Web Accessibility Perspective

This page contains material related to a presentation at the Web Accessibility Best Practices Evaluation Training in Sankt Augustin, Germany on 25 October, 2005, as part of the WAI-TIES Project (WAI - Training, Implementation, Education, Support). 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 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.

What is Web accessibility?

Access to the Web by everyone
Web accessibility includes:
- Web sites and applications
- Web authoring tools
- Web browsers and media players
- Assistive Technologies

Why is it an issue?

The Web is a key resource for:
- news, information, commerce, entertainment,
- classroom education, distance learning,
- job searching, workplace interaction,
- civic participation, government services
Barriers impact a significant population

Examples of barriers

Inaccessible visual information
Invalid Web site markup code
Inconsistent or difficult navigation
Improper usage of script events
Uncaptioned multimedia files

Who is affected?

People with:

Visual, hearing, physical, cognitive, or neurological disabilities
Aging related deficiencies
Temporary or situational limitations
Social or economical limitations

Are there more benefits?

Increase market share and audience reach
Improve site efficiency and quality
Demonstrate social responsibility
Reduce legal liability

What is Web Content?

different compents of a Web page such as pictures, text, diagrams, structures, etc.

Any information in a Web page or Web application, including:

natural information such as text, images, and sounds
code or markup that defines structure, presentation, etc.

Developer perspective

Web developer with a symbolic path to represent information that passes through authoring tools and evaluation tools in order to be published Web content.

Authoring and rendering

specific example for alternative text on images which is a requirements by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. Web developers provide text alternatives for the images using authoring tools. The HTML specification provides a mechanism to supplement images with such text. Finally, this redundant coding is used by browsers and assistive technology to convey the information to the end users according to their preferences, for example visually, through voice synthesis, or in form of text.

When components are weak...

Symbolic paths around authoring tools or through multiple browsers and assistive technologies represent how Web developers and users need to spend more effort working around weak components that do not support accessibility.

Sometimes other components can compensate through "work-arounds"

require much more effort
not good solutions overall
often not implemented

Components of Web accessibility

illustration with labeled graphics of computers and people. at the top center is a graphic with numbers, a book, a clock, and paper, labeled 'content'. coming up from the bottom left, an arrow connects 'developers' through 'authoring tools' and 'evaluation tools' to 'content' at the top. coming up from the bottom right, an arrow connects 'users' to 'browsers, media players' and 'assistive technologies' to 'content' at the top. below these are 'accessibility guidelines' which include 'ATAG' with an arrow pointing to 'authoring tools' and 'evaluation tools', 'WCAG' pointing to 'content', and 'UAAG' pointing to 'browsers, media players' and 'assistive technologies'. at the very bottom, 'technical specifications (HTML, XML, CSS, SVG, SMIL, etc.)' forms a base with an arrow pointing up to the accessibility guidelines.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities
intended for all Web content developers such as page authors and site designers
also intended for developers of Web authoring tools and evaluation tools
WCAG 1.0 was approved in May 1999 and is the stable and referenceable version