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Search[DRAFT] Overview of "How People with Disabilities Use the Web"
Page Contents
Status: This page is an old draft. The latest version is at www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web.
Introduction
How People with Disabilities Use the Web illustrates how people with different types of disabilities use Web sites, applications, browsers, and authoring tools. It is not intended to be a comprehensive discussion of disabilities, nor a review of all assistive technologies. Instead, it introduces a range of issues as supporting information for the work of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
What is in How People with Disabilities Use the Web
How People with Disabilities Use the Web provides cross-linked information in the sections described below.
Scenarios
The Scenarios of People with Disabilities Using the Web section gives examples of people with disabilities using assistive technologies and adaptive strategies to access the Web. It provides examples of how each uses specific accessibility features.
- online shopper with color blindness - user control of style sheets
- reporter with repetitive stress injury - keyboard equivalents for mouse-driven commands, access-key
- online student who is deaf - captioned audio portions of multimedia files
- accountant who is blind - appropriate markup of tables, alternative text, abbreviations, and acronyms; synchronization of visual, speech, and braille display
- classroom student with dyslexia - use of supplemental graphics, freezing animated graphics, multiple search options
- retiree with aging-related conditions managing personal finances - magnification, stopping scrolling text, avoiding pop-up windows
- supermarket assistant with cognitive disability - clear and simple language, consistent design, consistent navigation options, multiple search options
- teenager with deaf-blindness seeking entertainment - user control of style sheets, accessible multimedia, device-independent access, labeled frames, appropriate table markup
Different Disabilities
The Different Disabilities that Can Affect Web Accessibility section lists includes examples of the kinds of barriers someone with a specific disability might encounter using the Web. They are grouped a follows:
- visual disabilities
- hearing impairments
- physical disabilities
- speech disabilities
- cognitive and neurological disabilities
- multiple disabilities
- aging-related conditions
Assistive Technologies and Adaptive Strategies
The Assistive Technologies and Adaptive Strategies section briefly introduces:
- alternative keyboards or switches
- braille and refreshable braille
- scanning software
- screen magnifiers
- screen readers
- speech recognition
- speech synthesis
- tabbing through structural elements
- text browsers
- visual notification
- voice browsers
Technical report format
How People with Disabilities Use the Web follows the W3C format for technical reports that includes several sections at the beginning: links to different versions, editors, copyright, abstract, and status with the link to errata and the email address for comments.
Referencing How People with Disabilities Use the Web
While the document is an unapproved draft, it may not be referenced or quoted. Instead, reference this Overview page (Overview of "How People with Disabilities Use the Web" http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web), which will always link to the latest version of How People with Disabilities Use the Web.
"How People with Disabilities Use the Web" is copyright© W3C and licensed under the W3C Document License. After it is completed, we will additionally grant permission to create modifications or derivatives of the material. Thus you will be allowed to copy, change, translate, distribute, and present the information as long as you include the reference information below as source material:
How People with Disabilities Use the Web, Brewer, Judy, ed. World Wide Web Consortium (MIT, ERCIM, Keio), [date]. http://www.w3.org/[to be provided]
Who develops How People with Disabilities Use the Web
How People with Disabilities Use the Web is developed by the Education and Outreach Working Group (EOWG), which is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). For more information about the working group, see the EOWG page.
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