How to Judge a Website's Accessibility Level

Many web developers and administrators are conscious of the need to ensure that their web sites reach as high a level of accessibility as possible. But how do you actually find out whether a site has accessibility problems? Certainly, you can not assume that if no complaints have been received through the site feedback facility (assuming you have one), there are no problems. Many people affected by accessibility problems will just give up and go somewhere else. So you must be proactive in rooting out any problems as soon as possible. Fortunately, there are a number of handy ways to help you get an idea of the level of accessibility of the site, which do not require an in-depth understanding of web design or accessibility issues. It may be impractical to test every page, but try to make sure you check the Home page plus as many high traffic pages as possible.

Sloan, David. TechDis (2000). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Assessment

How to Save Web Accessibility from Itself

If you choose to make standards-compliant websites, inevitably you will have to follow the guidelines. It's foreseeable that you could be legally required to follow WCAG 2.0. You could opt into following the guidelines or they could be foisted upon you. You thus have an enlightened self-interest in ensuring the new guidelines actually make sense. Moreover, we simply need more contributors.

Clark, Joe. List Apart, A (2003). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

How To Sell Accessibility

You want to build accessible sites, but your clients don't see the need. How can you convince them to fork over the cash it'll take to ensure their site's accessible by all Web users? Trenton has the answers...

Moss, Trenton. SitePoint (2004). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

HTML Commandments

Hypertext links should be descriptive, and should make sense when they are read one at a time or out of context.

Shumila, Dena. ATRC. Design>Accessibility>Web Design

IBM バリアフリーの扉

米国IBMアクセシビリティ・センターの提供情報や、IBMアクセシビリティ・リサーチ・グループによる高齢者・視覚障害者関連情報の公開など、アクセシブルな情報社会のための関連リソース。インターネット閲覧支援ソフト「らくらくウェブ散策®」の紹介など。

IBM. (Japanese) Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Imagine: You Complete Your Site and Then Discover...You Forgot Accessibility

It’s taken awhile, but webmasters are starting to get the hang of designing Web sites that work for most users. But don’t rest yet: webmasters will soon need to add a completely new set of Web design skills. Increasingly, Web sites will have to accommodate disabled users. Disabled users? That’s right. Even people with no sight at all can “hear” the Web, through special browsers that read out the code on Web pages. New US regulations require that all Federal sites (and the sites of Federal contractors) work in this format. Other countries are adopting similar rules, and non-government sites are increasingly coming under pressure from users to offer options for the disabled.

Sherman, Bernard and Terence de Giere. Everyone.net (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Improving Accessibility for Motor Impaired Users

The unique requirements for motor impaired web users can often be overlooked or poorly implemented. Motor impairments can be caused by a stroke, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a physical disability or even a broken arm. This group of users essentially have limited or no ability to use a mouse.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2007). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Usability

Improving Usability for Screen Reader Users

Find out how to improve usability and accessibility for screen reader users.

Moss, Trenton. Webcredible (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

The Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA: Alternatives to Visual Turing Tests on the Web

A common method of limiting access to services made available over the Web is visual verification of a bitmapped image. This presents a major problem to users who are blind, have low vision, or have a learning disability such as dyslexia. This document examines a number of potential solutions that allow systems to test for human users while preserving access by users with disabilities.

W3C (2005). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Security

Increasing the Accessibility of the Web through Style Sheets, Scripts and 'Plug-ins'

The W3C WAI Page Authoring Guidelines (Vanderheiden, et al, 1998a) contains nineteen general concepts that Web page authors should follow to make their pages more accessible and usable, not only to people with disabilities, but for newer page viewing technologies (mobile and voice), for electronic agents such as indexing robots, and etc. In this paper/presentation, we will talk about and demonstrate how scripts and style sheets can be implemented today, and still work on systems that do not support scripts and style sheets ('Transform gracefully'). We also talk about and demonstrate how the data in a table can be presented and navigated both via scripting and by an accompanying application ('Context and navigation').

