IT350 Web and Internet Programming
Fall 2008
Set 14: Accessibility
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
Web Accessibility
• What is Web Accessibility?
• Why should I implement it?
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Legal
Act
A m ericans w ith D isabilities A ct of
1 990
T elecom m un icatio ns A ct o f 19 96
Ind ivid uals w ith D isabilities
E ducation A ct of 1997
R ehabilitatio n A ct of 1973
P u rpo se
T he A D A p ro hibits discrim ination on the b asis of disability in
em ploy m en t, state and local go vernm ent, p ublic
accom m odations, com m ercial facilities, transportatio n and
teleco m m unications.
T he T eleco m m unications A ct of 1996 co ntains tw o
am en dm ents to S ection 255 and Sectio n 25 1(a)(2 ) of the
C o m m un ications A ct of 1934. T hese am en dm ents requ ire that
co m m u nication devices, such as cell phones, telepho nes and
pag ers, be accessible to ind ivid uals w ith disabilities.
E du cational m aterials in scho ols m ust be m ade accessible to
children w ith disabilities.
Sectio n 504 of the R ehabilitatio n A ct states that collegesp onsored activities receiving fed eral funding cannot
discrim inate against ind ivid uals w ith disabilities. S ection 508
w as strengthened in 1 998 to requ ire the federal procu rem ent of
accessible electronic an d in form ation techn ology. T he E lectron ic
and In form ation T ech nolog y A ccessibility S tan dards p ro vide the
federal technical standards fo r accessib le W eb design. S ection
508 m and ates that all gov ernm ent institutions receiving federal
funding and all businesses that sell services to the govern m ent
m ust design their W eb sites in acco rdan ce w ith th ese
stipulations.
F ig . 2 9 .1 A cts d e sign e d to pro te ct acc es s to the Intern e t for p e op le w ith disa b ilitie s.
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
What to do? 2 Possible Benchmarks
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
• Priority-one checkpoints
– Goals that must be met to ensure accessibility
• Priority-two checkpoints
– Not essential, highly recommended
• Priority-three checkpoints
– Slightly improve accessibility
• “Section 508”
(a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via
"alt", "longdesc", or in element content).
(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a
frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Guidelines: Images and Structure
• Images
– alt attribute
– longdesc attribute
• Structure
– Use headers for _____________ , not _____________
– Use tables for ____________ ,
not _____________
• Titles
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
What’s wrong with this table?
<p>Price of Fruit</p>
<table border = "1" width = "50%">
<tr>
<td>Fruit</td>
<td>Price</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Apple</td>
<td>$0.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pineapple</td>
<td>$2.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
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What’s right with this table?
<table width = "50%" border = "1"
summary = "This table contains information about
the price of fruit. The table lists the price of
apples, oranges, bananas and pineapples.">
<caption><strong>Price of Fruit</strong></caption>
<tr>
<th id = "fruit">Fruit</th>
<th id = "price">Price</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td headers = "fruit">Apple</td>
<td headers = "price">$0.25</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td headers = "fruit">Pineapple</td>
<td headers = "price">$2.00</td>
</tr>
</table>
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
Resources
•
•
•
•
Web Accessibility Initiative
– http://www.w3.org/WAI/
http://www.icdri.org/section508/section_508_resource_page.htm
http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.pdf
http://www.usna.edu/Masters/Section508/
Adapted from  2004 Prentice Hall, Inc. All rights reserved.
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