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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Page Source Order and Accessibility
In this presentation, the authors report on a survey and testing with screen reader users designed to determine how the placement of navigation in the source order (before or after content) affects accessibility.
Hudson, Roger and Russ Weakley. OzeWAI (2005). Presentations>Web Design>Accessibility
#32891
LD Web is a website aimed at making the Internet a better place for people with learning disabilities. LD Web develops guidelines and practical "how to" techniques to help web designers understand this underserviced community. LD Web is also meant to be an open discussion forum for dialogue, questions, and experiences in dealing with learning disabilities on the Web.
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Skills for Access: The Comprehensive Guide to Creating Accessible Multimedia for e-learning
This web site provides you with a comprehensive resource on issues relating to multimedia, e-learning and accessibility. Whether you're new to e-learning, want to know more about specific accessibility issues, or are an expert multimedia developer, we believe you'll find information relevant to your needs.
Skills for Access. Resources>Education>Accessibility>Multimedia
#32893
The following is what has been collectively pulled-through as the main points from Ella Tallyn's and Jon Pettigrew's respective presentations. These points should serve as introductory guidelines for UCD with children.
Demming, GiGi. Usability Professionals Association (2004). Presentations>User Centered Design>Accessibility>Children
#32894
Designing Usable Sites for Children and Teens
It is often difficult for an adult designer to accurately remember what it is like to be 10 years old, and so it is important to turn to research conducted with children and teens to get a sense of their preferences.
Content Matters (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Children
#32903
Usability of Websites for Teenagers
When using websites, teenagers have a lower success rate than adults and they're also easily bored. To work for teens, websites must be simple -- but not childish -- and supply plenty of interactive features.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Children
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Kids' Corner: Website Usability for Children
Our usability study of kids found that they are as easily stumped by confusing websites as adults. Unlike adults, however, kids tend to view ads as content, and click accordingly. They also like colorful designs, but demand simple text and navigation.
Nielsen, Jakob. Alertbox (2002). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Children
#32906
Best Practices: Writing for Accessibility
Most of the time, the primary focus of information about accessibility has to do with making non-text information available as text. Captioning and audio description for video, transcriptions for audio, simple text alternatives for static images. But what about the content itself?
Dolson, Joe. Accessible Web Design (2008). Articles>Accessibility>Web Design>Writing
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How should a website homepage be created so that people with dyslexia can get the most out of the page?
Marshall, Abigail. Dyslexia Association International (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
#32909
After HTML, PDF (Portable Document Format) files are probably the most common files on the Web. PDF is usually used when a file needs to appear or print a certain way, regardless of the browser or technology. PDF files can be made accessible to people with disabilities, although usually with more difficulty than with HTML. A key part of this process involves creating tags that make a document more accessible to screen reader users.
NCDAE (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Adobe Acrobat
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In order to provide scalable text, make textual information text (rather than images), and use relative text sizes (rather than absolute). Scalable text is important for people with low vision. The basics of providing scalable text are very simple. However, strict design requests can pose challenges.
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UI Access (2002). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Typography
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How to Make Your Blog Accessible to Blind Readers
So you have a blog, and you're worried that it might not be accessible to people with disabilities? Don't worry! A few simple changes can increase your blog's potential readership.
American Foundation for the Blind (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Blogging
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There are always colorblind people among the audience and readers. There should be more than ten colorblinds in a room with 250 people (50% male and 50% female). There is a good chance that the paper you submit may go to colorblind reviewers. Supposing that your paper will be reviewed by three white males (which is not unlikely considering the current population in science), the probability that at least one of them is colorblind is whopping 22%!
Okabe, Masataka and Kei Ito. University of Tokyo (2002). Articles>Accessibility>Graphic Design>Color
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Designing Web Content for People with Learning Disabilities
We need to design sites to include as many people as possible so that we have a fairer world. We need accessibility to bridge differences and integrate more people into society. If someone who could understand Web content is unable to because of the design choices of the Web author, then that Web content is not as accessible as it could be - even if it can be used by all types of physically disabled users.
Seeman, Lisa. UBaccess (2002). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
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Designing Pages Accessible to Limited Textual Comprehension Users
Little has been written or done to advance the cause of web users with cognitive disabilities -- users who may actually require the use of graphics in order to make sense of a web site. For purposes of this document, we will use the term "Limited Textual Comprehension" to refer to anyone, disabled or not, who is unable to understand a web page -- and thus cannot access the information contained within in it -- due to the textual content of the page.
Bartlett, Kynn. AWARE Center (1999). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
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How to Avoid Screen Reader 'Noise Pollution'
Surely there can't be a skill to writing ALT text for images? You just pop a description in there and you're good to go, right? Well, kind of. Sure, it's not rocket science, but there are a few guidelines you need to follow.
Moss, Trenton. Digital Media Europe (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Visual
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Demonstration of the LONGDESC Attribute and the 'd' Link
When images are provided to illustrate complex ideas, the same information MUST also be provided in an accessible form.
WATS.ca (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Charts and Graphs
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CSS in Action: Invisible Content Just for Screen Reader Users
Most of the techniques for making web content accessible to screen readers are invisible to visual users. Alternative (alt) text, table header tags, table summaries, and form
WebAIM (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>CSS
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Most online mapping applications do not address issues of web accessibility. For a visually impaired web user, these highly visual maps are essentially useless. Is there a way to display text-based data on a map, keeping it accessible, useful and visually attractive? Yes: using an accessible CSS-based map in which the underlying map data is separated from the visual layout.
Duffey, Seth. List Apart, A (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Geography
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A Dyslexic Perspective on e-Content Accessibility
This paper gives the web developer an insight into the issues of web accessibility for users with dyslexia (and/or other specific learning difficulties). It covers the four main areas of accessibility: presentation, content, structure and navigation.
Rainger, Peter. TechDis (2006). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
#32921
I’ve been thinking about one particular artifact of the folksonomy phenomenon — the folksonomy menu that serves as a sort of buzz index providing users with a quick visualization of the most popular tags (technically I think it’s called a weighted list). Popular tags are displayed in a larger font and it’s relatively easy to identify hot topics at a glance. This visual representation of the popularity of any given tag is undeniably cool. However, once the coolness factor wears off it becomes fairly obvious that these menus are also not very accessible.
alt tags (2005). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Metadata
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Accessibility in User-Centered Design
A brief introduction, with linked resources, for those unfamiliar with accessibility and/or user-centred design.
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UIaccess (2004). Articles>User Centered Design>Accessibility
#32994
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). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
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Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design
The Web is providing unprecedented access to information and interaction for people with disabilities. It provides opportunities to participate in society in ways otherwise not available. With accessible websites, people with disabilities can do ordinary things: children can learn, teenagers can flirt, adults can make a living, seniors can read about their grandchildren, and so on. With the Web, people with disabilities can do more things themselves, without having to rely on others.
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UIaccess (2007). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility
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Another –ability: Accessibility Primer for Usability Specialists
This paper discusses in depth the relationship between accessibility and usability in product design. It presents a definition of accessibility and introduces the concept of ‘usable accessibility.’
Henry, Shawn Lawton. UIaccess (2002). Articles>Accessibility>Usability
