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Testing Web site Accessibility

Review of disabilities, legislation & techniques

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What we’ll cover

Web accessibility overviewAccessibility toolsBreak out sessionSummarise findingsAccessibility toolkit

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Web Accessibility Overview

DisabilitiesLegislationICT Compliance

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What is Web site Accessibility?

Assistive technologies TTS (text-to-speech) browsersText-only browsersVoice-enabled browsersKeyboard or mouse commandsBraille devicesScreen magnification

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Why is it Important?

More people accessing the webDisabled : 10% to 20%Average age of population in many countries is increasingCarry-over benefits for other usersLegal requirements

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Disabilities

Low VisionHearingMotor SkillsCognitive AbilitiesLow Grade Technology

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Low Vision

Background colourContrastColour scheme can be over-riddenAvoid GraphicsItalicsUnderlineCAPITALISATION

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Hearing

CaptionsTranscripts

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Motor Skills

Key Tabs <IMG SRC="banner.gif" ALT="Navigation banner" WIDTH="580" HEIGHT="21"BORDER="0" usemap="#bannermap“>

<MAP NAME="bannermap“> <AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="internal.html" ALT="Employee information" COORDS="506,2 577,18" TABINDEX=“3“>

<AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="news.html" ALT="News and events" COORDS="186,2 303,18" TABINDEX="1“>

<AREA SHAPE="rect" HREF="searches.html" ALT="Search" COORDS="311,2 475,18" TABINDEX="2"> </MAP>

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Cognitive Abilities

Use clear languageSimple NavigationWrite for the webUse non-text examples

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Low Grade Technology

BandwidthOld MachinesOld Browsers

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Legislation

HistoryWhat’s Affected?Responsibilities

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Legislation History

Disability Discrimination Act of 1995Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001

01 September 2002‘Reasonable Adjustments’

Assistive TechnologiesAccessible Services

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What’s Affected - Accessible ICT

Departmental, Faculty, Institutional Web sitesIntranetsVLEs & MLEsInformation GatewaysResource portalsWeb-based applicationsany digital resource

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Responsibilities – in theory

‘Reasonable Adjustments’

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Responsibilities – in practice

Validate using available toolsW3C Guideline compliantAccessibility Policy in place

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Accessibility Tools

Preliminary ReviewConformance EvaluationAutomated Evaluation

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Preliminary Review

Turn off imagesTurn off soundChange font sizeSet screen resolutionChange display colourUse tab keys

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Conformance Evaluation

Images & animations Image mapsMultimedia/Scripts & appletsHypertext linksPage organisationFramesTables

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Validation ToolsW3C Validation Service

HTML and CSS validation servicehttp://validator.w3.org

Bobby CASTAutomated Accessibility service

http://www.cast.org/bobby

Lynx CheckerA tool that simulates a text-based web browser

http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html

VischeckA tool that simulates colour-blindness

http://vischeck.com/vischeckURL.php3

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Break out session

Your HE WebsiteSelect 3 key pages (home, prospectus, other)

Preliminary ReviewConformance EvaluationAutomated Evaluation

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Techniques to keep in mind

Provide text equivalents for all non-text elementsProvide summaries of tablesOrganise content clearlyProvide alternative content for all plug-in elements

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Accessibility Policy

We are committed to ensuring accessibility of our Web sites for people with disabilities. New and updated Web content produced by us organization will conform to W3C/WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0, Conformance Level A…

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Web site help

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Prioritise Compliance

Home page and high-traffic pagesAll new pagesMedium-traffic pages longer-term goal of overall compliance

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Accessibility Toolkit

Resources handoutWeb site evaluation checklist

Preliminary reviewConformance evaluationAutomated evaluation

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Thank youQuestions…?