Accessibility Issues

"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect." Quote from Tim Berner-Lees, inventor of World Wide Web and W3C Director. However, some features of HTML (the language used to put together web pages) can create difficulties for text-to-speech software used by the visually impaired etc. There are other issues around use of colours, background contrast, and inappropriate text formats.

RNIB (Royal National Institute for the Blind) have an Access to Digital campaign (for the blind/partially sighted).

E-access Bulletin is a free, independent monthly e-mail newsletter on information technology issues for people with visual impairment and blindness. Sponsored by RNIB.

AbilityNet A charity concerned with bringing the benefits of computer technology to adults and children with disabilities. Has a number of regional centres offering a comprehensive range of services to disabled people, professionals, employers and statutory bodies. Free information and advice on any aspect of the use of a computer by someone with a disability, individual assessment of technology needs, adapted computer equipment with full training and technical support, a programme of awareness education, and consultancy for employers on system and workstation adaptations. Contact Abilitynet Warwick, PO Box 94, Warwick, Warwickshire, CV34 5WS, phone 01926 312 847, email: Enquiries@AbilityNet.co.uk

Making E-communication Accessible is a downloadable publication (various formats) outlining best practice for websites, email and electronic documents (a supplement to the SAIF Standards for Disability Information and Advice Provision in Scotland). It is aimed at the voluntary/public sector and has an 'easy to digest' non-technical approach.

Making Connections Unit no longer operates, but has some useful information on its web site. One of the peopel beind it, Jim Byrne, has his own web consutlancy, and sends out a weekly accessible web design tip.

Usability Professionals' Association (UK Chapter); Scottish Usability Professionals' Association.

Association of Accessibility Professionals (was Usability and Accessibility Working Group) set up by British Web Design and Marketing Association is developing an accreditation scheme for web developers.

Designing for Access

Bobby is the most recognised accessibility checker, orginally a project of CAST (Centre for Applied Special Technology) and taken over by Watchfire. The free page checker is now called webxact, or buy Bobby for wider use. The Bobby analysis report is a valuable tool, but see our suggestions below too. You need to have some understanding of HTML to really get to grips with this stuff, but a novice will get some very good questions to ask their web designers.

In the United States, Section 508 is often quoted as the standard. It imposes a duty on all Federal government connected web sites to be accessible to people with disabilities. Legal proceedings have also been taken against companies providing services via the web after failing to ensure that their web sites were accessible. The Fed Gov's own Section 508 site is also worth a look. TechSoup has rounded up some material - you could start at Accessibility for Community Organizations: Recommended baseline standards (Sept 02).

Bobby also suggests

• Alliance for Technology Access for a discussion of the issues
• HTML Writers Guild Six principles of web design.
• IBM Accessibility Center.

VolResource suggests

• Web Access Centre is/was an online resource created by RNIB. Designed to help plan, build and test accessible websites, including this in project proposals and how to evaluate your site are covered as well as design technicalities. Now replaced (Sept 06) by Software Access Centre?
• Web Accessibility Initiative is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (the power behind web standards), and provides guidance, but tends to be rather technical.
• The Irish National Disability Authority has produced web (and other IT) accessibility guidelines which should be easier to understand by the non-techie.
• Check out the facility developed by the BBC to make its pages more accessible - Betsie
• Aprompt, a Canadian/US university project, has been developed to assist Web authors in improving the accessibility and usability of HTML documents.
• Cynthia Says has similarities to Bobby, but its results are probably more readable. Can submit a page for online checking, or there is a desktop version.
• WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) On a quick look, seems to be comprehensive and understandable.

Some rough and ready pointers: Be aware of navigation issues. Make sure graphics have labels, there are separators in link tables other than HTML tags. The text of links should makes sense out of context - don't use 'click here' and the like. Don't rely purely on colour to convey meaning, and remember ordinary design rules of adequate contrast, legibility. Be aware that users may need to set their default font size or style outside the 'norm' - use relative font and table sizes rather than absolutes. Style Sheets are a good approach now that most browser software handles these OK. Access keys (which we have implemented on VolResource) aren't highly rated by all - probably can be ignored at the moment until there is more a recognised standard. Our previous comment that accessibility software or hardware doesn't keep up with the latest web technology is beginning to look dated.

See some useful information from a web designer's perspective, with an emphasis on style sheets (CSS) as a preferred solution. A reworking of VolResource template design was inspired by this presentation: Why tables for layout is stupid. Originally for a seminar, it works quite well on the web, but you'll need some experience of html coding to follow it. If you want to see what Style sheets can do, try CSS ZenGarden (link problem Jan 07), where you can switch layout design with just a click.

Connected items

Adobe, the company behind the PDF format (for which they produce the Acrobat reader) have a facility to convert PDF files into formats more accessible to screen reading software. If you use this format on your site, it would be helpful to include a pointer to access.adobe.com. Their downloadable MakeAccessible Plug-in creates a tagged Adobe PDF file from an untagged PDF file.

Braille facility and other access technology - see TechTips

Flash, the all-singing and dancing graphics format from Macromedia (now part of Adobe), has had accessibility features added to it in version MX, allowing viewing by screen readers.

Usability

Usability is more than being able to access. Understanding what works for the intended user/audience and giving it to them is not easy to do perfectly, but is something to aspire to. Jakob Nielsen is the best known 'guru' who tries to practice what he preaches.

Louise Ferguson's weblog User Experiences Resources section is an excellent collection of links and info. Resources from Information & Design, an Australian usability consultancy, have been recommended on Charity Web Forum, as has The Usability Company if you have the money to pay for consultancy (their Resources section might also be a good place to understand usability more).

Gerry McGovern focuses on web content management - getting this right also helps usability! His email newsletter is often a good read.

Microsoft Developers Network has published a 3 pager, Critical Thinking in Web and Interface Design, which web developers ought to read, and others can take note of the questions which ought to be asked, which are below:

When researching the problems you need to solve, keep the following questions in mind:

• Who are our customers? What skills and knowledge do they have?
• What different sources of data can we use to understand their experience?
• What goals and tasks will they use our product or Web site to complete?
• What assumptions are we making and how can we verify them?
• What sources of data do we have? (Usability studies and heuristic evaluations are good places to start.)

If you work on a team, create a short document that lists all of the problems, and include the supporting information with each one.

Example problem statements:

• It is difficult to navigate from one section of the Web site to another.
• Users have to wait too long for the software to load.
• Our security error messages are difficult to understand.
• The registration page has too many questions, and users often abandon it.
• Finding a specific product on the site index is too hard to complete.

Note: There is a fine line between a user problem and a functional bug. Suggested characteristics: A problem is a bug if 1) the problem represents a failure of the code to function as it was intended; 2) there is an obvious, simple solution. For example: The failure of a dropdown to list all 50 states is a bug, the inability of users to find the dropdown, or use it to complete a task, is a problem.

(© 2001 Microsoft Corporation.)