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Web Accessibility Initiative

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Topic: Web Accessibility Initiative

Posted By: eddd82
Subject: Web Accessibility Initiative
Date Posted: 26 May 2005 at 12:23am

Hi,

Ive been asked to design a site the conform to Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI guidelines ( at least Level 2 - legal requirement). What exactly is this? Ive found some info but it doesnt make much sense. Any help would be appreciated.

thanks

Replies:

Posted By: Bluefrog
Date Posted: 26 May 2005 at 3:27am

It's for helping disabled people to use a web site easier.

See: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/ - http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/

For levels and a checklist, see: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html - http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/full-checklist.html

It's a long read, and the only way you're going to understand it is to do all the reading yourself. It's a pretty big spec, but it's not all that hard to get through. At the end of the day, you'll make better web sites if you understand it and can implement some of the recommendations there.

I don't care about handicapped people, so I just ignore it. Just kidding!

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Posted By: Gullanian
Date Posted: 26 May 2005 at 7:43am

Anyone read about my University in the news recently?

The University of East Anglia computing department developed a sign language model thinggymajig to sign language a website. It was all over google news a week ago.

Think about it.

Deaf people can still read.

Posted By: dfrancis
Date Posted: 26 May 2005 at 8:20am

Hi eddd82,

This is a topic that is near and dear to me. I have done some work for the US government (Military) and they are all about accessibility. It's difficult but there are ways to simplify it. Here are some resources I found in my favorites... but first, you say you are in Ireland, COOL. I have some friends on their way there at this very moment and I'm sending another friend there in July. (I own a travel agency too.) We are planning a group "pub crawl" for this time next year when I may get a chance to visit myself. (I've only been to Shannon to get fuel.) ANYWAY... here are the links.

General Overview

Accessibility is the word used to describe how to make Web Pages accessible to people with disabilities. The Links below provide an overall view of the factors involved.

AccessibleNet.org http://www.accessiblenet.org/ - www.AccessibleNet.org: AccessibleNet.org is an independent, online directory of links and resources about Web accessibility.
AWARE Center http://www.awarecenter.org/ - www.awarecenter.org: The HTML Writers Guild's includes an AWARE Center. AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education and their mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about web accessibility.
CAST Universal Design for Learning http://www.cast.org/ - www.cast.org: "CAST is a not-for-profit education research and development organization that uses technology to make education more flexible and accessible for all students, especially those with disabilities."
Disability Discrimination Act - Great Britain http://www.ddaguidelines.com/ - www.ddaguidelines.com: Describes how to apply Great Britain's DDA Guidelines to websites. "Apart from the moral case, there are nearly nine million disabled people in the UK with a combined spending power of �45 billion, and with the Disability Discrimination Act legislation coming into force there are many good reasons to make your website accessable."
IBM http://www-3.ibm.com/able/guidelines/web/accessweb.html - www-3.ibm.com/able/guidelines/web/accessweb.html: IBM has been committed to issues of accessibility since 1914. They have created a checklist for making Web Sites accessible with Links to useful descriptions of how to accomplish each checkpoint.
Microsoft http://www.microsoft.com/enable/ - www.microsoft.com/enable: "Microsoft� recognizes its responsibility to develop technology that is accessible and usable to everyone, including those with disabilities."
JimThatcher.com http://www.jimthatcher.com/ - www.jimthatcher.com: Jim Thatcher is an Accessibility Consultant. His Web Site, and the book he co-authored, http://www.ablewebeditor.com/Resources/Books-Other.html - Constructing Accessible Websites , focus on the nuts and bolts of how to make Web Sites accessible.
Starling Access Services http://www.starlingweb.com/ - www.starlingweb.com: Starling Access Services offers Accessilbe Web Design, and Consulting Services as well as seminars and workshops. Their Web Site offers a good explanation of Web Accessibility in everyday language.
US Government Access Board http://www.access-board.gov/links/disability.htm - www.access-board.gov/links/disability.htm: This Web Page is a list of Links to disability related organizations
Usability First http://www.usabilityfirst.com/accessibility/index.txl - www.usabilityfirst.com/accessibility/index.txl: This is a good general introduction to the topic of accessibility by a Web design service.

(source: http://www.ablewebeditor.com/Resources/Links-WebAccess.html - http://www.ablewebeditor.com/Resources/Links-WebAccess.html )

http://www.section508.gov -

http://www.section508.gov
http://www.w3.org/WAI/ - http://www.w3.org/WAI/
http://www.watchfire.com/ - http://www.watchfire.com/
http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp - http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp
http://www.katsnet.org/section508.html - http://www.katsnet.org/section508.html

Posted By: dpyers
Date Posted: 26 May 2005 at 1:30pm

Nice set of links.

Bookmarking this thread

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Posted By: eddd82
Date Posted: 27 May 2005 at 2:29am

Thanks a million for all the replies people. Plenty of reading to be done!

Posted By: the boss
Date Posted: 28 May 2005 at 7:45am

simple accessbility rules

use extremely dark backgrounds and light forgrounds.. like black with white text

use high contrast colours

use super huge fonts

dont use any hiding java script menus..

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