leitch, Kevin. Juicy Studio (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Standards
#32872
The Market for Accessible Technology
This report presents findings about individuals who are likely to benefit from the use of accessible technology. It also includes findings about working-age adults and computer users and presents data about the aging population in the US and its impact on computer use. This report concludes with statements about how these findings affect the information technology (IT) industry.
Microsoft (2003). Articles>Accessibility>Technology
#32873
Accessible Technology in Computing: Examining Awareness, Use, and Future Potential
Presents new findings about the use of computers among individuals with difficulties/impairments. It also discusses factors that influence the use of computers and accessible technology and includes data about the current awareness and use of accessible technology. This report concludes with a forecast of growth in the demand for accessible technology and an overview of the opportunities for the IT industry to make accessible technology easier to discover and use.
Microsoft (2004). Articles>Accessibility>Technology
#32877
Appropriate Use of Alternative Text
Adding alternative text for images is the first principle of web accessibility. It is also one of the most difficult to properly implement. The web is replete with images that have missing, incorrect, or poor alternative text. Like many things in web accessibility, determining appropriate, equivalent, alternative text is often a matter of personal interpretation. Through the use of examples, this article will present our experienced interpretation of appropriate use of alternative text.
WebAIM (2005). Articles>Accessibility>Image Editing>Web Design
#32879
An Eight-Step Implementation Model
The inaccessibility of web content can have a significant impact on the lives of individuals with disabilities. Many people without disabilities are ignorant of the importance of the issue to those who are directly affected. They are also often ignorant of the tremendous benefit that accessible web content can be. Accessible web sites offer independence to individuals with disabilities that would otherwise not have it.
WebAIM (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Project Management
#32880
Links and Hypertext: An Introduction to Links and Hypertext
Some types of links are more accessible than others, and some types of links are completely inaccessible to people with certain types of disabilities. Because links are so basic to the functionality of web content, inaccessible links are one of the most severe barriers to overall accessibility.
WebAIM (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Hypertext
#32881
Using JAWS to Evaluate Web Accessibility
This article is designed to help users who are new to JAWS learn the basic controls for testing web content, and to serve as a reference for the occasional JAWS user.
WebAIM (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Assessment
#32882
Testování Přístupnosti Webových Stránek se Screenreaderem JAWS
Tento článek je českou verzí článku Using JAWS to Evaluate Web Accessibility. V textu jsou zmiňovány prvky stránky, které jsou součástí struktury webu WebAIM.org a nemusí se vyskytovat na stránce s touto verzí.
WebAIM (2005). (Czech) Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Assessment
#32883
Usando o Jaws Para Testar Acessibilidade
Este artigo destina-se a ensinar aos usuários não familiarizados com o JAWS os procedimentos básicos necessários a avaliar a acessibilidade do conteúdo web e servir como uma espécie de guia de referência para o usuário ocasional deste programa.
CSS para Webdesign (2005). (Portuguese) Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Assessment
#32885
The web accessibility podGuide is an iPod-ready version of the current web-related accessibility standards, including: Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG 1.0); User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG 1.0); Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0); Section 508 standards for web, software, multimedia and related accessibility.
Dey Alexander (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
#32886
A customizable quick reference to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 requirements (success criteria) and techniques.
W3C (2008). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Standards
#32887
Accessites.org: The Art of Accessibility
We aim to prove that accessible, usable web sites built with universality and standards in mind need not be boring. We will show you artfully crafted sites made by some of today’s most progressive web developers.
#32888
A Quick and Dirty Introduction to Accessibility
A presentation providing an overview of accessibility that discusses disabilities that affect use of the web, devices and technologies used by disabled users.
Weakley, Russ. Max Design (2004). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
