WCAG 2.0 and Section 508: Best Practices and Web Standards Accessibility

Part 1: Alternative Views of the Web

• Myths of the web
• Keyboard support
• Content styling
• Text equivalents
• Captioning

What are the myths of the web?

How did the Mosaic Web Browser Change the Web?

What Happened to Interoperability?

Internet Explorer: Keyboard Navigation

• Links and forms: TAB and SHIFT+TAB
• Go to the next page: ALT+RIGHT ARROW
• Go to address bar: ALT+D
• Go to the previous page: ALT+LEFT ARROW or BACKSPACE
• Zoom: CONTROL + Plus or CONTROL+MINUS
• More in Internet Explorer Help

Internet Explorer: Changing Styling

• Ignoring author styling
• Setting user colors
• Setting user font

Internet Explorer: Text Equivalents

• Showing ALT text for images

Opera Browser: Keyboard

• Enable keyboard shortcuts in preferences
• Form controls: TAB and SHIFT+TAB
• Links: A and Q
• Headers: S and W
• Elements: D and E
• Toggle styling: Shift + G
• Toggle images: Shift + I
• Set Focus on Page: F9

Opera Browser: Styling and Text Equivalents

• Built-in user style sheets
• One step to restyle
• One step to text equivalents

Part 2: Accessibility Guidelines

• Section 508
• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Tools for Accessibility Evaluation
• Accessible repair versus accessible design
• Best practices for accessible design

Section 508

• 14 specific web requirements
• Other software requirements
• Section 508 Information Technology and Accessibility Standards

WCAG 2.0: Overview

• Perceivable
• Operable
• Understandable
• Robust
• 12 Guidelines
• 59 Requirements
• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

WCAG 2.0 Features

• Technology independent
• Techniques document
• Success criteria

Accessible repair versus accessible design

• Accessibility considered at the end of the design or implementation process
• Building accessibility into every design and technology decision

Best Practices

• What do we want for people with disabilities
• What techniques benefit both people with disabilities and developers?
• Designers embrace, rather than resist accessible design
• iCITA Web Accessibility Best Practices

Tools features

• List of accessibility features/problems
• Inline visualization of accessibility
• Requirements versus markup validation

Example Tools

• Cynthia Says Portal to Hi-Software
• WebAIM Wave
• Illinois Functional Accessibility Evaluator
• Illinois Firefox Accessibility Extension

Part 3: Best practices for accessible design

• Navigation and Orientation
• Text Equivalents
• Scripting
• Styling
• Standards

Text Equivalents

• Images
• Captioning
• Embedded objects

Scripting

• Keyboard support
• Widget identification and properties
• Identification of changing content
• Accessible examples using ARIA

Styling

• Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Use of images

Standards

• HTML/li>
• CSS
• Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA)

Part 4: Design Examples

• Illinois College of Applied Health Sciences
• Illinois Office of Admissions
• Illinois Department of Human Services

Accessible Authoring

• Critical for future web accessibility
• Everyone becoming a author: wikis, blogs, etc..
• OneNet content management system
• Virtual 508 Office Accessibility Wizard

what Can You Do?

• Ask vendors to demonstrate accessibility features
• Include accessibility requirements in RFPs
• Collaborate with other people to improve accessibility
• Ask about accessible authoring
• Include people with disabilities in research projects

Questions and Discussion