Ensuring Website Accessibility in Australia. Vivienne L. Conway

Transcription

1 Ensuring Website Accessibility in Australia Vivienne L. Conway

2 Introduc*on What is website accessibility? Who decides what guidelines we need to address? How do you audit a website to determine its compliance? Na*onal Library, State Libraries, ALIA all support WCAG 2.0 Thesis: Website Accessibility in Western Australian Public Libraries PhD research into Australian website accessibility and the Na3onal Transi3on Strategy (NTS) 2

3 What is Website Accessibility Relates to the design of the website Needs to be designed to: Work for all people regardless of their technology, language, culture, physical or mental ability Be accessible to people with a wide range of hearing, movement, sight and cogni*ve abili*es Remove barriers many people face in their physical world When a website does not address these issues It creates barriers that exclude some people from using the Web 3

4 Needs vs. Percep*ons Very few people are aware of the requirements of website accessibility, what it means, and what the consequences are of not having an accessible website. A website that is accessible sends a message: This organiza*on cares about including as many people as possible This organiza*on recognizes the needs of the individual onus can be placed on a wider society to make the Internet and web accessible, rather than the onus being on the individual disabled person to acquire specific technical aids and/or to struggle with poorly designed and ouen inaccessible websites (Adams & Kreps, 2009) 4

5 Frequently asked ques*ons Why is website accessibility such an issue? Is it only the disabled who benefit? Do we really have to use the guidelines? What are the consequences of non- compliance? How can you know if your website meets these guidelines? What are the barriers to implementa*on? Is implementa*on feasible for schools and libraries? 5

6 Disability In Australia 1 in 5 Australians experience long term impairment (3.95 million people) 2.6 million of people with disabili*es are under age 65 (equates to 15% of the <65 popula*on) 86% of people with disability report a core limita*on i.e. mobility, communica*on, restric*on in schooling or employment (Interac*ng with government: Australians use and sa*sfac*on with e- government services publica*ons/interac*ng- with- government- 2009/index.html) 6

7 The Vision for the Future An inclusive Australian Society that enables people with a disability to fulfil their poten*al as equal ci*zens People with a disability have equal access to the informa*on they need to make informed choices about all aspects of their lives and equal opportuni*es to access all means of communica*on (AGIMO- Web Direc*ons South presenta*on) 7

8 United Na*ons United Na*ons Conven*on on the Rights of Persons with Disabili*es sets the stage for providing equality of access to informa*on and communica*ons technologies: The Conven*on marks a "paradigm shiu" in aktudes and approaches to persons with disabili*es. It takes to a new height the movement from viewing persons with disabili*es as "objects" of charity, medical treatment and social protec*on towards viewing persons with disabili*es as "subjects" with rights, who are capable of claiming those rights and making decisions for their lives based on their free and informed consent as well as being ac*ve members of society.(united Na*ons, c2008) 8

9 Where are we now? Passive model NTS changes things for government websites Australian Human Rights Commission have clear guidelines Previous study: W.A. Libraries not one met the minimum standard WCAG 1.0 A 9

10 Purpose for Library Research Principal Research Ques*on: What is the level of adherence in public libraries in Western Australia to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 1.0 and 2.0? Suppor*ng Ques*ons: Is there a willingness to conform to the guidelines? What are the barriers to public libraries in conforming to these guidelines? What are the benefits of conformance? 10

11 Alt Tag Examples 11

12 2 puppies at 4 days old 12

13 Legal Precedent Sydney Olympics Canadian Government Target 13

14 What is the NTS? a staged 3- year transi*on to WCAG 2.0 Priority Level AA includes compliance checks includes a work plan is enforceable is not op*onal is available online for anyone to use 14

15 15

16 W.A. Public Library Websites - Audits None of the websites was compliant to WCAG 1.0 Priority A All websites had code valida*on errors Almost all websites had images without alterna*ve text Only one website tested would allow entry to the catalogue with a screen- reader Search results were confusing Difficult to get to the library catalogue No language specified Incorrectly nested headings Lack of method to skip naviga*onal links Lack of PDF alterna*ves 16

17 Website Accessibility Audit Checked to Priority A disabled users will find it impossible to use some pages. Hybrid Method: Use numerous automated tools so you can cross- check results Use a manual review by an expert (also called a barrier walk- through approach) Need to look at barriers iden*fied by automated tools Use a checklist for inclusion of important features Have users with disabili*es assess the website if possible, or at least use some of the assis*ve technology yourself. 17

18 SortSite Results Lowest overall error percentage of pages/images was 8.05% A metropolitan single- branch library Also had lowest accessibility error rate 0.43% Library with the highest rate had 50.51% Is not a small library, but is a consor*um of a number of metropolitan branches 27.27% of the pages/images on this site had accessibility problems Scored 8/18 on the manual checklist 18

19 FAE Results Naviga*on & Orienta*on No websites achieved a grade of complete Text Equivalents: No websites achieved a grade of complete with the highest fail/ warning rate of 100% Scrip*ng: 10 websites achieved complete possibly due to Content Management System use Styling: 1 website achieved complete, highest error/fail rate was 118 errors with 52 warnings mostly rela*ng to table layout issues HTML Standards: 8 libraries complete (to WCAG 1.0 only) 19

