Web accessibility workshop

1. Awareness of accessibility problems

1. Video : from RNIB (CD-ROM) or WebAIM
2. The law: SENDA in HE
3. Use the impaired computers to find the information asked for.
   [here is a reminder of how to use Windows without a keyboard (a pdf file) ]
4. Using a screen reader to find the information asked for.

Discussion:

1. What effect did the computer impaired computers have on your efficiency?
2. What adjustments to the browser did you make to help you?
3. Any surprises?

2. Summary of the problems and solutions

Handouts on

• visual impairments and dyslexia,
• Guidelines for web accessibility,
• Precepts for good design,
• and checking for good design

3. Test some web pages for accessibility

On Web sites for

• your department or http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/ed/
• a module you teach
• http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page1.asp (10 Downing Street) or
• http://www.wellbeing.com/ (Boots the Chemist)

In Netscape/Mozilla and/or Internet Explorer 6

• try resizing text very large and very small
• try resizing the browser window to 800x600 pixels
• try using your own style sheet  such as http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/cs/Stephen_Bostock/slides/access1.css or
  http://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/cs/Stephen_Bostock/slides/access2.css
  (Right click on this link and save it to the desktop. Then, in IE6, use Tools, Internet Options, General, Accessibility, and tick Format using own style sheet and Browse to that file. Then click OK.)
• try using a web site without a mouse
• try lynx, the text-only browser, at SAILOR (telnet://sailor.lib.md.us) or  try the online Lynx Emulator

4. Some sources of information

• The experience of users: cases at Dive Into Accessibility: Jackie and Michael
• Students First: The Experiences of Disabled Students in Higher Education (1998) by John Hall and Teresa Tinklin *
• Designing web sites that are accessible to all   (Stephen Bostock, Educational Developments 2002) describes the popular sources
• TechDis - the HE service for all aspects of technology and disabilities - has developed the TechDis Seven Precepts for accessibility
• The W3C WAI initiative provides  Ten Quick Tips as well as more detailed guidelines
• The Accessibility page in the Keele Web publishing guidelines
• Dyslexia is the commonest impairment in HE: A Dyslexic Perspective on e-Content Accessibility is a report at the TechDis (an .rtf file) about how to design web sites with dyslexia in mind.
• The RNIB website has information about common eye conditions
• Access all Areas: disability, technology and learning (pdf file) edited by L Phipps, A Sutherland, J Seale 2002 TechDis ISBN 1-904190-18-9. There is a chapter on web accessibility.
• Acrobat pdf files are a problem: see access.adobe.com The current free Reader with better accessibility features is 5.1 There are free accessibility add-ins for the full Acrobat version 5, as described at the Acrobat accessibility download page
• Cascading style sheets  are useful in separating the content from the layout information - users can impose their own layout : The W3C definition of CSS1

  Keele information

• The Support for Scholarship of Learning and Teaching web site has a page of links to resources on accessibility
• Keele University Disability Services as an example of good practice, and information source
• Here is an accessible web template for a module for FrontPage. You can download and re-use it.
• The Keele Web Publishing Information Centre has a section on accessibility
• The KIWI web site has an accessibility page

5. Accessibility validation sites

• Try using the  TechDis Seven Precepts  to audit a web site
• The Bobby validator
• The WAVE validator
• A colour blindness check at Vischeck

6. Issues and questions

• Universal design or Text Only versions?
• Which are the most accessible file formats that require a minimum of authoring effort?
•  .....

Stephen Bostock asserts his moral right to be acknowledged as the author of documents on this site, unless another author is identified.  Copyright remains with Keele University, or the author.  The views expressed in this site are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Keele University.

last modified: 04 July 2005