DESIGNING WITH ACCESSIBILITY IN MIND ACCESSIBILITY TRAINING

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1 DESIGNING WITH ACCESSIBILITY IN MIND ACCESSIBILITY TRAINING PROVIDED BY PHILLIP POLLOCK Former web administrator for the State Courts Administrators Office And the Florida State University Law School

2 Why We Are Here What we ll accomplish today Discuss ways to make your web site and your electronic documents more accessible What we won t accomplish today ALL of the nuances of accessibility

3 Why We Are Here First of all, it s the law Secondly, accessibility is something that benefits everyone Finally, it s just the right thing to do. Approximately 20% of the population has some sort of disability that impairs their navigation/comprehension

4 Barriers to Electronic Information Visual Impairments : blindness, low vision, color-blindness Hearing Disabilities: deaf or hard of hearing Motor Impairments: unable to use a mouse, slow motor response, limited fine-motor control Cognitive Impairments : learning disabilities and unable to focus on large amounts of information Photo epilepsy Age-related impairments

5 What are the laws in question? Applicable laws include The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (section 508) The American Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal civil rights law that, among other things, requires state and local governments to provide effective communication for persons with disabilities, regardless of whether we communicate through print or electronic/computerized media Content is clear and communicated effectively

6 What are the laws in question? Applicable laws include The Americans with Disabilities Act ADA and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 508) In 1998, Congress amended Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 to require federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities; subsequently, the U.S. Access Board developed Section 508 Standards Content is clear and communicated effectively

7 What are the laws in question? The Florida Accessible Electronic and Information Technology Act of 2006 What did it do? Ensures that state government provides access to and use of information and data to persons with disabilities. (this includes the public and state employees) Additionally, this information provided to persons with disabilities MUST be comparable to what is provided to individuals who do not have disabilities. All electronic information must conform to the standards outlined in the Federal legislation known as SECTION 508.

8 What are the laws in question? Many of you may have heard about Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. In short, it spells out 16 standards that should be considered for effective electronic communication The list is pretty intimidating upon first glance.

9 What are the laws in question? (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation. (c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. (d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet. (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map. (f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables. (h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.

10 What are the laws in question? (i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation. (j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. (k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes. (l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology. (m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with (a) through (l). (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. (o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.

11 Web standards to consider? All 16 are essential for compliance... but today, we will consider the following offenders Alternative Text Use appropriate Heading levels Equivalent alternatives for multi-media Color should not be used to convey instructions Flicker rate Avoid using tables for layout Skip repetitive navigation

12 Web standards to consider? All 16 are essential for compliance... but today, we will consider the following offenders Flicker rate can create severe problems for people with photosensitive epilepsy Tables should not be used for layout because typically no column or row headings are in place, thus causing confusion for people who use screen readers

13 Alternative Text Web standards to consider?

14 Alternative Text Web standards to consider?

15 Alternative Text Web standards to consider?

16 Heading Levels Web standards to consider?

17 Web standards to consider? Equivalent alternatives for multi-media

18 Web standards to consider? Skip to main content

19 Web standards to consider? Color should not be used for instruction

20 How Do I Know if my Website is in Compliance? There are a number of good web accessibility verification tools that you can use. WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation tool) is a good one recommended by WebAIM

21 References and Resources WebAIM, Web Accessibility in Mind W3C, World Wide Web Consortium WAVE accessibility tool Creating Accessible Documents Using Microsoft Word Documents.rtf Introduction to Screen Readers video, 7 minutes in length For Questions: PHILLIP POLLOCK, pmpollock@comcast.net