Accessibility

 can-stock-photo_csp11706424Web Accessibility
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility)
Accessibility refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities.  The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (ie. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers).

Accessibility can be viewed as the “ability to access” and benefit from some system or entity. The concept focuses on enabling access for people with disabilities, or special needs, or enabling access through the use of assistive technology; however, research and development in accessibility brings benefits to everyone.

Accessibility is not to be confused with usability, which is the extent to which a product (such as a device, service, or environment) can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use.

Accessibility is strongly related to universal design which is the process of creating products that are usable by people with the widest possible range of abilities, operating within the widest possible range of situations. This is about making things accessible to all people (whether they have a disability or not).

w3c-waiWeb Content Accessibility Guidelines
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_Content_Accessibility_Guidelines)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for the internet. They consist of a set of guidelines for making content accessible, primarily for people with disabilities, but also for all user agents, including highly limited devices, such as mobile phones. The current version, WCAG 2.0, was published in December 2008 and became an ISO standard, ISO/IEC 40500:2012 in October 2012.

WCAG 1.0
The WCAG 1.0 was published and became a W3C recommendation on 5 May 1999. They have since been superseded by WCAG 2.0.
WCAG 1.0 consist of 14 guidelines which are general principles of accessible design. Each guideline covers a basic theme of web accessibility and is associated with one or more checkpoints describing how to apply that guideline to particular features of webpages.

  • Guideline 1: Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content
  • Guideline 2: Don’t rely on colour alone
  • Guideline 3: Use markup and style sheets, and do so properly
  • Guideline 4: Clarify natural language usage
  • Guideline 5: Create tables that transform gracefully
  • Guideline 6: Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully
  • Guideline 7: Ensure user control of time sensitive content changes
  • Guideline 8: Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces
  • Guideline 9: Design for device independence
  • Guideline 10: User interim solutions
  • Guideline 11: Use W3C technologies and guidelines
  • Guideline 12: Provide context and orientation information
  • Guideline 13: Provide clear navigation mechanisms
  • Guideline 14: Ensure that documents are clear and simple

Each of the in total 65 WCAG 1.0 checkpoints has a priority level assigned to it which is based on the checkpoint’s impact on accessibility:

  • Priority 1: Web developers must satisfy these requirements, otherwise it will be impossible for one or more groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as A.
  • Priority 2: Web developers should satisfy these requirements, otherwise some groups will find it difficult to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as AA or Double-A.
  • Priority 3: Web developers may satisfy these requirements, in order to make it easier for some groups to access the Web content. Conformance to this level is described as AAA or Triple-A.

WCAG 2.0
WCAG 2.0 was published as a W3C Recommendation on 11 December 2008.  It consists of 12 guidelines (untestable) organized under four principles (websites must be perceivable, operable, understandable and robust) and each guideline has testable success criteria (65 in all). The W3C’s Techniques for WCAG 2.0 is a list of techniques that support authors to meet the guidelines and success criteria. The techniques are periodically updated whereas the principles, guidelines and success criteria are stable and do not change.

Principles

Perceivable
Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can perceive.

  • Guideline 1.1: Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
  • Guideline 1.2: Time-based media: Provide alternatives for time-based media.
  • Guideline 1.3: Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
  • Guideline 1.4: Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

Operable
User interface components and navigation must be operable.

  • Guideline 2.1: Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
  • Guideline 2.2: Provide users enough time to read and use content.
  • Guideline 2.3: Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.
  • Guideline 2.4: Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

Understandable
Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable.

  • Guideline 3.1: Make text content readable and understandable.
  • Guideline 3.2: Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
  • Guideline 3.3: Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

Robust
Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.

  • Guideline 4.1.: Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

WCAG 2.0 uses the same three levels of conformance (A, AA, AAA) as WCAG 1.0, but has redefined them. The WCAG working group maintains an extensive list of web accessibility techniques and common failure cases for WCAG 2.0.

 waiW3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/)
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) brings together individuals and organizations from around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – Introduction to Web Accessibility
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php)
What is Web Accessibility?
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.

Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. The document “How People with Disabilities Use the Web” (http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web/Overview.html) describes how different disabilities affect Web use and includes scenarios of people with disabilities using the Web.

Millions of people have disabilities that affect their use of the Web. Currently most Web sites and Web software have accessibility barriers that make it difficult or impossible for many people with disabilities to use the Web. As more accessible Web sites and software become available, people with disabilities are able to use and contribute to the Web more effectively.

Web accessibility also benefits people without disabilities. For example, a key principle of Web accessibility is designing Web sites and software that are flexible to meet different user needs, preferences, and situations. This flexibility also benefits people without disabilities in certain situations, such as people using a slow Internet connection, people with “temporary disabilities” such as a broken arm, and people with changing abilities due to aging.

