This page contains material related to a presentation at the Web Accessibility Best Practices Evaluation Training in Paris, France in July 2004. It is not intended to stand-alone; rather, it is primarily provided as reference material for participants in the training.
Scope of Training and Materials: This one-day training focused on select topics that were particularly suited to the circumstances of this specific hands-on training session. It did not to cover all aspects of evaluating Web accessibility, and did not cover all Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 checkpoints.
No Endorsement or Recommendation of Evaluation Tools: W3C/WAI does not endorse Web accessibility evaluation tools and does not recommend one tool over another. Some tools were listed, demonstrated, and used in activities in this training. Mention of a specific tool does not imply endorsement nor recommendation. WAI does provide a comprehensive list of Evaluation, Repair, and Transformation Tools for Web Content Accessibility.
Evaluating Structure and Valid Markup
Shawn Lawton Henry, W3C WAI
Last updated: 15 July 2004
Evaluating WCAG 1.0 Checkpoints
- Specific Markup
- Valid Markup
- Stylesheets
- Relative Units
- Markup Text, Not Images
Activity
- Web page without structure properly marked up
Demo
- Pages that visually look the same
- Without structure marked up
- With structure properly marked up and CSS for presentation
Types of Problems
- Structure not properly marked up - most common
- Structure markup used for presentation - less common
WCAG 1.0 Checkpoints
- 3.5 Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification. [Priority 2]
- 3.6 Mark up lists and list items properly. [Priority 2]
- <ul>, <ol>, <dl>, <li>, </li>…
AT Demo
- Home Page Reader
- Read > Headings Reading Mode [Alt+1]
Activity:
- Evaluate
- WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint 3.5 - headers
- WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint 3.7 - lists
- Using
WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint
- 3.7 Mark up quotations.
Do not use quotation markup for formatting effects such as indentation.
[Priority 2]
3.7 Evaluation Techniques & Tools
- Search HTML for
"
- Check marked up
<q>
- Tip: since poorly supported, use both
<q> and "
- Search HTML for
<blockquote>
- Check not used for non-quote formatting
- For the pointy-bracket-fearful:
WCAG 1.0 Checkpoints
- 3.2 Create documents that validate to published formal grammars. [Priority 2]
- 11.2 Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies. [Priority 2]
WCAG 1.0 Checkpoints
- 3.3 Use style sheets to control layout and presentation. [Priority 2]
- 6.1 Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets. For example, when an HTML document is rendered without associated style sheets, it must still be possible to read the document. [Priority 1]
3.3 Evaluation Techniques & Tools
Tip: Turn off Style Sheets
- AIS Toolbar
- Tip: not Opera, it got too smart
- 3.3, look for:
- 6.1, look for:
- order (sequence)
- color contrast
Activity: Evaluate for 3.3, 6.1
What did you find?
- Fails 3.3
- Fails 6.1
- Resources near top instead of bottom
- Headings not coded
- Lists not coded as lists
WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint
- 3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values. [Priority 2]
3.4 Evaluation Techniques & Tools
- Demo: Change font size in IE
- Tip: Opera overrides, IE can
- Search HTML and CSS
- For the pointy-bracket-fearful:
Tip
- Absolute, not for text
- OK for images and such
- Some in between
WCAG 1.0 Checkpoint
- 3.1 When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather than images to convey information. [Priority 2]
3.1 Evaluation Techniques & Tools
- Browser
- Demo Opera: Turn off images
- Demo IE: Change text colors
Activity
- Evaluate 3.4 Relative Units
- IE (change text size)
- Search for
px, pt, cm, in
- WAVE
- AIS Toolbar
- Evaluate 3.1 Markup Text, Not Images
- Turn off images
- Change text colors
