Return to Menu

Web Site Accessibility

Now that I'm getting older I find that often the latest "cool font of the day" is too small to read or that navigating a web site loaded with abstract icons is not as easy as it once may have been. This frustration has encouraged my thinking about my own web site design and how user friendly it might, or might not,be for those with disabilities. Unfortunately, when I evaluate my sites against the access standards suggested by the World Wide Web Consortium, they fail miserably.

An accessible website facilitates easy access to content by those individuals who may have primarily visual but also auditory or other physical restrictions. Developing an accessible site is not difficult if one builds the site with accessibility in mind.

If you work with the Federal Government you will be required to develop accessible web site and other media. The legislation referred to as "Section 508" is actually an amendment to the Workforce Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The amendment was signed into law by President Clinton on August 7, 1998. Section 508 requires that electronic and information technology that is developed or purchased by the Federal Government is accessible by people with disabilities.

Here are some useful resources guides.

The HTML Writer's Guide: Twelve Required Accessibility Features of Guild Websites
http://www.hwg.org/opcenter/policy/access.html

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/QuickTips/
Produced by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C/WAI), these guidelines also contain limited information about mobility impairments and cognitive disabilities. The next version of these guidelines will contain more complete information about cognitive disabilities; see http://www.w3.org/wai/gl for information about future releases.

Web Aim Web Accessibility in Mind.
http://www.webaim.org/
Provides overview of web accessibility issues, laws, articles, and viewpoints. Also inlcuded are how-to tutorials.

Bobby Online Free Portal.
http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
This free service will allow you to test web pages and help expose and repair barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines,

IMS Guidelines for Developing Accessible Learning Applications
http://ncam.wgbh.org/salt/guidelines/
As part of its Specifications for Accessible Learning Technologies (SALT) project, the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and the IMS Global Learning Consortium have published these guidelines specifically for online learning resources.

Making Educational Software Accessible: Design Guidelines, Including Math and Science Solutions
http://ncam.wgbh.org/cdrom/guideline/
NCAM has also published guidelines for creating accessible software applications as well as Web sites. These guidelines will be expanded in December 2002 to include specific information about multimedia and textbook accessibility.