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – WAI Guidelines and Techniques
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/guid-tech.html)
WAI develops a series of accessibility standards and guidelines.

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is developed through the W3C process in cooperation with individuals and organizations around the world, with a goal of proving a single shared standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of individuals, organizations, and governments internationally.

The WCAG documents explain how to make web content more accessible to people with disabilities. Web “content” generally refers to the 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.

WCAGW3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0
W3C Recommendation 11 December 2008
(http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/)

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – WCAG 2 at a Glance
(http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/)

WebAIM logoWebAim
(http://webaim.org/)
WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) is a non-profit organization based at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. WebAIM has provided web accessibility solutions since 1999. WebAIM’s mission is to expand the potential of the web for people with disabilities by providing the knowledge, technical skills, tools, organizational leadership strategies, and vision that empower organizations to make their own content accessible to people with disabilities.[citation

WebAim – Introduction to Web Accessibility
(http://webaim.org/intro/)

waveWebAim – WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
(http://wave.webaim.org/

 

WebAim – WebAIM’s WCAG 2.0 Checklist
(http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist)

abilitynet-logo-without-words-up-to-80mm-lo-res-Feb-2015-webAbilityNet – Web Accessibility Resources
(https://www.abilitynet.org.uk/advice-info/web-accessibility-resources)
Accessible web design ensures that your digital content and online services meet the needs of all site visitors. If you design and build websites, or are responsible for the design or procurement of digital content, accessibility should be a key priority on your agenda because:

  • It’s the law – enshrined in the Disability Equality Act (2010).  If your website does not meet certain design standards, then you could be sued for discrimination
  • There’s a compelling business case – the UK’s 12 million disabled people have a spending power of £120 billion – are you losing out on this potentially lucrative market
  • Accessible sites are 35% more usable by everyone whether they have special access needs or not.
  • Accessible sites are cheaper to run and maintain – they simply make good business sense.

Berkeley Web Access – Making Your Website Accessible
(http://webaccess.berkeley.edu/resources/tips/web-accessibility)

A List Apart – To Hell with WCAG 2 (2006)
(http://alistapart.com/article/tohellwithwcag2)
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 were published in 1999 and quickly grew out of date. The proposed new WCAG 2.0 is the result of five long years’ work by a Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) committee that never quite got its act together. In an effort to be all things to all web content, the fundamentals of WCAG 2 are nearly impossible for a working standards-compliant developer to understand. WCAG 2 backtracks on basics of responsible web development that are well accepted by standardistas. WCAG 2 is not enough of an improvement and was not worth the wait.

logo-ariaWAI-ARIA
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAI-ARIA)
WAI-ARIA (Web Accessibility Initiative – Accessible Rich Internet Applications) is a technical specification published by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) that specifies how to increase the accessibility of web pages, in particular, dynamic content and user interface components developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript and related technologies. On 20 March 2014 WAI-ARIA 1.0 became a completed W3C Recommendation.

Web developers increasingly use client-side scripts to create user interface controls that cannot be created with HTML alone. They also use client-side scripts to update sections of a page without requesting a completely new page from a web server. Such techniques on websites are called rich Internet applications. These user interface controls and content updates are often not accessible to users with disabilities, especially screen reader users and users who cannot use a mouse or other pointing device. WAI-ARIA allows web pages (or portions of pages) to declare themselves as applications rather than as static documents, by adding role, property, and state information to dynamic web applications. ARIA is intended for use by developers of web applications, web browsers, assistive technologies, and accessibility evaluation tools.

WAI-ARIA describes how to add semantics and other metadata to HTML content in order to make user interface controls and dynamic content more accessible. For example, with WAI-ARIA it is possible to identify a list of links as a navigation menu and to state whether it is expanded or collapsed. Although originally developed to address accessibility issues in HTML, the use of WAI-ARIA is not limited to HTML: in principle, it can also be used in other markup languages such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG). SVG 1.2 Tiny added support for WAI-ARIA in the 15 September 2008 working draft.

The Web Accessibility Initiative has published an overview of WAI-ARIA[2] that introduces the subject and guides readers to the WAI-ARIA Suite documents.

w3c-wai-aria-badgeW3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) – WAI-ARIA Overview
(https://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/aria)
WAI-ARIA, the Accessible Rich Internet Applications Suite, defines a way to make Web content and Web applications more accessible to people with disabilities. It especially helps with dynamic content and advanced user interface controls developed with Ajax, HTML, JavaScript, and related technologies. Currently certain functionality used in Web sites is not available to some users with disabilities, especially people who rely on screen readers and people who cannot use a mouse. WAI-ARIA addresses these accessibility challenges, for example, by defining new ways for functionality to be provided to assistive technology. With WAI-ARIA, developers can make advanced Web applications accessible and usable to people with disabilities.