20 Manual Checklist Automated checking tools not sufficient on their own 18 point checklist Included items highlighted in Literature Review Library- specific items Correlates with JAWS evalua*on 20

21 Sample Manual Checklist 21

22 Manual Checklist Results Only 1 library scored 18/18 Average score was (63%) Lowest score was 4 (22%) All 28 fulfilled one of the criteria ease of finding general library informa*on Lowest scores were in provision of low bandwidth and language transla*on op*ons Implica*ons for a website with this score? Virtually useless for a user with visual impairments no accessibility features at all 22

23 WA Embraces WCAG 2.0 The website accessibility requirement for Western Australian (WA) Government websites is set out in Commissioner s Circular (Website Accessibility) and the associated Website Accessibility Policy. The purpose of the policy is to ensure that WA government web content can be accessed by as many people as possible, including persons with a disability, people living in remote loca*ons and people using alterna*ve technologies such as a mobile. To meet this purpose, all websites that fall within the scope of the policy are to be made compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guideline (WCAG) Version 2.0 Level A (minimum) of Level AA (preferred) by 31 December The requirement introduced on 1 July 2010 for new and redeveloped websites to be compliant with WCAG Version 2.0 Level A (minimum), con*nues under this policy. Where agencies have created or redeveloped websites since 1 July 2010 that do not meet this accessibility requirement, then these websites will need to meet the requirement by, at the latest, 31 December (from Public Service Commission: hsp:// Default.aspx 23

24 Some Examples: Some of the worst: hsp:// hsp:// hsp:// Some of the best: hsp:// hsp://digitalaccessibilitycentre.org/ hsp:// 24

25 One of the best: 25

26 One of the worst: 26

27 JAWS evalua*on Most frustra*ng deficiencies: provide a way to skip repeated naviga*onal links Make sure there is associated labels for form content Correct mark- up errors Correctly nest headings Even for the best website, took 3 asempts to score a result that was about twice the *me and keystrokes Difficult to access the drop- down box 27

28 Suppor*ng Ques*on 1 Willingness to conform to guidelines Libraries are suppor*ve of the need for website accessibility, but largely unaware of the legal and moral necessity to implement the features Lack of awareness of the guidelines, the need to adhere to them, and the tools available to assist with compliance Largely unaware of the tools available for checking websites as well as the necessity to do so Unsure who is responsible to check and implement the accessibility features 28

29 Suppor*ng Ques*on 2 - Barriers Time and cost iden*fied as the chief barriers Need to increase awareness of the issues and importance in striving toward accessibility Free- text comments highlight the need for council (and administra*on) awareness of the issues and legisla*on regarding website accessibility Literature review indicates that while many assume websites will become more accessible over *me, the reverse has been found to be true they tend to become more inaccessible as their complexity increases (Leuthold) 29

30 Suppor*ng Ques*on 3 - Benefits Main benefits perceived were assis*ng the disabled community members and general user sa*sfac*on with the site Very few libraries understood the improvements in overall user experience that occur when a website meets accessibility requirements Lack of understanding of improvements in overall user experience with an accessible website Lack of understanding of the business case that can be made for incorpora*ng accessibility features Lack of understanding of costly legal issues rela*ng to non- conformance 30

31 Principal Research Ques*on What is the level of adherence in public libraries in Western Australia to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Version 1.0 and 2.0 The result of the website audits using various tools to validate results including W3C s own valida*on instruments At present, none of the public libraries in Western Australia who have websites with on-line catalogues (other than those linking to the State Library of W.A.) conform to any level of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, either Version 1.0 or

32 Where to from here? Twila Ann Janssen Herr Award for Disability Services from ALIA Theore*cal Framework suggests that with increased informa*on and support we will see a greater degree of website accessibility guidelines conformance for this sector PhD Research into website accessibility in Australia and the NTS 32

33 Ph.D. Research To conduct a case study that will observe and document the transi*on of government and non- government websites in Australia to the WCAG 2.0 standards. To compare the website accessibility evalua*on scores between the 3 categories over a longitudinal comparison study. To develop a website accessibility evalua*on framework that can be used by website owners and developers to determine their own compliance. 33

34 This research will: Assess the efforts of a country to bring government websites into compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA in a planned, supported manner Assess how other organisa*ons, also mandated to achieve compliance with these same goals, do so outside of the NTS Observe through a longitudinal study the transi*on of websites toward accessibility compliance by the different category of websites studied 34

35 This research will also: Determine cri*cal success factors for organisa*ons achieving website accessibility compliance Observe common obstacles in achieving website accessibility compliance and document the methods for dealing with these obstacles Determine key factors required in a universal website accessibility evalua*on framework 35

36 Summary PhD. Research follows research into public library website accessibility PhD. - Primary ques*on outcomes of NTS Suppor*ng ques*ons rela*onship between type of organisa*on and website accessibility compliance, cri*cal success factors, proposed website accessibility evalua*on framework Australia is embarking on a unique approach to changing the web experience for people with disabili*es Will eventually affect all websites in Australia 36

37 Acknowledgements Edith Cowan University School of Computer and Security Science Australian Library & Informa*on Associa*on Twila Ann Janssen Herr Award for Disability Services NTS available online at: hsp:// 2- implementa*on/docs/wcag- transi*on- strategy.pdf. 37

38 Further informa*on E- Mail: Telephone (08) / Website: 38