Unlocking Potential

Web Site Accessibility: Too Difficult To Implement?

Brian Kelly, UKOLN

David Sloan, University of Dundee

Dr Neil Witt, University of Plymouth

Unlocking Potential

Why is it an issue?

• The desirability of Web site accessibility has been featured regularly at ILI conferences.

• Delegates are likely to be familiar with W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and legislation such as:• SENDA and DDA in the UK;• Section 508 in the US.

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Why is it an issue?

• The desirability of Web site accessibility is widely acknowledged.

• A legal and moral obligation?• However the difficulties and costs of

measuring and implementing accessibility are often ignored.

• It can be difficult to raise such concerns without appearing to be 'politically incorrect'.

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Session Aims

To stimulate debate by illustrating:• The problems found in the UK HE

community;• Usability, legal and policy issues;• The need for inclusivity of all stakeholders.

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Panel members

• Brian Kelly is UK Web Focus - a JISC-funded post which advises the UK's higher and further education communities on Web developments

• David Sloan is Project Lead of the Digital Media Access Group, a Web accessibility research and consultancy group based in the Division of Applied Computing at the University of Dundee.

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Panel members

• Dr Neil Witt is coordinator of the Communications and Learning Technologies Research (CoLT) group at the University of Plymouth. Neil is currently seconded to the Institute for Science Education (ISE) and is a TechDis Associate.

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An introduction to WAI

• Web site developers should be aware of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which develops interoperable technologies

• specifications,• guidelines• software tools

• ‘to lead the Web to its full potential as a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding' (W3C, 2002).

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WAI

1. ensuring that Web technologies support accessibility

2. developing guidelines for accessibility3. developing tools to evaluate &

facilitate accessibility4. conducting education and outreach5. coordinating with research and

development.

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WAI

• W3C have researched and developed extensive guidelines for the use of Web technologies such as HTML, XML and CSS

• These should be used to generate products that are not only good for users with disabilities, but also interoperable across a multitude of platforms.

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WCAG

• W3C have produced a list of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0.

• This is a hierarchical structure consisting of three priority levels.

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Priority 1 (Level A)

• A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document.

• Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.

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Priority 2 (Level AA)

• A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document.

• Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.

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Priority 3 (Level AAA)

• A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document.

• Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.

Unlocking Potential

Using WAI

• Adherence to the WAI guidelines does not guarantee accessibility for a specific individual.

• WAI guidelines may be open to interpretation and debate………..