Chisholm, Wendy and Mark Novak. University of Wisconsin (2001). Design>Web Design>Accessibility>Universal Usability

Institutional Web Sites and Legislation

The issue of accessible Web sites and legal arguments for providing them has seen much debate over the past eighteen months. In many countries across the world, anti-disability discrimination legislation has provided the acorn of an argument that service providers should provide their Web presence in a form that is accessible to the disabled community. However, like the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), and its associated guidelines, the providers, and indeed the designers, of the majority of Web sites have by and large ignored these arguments. However, following a recent case in Australia, there is now a very persuasive legal argument for including Web accessibility in the scope of anti-disability legislation in the UK. It is the purpose of this article to review these arguments, consider their consequences for the Web sites of Higher and Further educational institutions and, finally, to consider how the recent Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 might extend these duties further.

Sloan, Martin. TechDis (2002). Design>Web Design>Accessibility

Internet Accessibility

This page contains information about making the Internet accessible.

STC AccessAbility SIG. Resources>Accessibility>Web Design

Internetministeriet

Internetministeriet fokuserer på webdesign og SEO ud fra et tilgængeligheds og anvendeligheds -princip.

Bredgaard, Thomas. Internetministeriet (2003). (Danish) Resources>Web Design>Accessibility

Interview with DMXzone's Bruce Lawson

Find out why self-confessed non-techie Bruce Lawson has been winning friends and influencing people with his support for web standards and web accessibility.

Lawson, Bruce. Accessify (2003). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>Standards

Intranet Accessibility and Section 508

A compelling reason to make your Intranet accessible to people with disabilities is because itï¿s the law. Section 508 of the United Statesï¿ Rehabilitation Act of 1972 requires that Federal agenciesï¿ electronic and information technology (EIT) be accessible to people with disabilities (vision, hearing, mobility) if the EIT is procured on or after June 21, 2001. If you develop hardware, software, Internet, or Intranet solutions for the U.S. Government, either as an employee of the U.S. Government or as a service or product provider, the procurement date is a critical factor in determining functional requirements of your Intranet.

Bine, Katharyn. Usability Interface (2002). Design>Accessibility>Web Design>Section 508

Introduction to Web Accessibility

Most people today can hardly conceive of life without the Internet. It provides access to information, news, email, shopping, and entertainment. The Internet, with its ability to serve out information at any hour of the day or night about practically any topic conceivable, has become a way of life for an impatient, information-hungry generation. Some have argued that no other single invention has been more revolutionary since that of Gutenberg's original printing press in the mid 1400s. Now, at the click of a mouse, the world can be 'at your fingertips'--that is, if you can use a mouse . . . and if you can see the screen . . . and if you can hear the audio—in other words, if you don't have a disability of any kind. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Before focusing on the challenges that people with disabilities face when trying to access Web content, it makes more sense to discuss the ways in which the Internet offers incredible opportunities to people with disabilities that were never before possible. The Web's potential for people with disabilities is truly remarkable.

WebAIM. Articles>Web Design>Accessibility

JavaScript and Accessibility

On this page I give a short introduction to the accessibility issues surrounding the use of JavaScript. It is by no means a complete tutorial; I just want to offer a few rough guidelines and some bits of information. Nonetheless the information on this page seems to be clearer and more complete than the average 'JavaScript and accessibility' page on the WWW.

Koch, Peter-Paul. XS4ALL. Design>Web Design>Accessibility>DHTML

Joe Clark's Answers -- in Valid XHTML

An extremely interesting but rather long read -- answers each question thoroughly and, there is plenty of discourse following the piece itself.

Clark, Joe. Slashdot (2002). Articles>Web Design>Accessibility>XHTML

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

Kast deg ut i Tilgjengelighet

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

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

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

Latest Isn't Always Greatest

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

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

Let Them Eat Cake

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