Section 508 & Accessible Web Sites Randy FranklinUniversity of Nevada, Reno

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IntroductionWhy should we make our website accessible to users

with physical disabilities?

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Introduction General web designer’s thought process:

“We thought that they would use specialized equipment but we never considered a specialized website would help.”

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Introduction Myth of Accessibility:

“So, all we need to do is to create a separate text-based site, right?”

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Accessibility vs. Usability Accessibility is the ability to access information

even with specific physical barriers.• Physical barriers being defined as visual

impairment, audio impairment, movement handicap, physical handicap

Usability is the ability to use an application regardless of physical barrier or not (Can the user accomplish their intended goal?)• For example, hyperlinks on a website

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Accessibility vs. Usability (cont’d) It’s a chicken and egg thing but one could consider

that usability is a subset of accessibility• The user must first be able to access the

technology and then use the technology

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Benefits to making a site accessible Assisting and pleasing a certain percentage of

your current audience (moral obligation) Opening up your site to a new audience

• This was the big push in the retail world. Many of the techniques used to make a site

accessible help in other areas (cell phone readability)

Street cred

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Section 508 Federal government saw a need to legislate how technology

they distribute is accessed by physically disabled users In 1998 amended Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act

(1973) to include television, video, audio, software, web guidelines

Assistive Technology Act State Grant enforces this at the state level• If you receive DOE funding for technology then your site

must be Section 508 compliant Many organizations follow the standards out of goodwill

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Section 508 (cont’d) Main tenets of the Section 508 standard

• Text equivalents for every non-text element (i.e., alt tags)• Avoid conveying information solely in color• Able to be accessed without an associated stylesheet• Text-based navigation alternatives to imagemaps• Design page elements to avoid flicker• Row and column headers for data tables• Text-only page provided if there is no means for

separating content and presentation Section 508 is a competing standard with the Web Content

Accessibility guidelines

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Other guidelines Have an information architecture plan Access keys can help

• <a href=“somewhere.html” accesskey=“1”>Item 1</a>

Tabindex (useful for forms) Use XHTML, CSS, web standards

• Look into media stylesheets Aural, Braille, embossed, print, screen, tty, handheld <link rel=“stylesheet” href=“stylesheet-aural.css” type=“text/css”

media=“aural”

Can size their own text?• Design may break

Searchable?

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Testing Validators (XTHML validation, CSS validation, Section 508

validation)• Firefox web developer toolbar

http://chrispederick.com/work/webdeveloper/

• Bobby (now WebXACT) http://webxact.watchfire.com/

Criteria testing (do we have alt tags? do we have access keys?) Alternative browser testing

• Screen readers Jaws GW Micro

• Lynx Direct user testing Color filtering: http://colorfilter.wickline.org

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UNR Initiatives- One in 11 students entering higher education has a document disability- UNR provides services to over 880 students with disabilities

Access keys Section 508 validation Contribute/CMS enforcement Text sizing XHTML/CSS standards UNR Disability Resource Center

• http://www.unr.edu/stsv/slservices/drc/

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References and Resources W3C Web Accessibility Initiative

• http://www.w3.org/WAI/• http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

Section 508 government resources• http://www.section508.gov/

Building Accessible Websites by Joe Clark UNR Disability Resource Center

• http://www.unr.edu/stsv/slservices/drc/

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Wrap-up http://www.whitehouse.gov/accessibility.html http://www.senate.gov/ http://www.nv.gov/

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Contact Randy Franklin

Web DesignerUniversity of Nevada, Renorandyf@unr.edu