Training for Web Accessibility

Eastern Kentucky University

Dr. Gene Kleppinger

For the Session Evaluation:

• Presenter Name: Gene Kleppinger

• Session Date/time: S 9:00

• Presentation Title: Web Accessibility

Here’s my “handout”:

www.eku.edu/onlinelearning/waccess

Do you . . . • have a WARP site?• use the Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for Microsoft Office?• have a training program to help instructors meet the “Section 508” standards or the “W3C” guidelines?• know why doing this to get your attention is bad practice?

What is Web Accessibility? Do you care?

• The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 require that individuals with disabilities receive equal access to federally-funded programs, services and activities unless doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of the program, service or activity or such access would impose an undue burden.

What is Web Accessibility? Do you care?

• In 1998 Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities. Section 508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in information technology, to make available new opportunities for people with disabilities, and to encourage development of technologies that will help achieve these goals.

What is Web Accessibility? Do you care?

• The law applies to all Federal agencies when they develop, procure, maintain, or use electronic and information technology. Under Section 508, Federally-funded agencies must give disabled employees, and members of the public, access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.

Two reasons to care about waccessibility

1. It’s a good idea!– Creating appeal for new student populations is a

good strategy.– Giving access to “everybody” has long been an

ideal for the World Wide Web.– You wouldn’t intentionally design Web pages so that

they worked only in Netscape, or only for Linux users.

Two reasons to care about waccessibility

1. It’s a good idea!2. YOU MIGHT BE SUED

FOR NONCOMPLIANCE!UC Berkeley/Davis case (2002)

Your Business Management course, maybe? Would a Deafstudent be able to watch the required narrated videos?

Different compliance standards, same goal

• “Section 508”– U.S. law, frequently reflected in state legislation– Often cited by businesses and govt. agencies

• “W3C”– International protocols developed through the World

Wide Web Consortium– The “Checklists” are somewhat easier to implement

than the wording of 508.– Three “Priority” levels encourage progressive work;

“you don’t have to do it all overnight.”

These disabilities cause the greatest concern for Web use:

• Visual deficiencies (blindness, color blindness, low vision)

• Aural deficiencies (Deafness, hardness of hearing, frequency range problems)

• Motor disabilities (muscle control problems, paraplegia, paralysis)

• Cognitive disabilities and central nervous system problems (dyslexia, “ADHD” etc., LD, seizures, epilepsy, migraines)

Primary Web page defects

• Images without text descriptions (“alt tags”)• Tables with “tabs,” or without column headings• “Click here” and other bad navigation practices• Bizarre page layout, poorly composed text• Color used for emphasis, navigation or reference• Frames without names• Certain kinds of CSS (cascading style sheets)• Poor color combinations, low contrast, small fonts

• Flashing text or animations at trigger frequencies

Assistive Browser Technologies

• Screen reading software (e.g., JAWS)

• Display enlarging tools (e.g., incorporated in Mozilla/Firefox)

• ?? Voice recognition software ??

• Input device technologies (all sorts of devices to substitute for mouse/keyboard)

• [Nothing to help with cognitive dysfunctions yet]

Blackboard 6 and Web Accessibility

• Blackboard’s document– reviews some good practices – explains how Bb meets the Section 508 standards

• Built-in features (also see login page link)– All navigation features, including tests, are suitably

accessible.– When users add images for display within a page, the

Bb editor requests a text alternative (“alt tag”).– Chat (but not the VC) is designed for use with screen

reading software.

So . . .

• The Bb interface is waccessible (except the non-chat features in the Virtual Classroom).

• Content created or edited within Bb is generally waccessible, but instructors must follow good practices.

• BUT content created outside Bb and then attached or uploaded may not be waccessible, and special software tools may be needed.– Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel; Impatica; PDF;

Macromedia Flash; all video; all audio; all HTML!

You Are Not Alone

and

You Are Not Helpless

Working waccessibly . . .

• Hit the high priority issues immediately:– add image descriptors (“alt tags”), – table headings, and – meaningful figure captions

whenever you created new documents for Web distribution (whether HTML or not). If your current software does not provide convenient waccessibility options, find software that does.

Working waccessibly . . . • Test existing Web-linked information (such

as your External Links) with validation software such as “Bobby.” Note that you can’t use validation software directly with your whole Blackboard sites (because the site requires user authentication).

• BUT remember that these tools evaluate only syntactic (formal) waccessibility, measuring nothing about the semantics (meaning and cognitive impact) of the site.

Working waccessibly . . .

• If possible, observe a demonstration of screen reading software such as JAWS.

• With experience you will easily recognize (and avoid using) page elements that are likely to be nonwaccessible, such as data columns created with the Tab key.

• Unless your organization demands the impossible, you don’t have to fix everything all at once.

More about working waccessibly . . .

• Find tools that will increase your effectiveness, not become a hindrance. Complain to software developers when their tools are difficult to use!

• Remember that everything done in the name of waccessibility actually helps many more people than “the disabled.”

Using the Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for Microsoft Office

(U. Illinois at Urbana/Champaign)http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/software/office/

(demonstration)

EKU’s plan

• Policy with “teeth” is under development.

• As we began creating policies specific to Distance Education, the need for training became brutally clear.

• We now expect to deploy training BEFORE the policy with “teeth” gets formalized.

EKU’s training plan

• Five modules, initially conducted in live workshops– Awareness (including JAWS demo)– Validators; Word/PowerPoint best practices– Adobe Acrobat and multimedia best practices– Incorporating accessible content in Bb– Web authoring techniques

• INCENTIVES for those who complete the training! (required for online instructors)

Here’s my “handout”:

www.eku.edu/onlinelearning/waccess

For the Session Evaluation:

• Presenter Name: Gene Kleppinger

• Session Date/time: S 9:00

• Presentation Title: Web Accessibility