28 September 2004
Accessibility
Closely related to the topic of standards and appropriate coding is the topic of web site accessibility. We'll talk about different kinds of accessibility, the reasons for building accessible web sites, and some techniques for making sure sites are accessible to all users.
Assessing Accessibility: In-Class Exercise
Use Cynthia Says to evaluate at least two of your own web pages (with at least one of those being on your Grace account). If the server is refuses to accept any more URLs from rit.edu, review a page that you visit frequently. Make note of all of the priority 1, 2, and 3 problems identified.
If you reviewed your own web page, fix the Priority 1 problems. Remember that to pass the W3C recommendations, you must not have any Priority 1 problems. (You may find it helpful to use the WCAG checklist.)
After you've fixed your Priority 1 problems, look at the other comments in the report provided. Your efforts should now be directed towards fixing any Priority 2 problems. Finally, Priority 3 problems may also be fixed to provide maximum accommodations.
Post a comment to this entry that describes what problems you found on your site. Which problems were you able to fix? Were there any you couldn't? (If you weren't able to test your site in class, do this before Thursday.)
Accessibility Simulations: In-Class Exercise
If you have headphones with you, complete the tasks on WebAIM's Screen Simulator. If you don't have headphones, do this exercise outside of class; it's a valuable experience.
Go to the Cognitive Simulator on the same site, and complete those tasks as well.
On the Vischeck site, provide a URL to a web page you've created, and see how it would appear to a person with color blindness. Try it with some of the web pages you frequent most often.
Readings on Accessibility
- Chapter 14 from Designing With Web Standards (pages 327-360)
- Dive Into Accessibility (30 Days to a More Accessible Web Site)
- CNN Article on Web Accessibility