Workshop 1
Basics of Web Accessibility
Web Content Accessibility Project
Funded by BCcampus
Natasha Boskic, Kirsten Bole, Nathan Hapke
University of British Columbia
Workshop schedule
• Monday August 21
Basics of Web Accessibility
• Tuesday August 22
Coding an Accessible Website
• Wednesday August 23
Accessible Multimedia
• Thursday August 24
Creating Usable Content
• Friday August 25
Disabilities & Assistive Technology
The Plan
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What is accessibility and why is it important?
E-learning and accessibility
Who is affected?
How are they affected?
How do I make my course more accessible?
Why does it matter?
• We often make assumptions about our
students and site visitors
• Disabilities are invisible online
• If we are unaffected, we are unaware of any
inconvenience
Consequences in Education
• Inaccessible sites can be slightly
inconvenient or completely frustrating
• Inaccessible academic sites can have serious
impact on someone’s educational experience
• Affects students’ access to course materials
and ability to work and participate
• Excluding students is not an option
Standards
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
• Created by the Web Accessibility Initiative
section of the W3C
• 2.0 is under review
Laws
• Section 508 (US)
• UK Disability Rights Commission
• Laws in Canada are not as specific
• Canadian anti-discrimination laws strong
E-learning and accessibility
Good:
• Learning online bridges
huge distances
• Potential for small classes,
more interaction
• Opportunities for students
who otherwise can’t attend
a physical campus
Not so good:
• Dependent on technology
• Requires careful time management
Students with disabilities
• Learning disabilities most common
– Dyslexia, ADHD
• Sight
– Partial sight, blindness, colourblindness
• Motor/physical
– Limited control of mouse/keyboard
• Hearing
Getting around
• Sight & learning issues
– Screen readers
– Screen magnifiers
– Braille devices
• Physical issues
– Adaptive keyboards
– Alternative pointing devices
Many students with disabilities navigate by
keyboard only.
Our Focus Group students
• Ted: teacher with problems focusing;
memorizes programs rather than using
visual cues
• Robert: nerve damage to right hand;
uses FrogPad instead of keyboard
• Samuel: hard-of-hearing ESL student;
prefers videos to text
Donovan
• English major at UBC
• Blind since birth
• Uses a screenreader called JAWS to
access the web
Making your course accessible
Many accessibility changes to your site
benefit all learners.
• Be consistent
Keep navigation the same on each page
• Be redundant
Presenting information in multiple ways helps
all learners
What to consider: text
• Is the font big
enough, with
enough contrast?
• Can the user
change the font
size in their
browser?
• Are there
distracting colours
or animations?
• Is there alternative text for every important
graphic? (Don’t forget charts & graphs!)
What to consider: links
• Screen readers
can take links
out of context
• Do links make
sense on their
own? (Don’t
use “click here”
as link text!)
What to consider: other elements
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Forms, tables and frames should be labeled
Audio, video transcripts should be available
Flash and PDF often require extra effort
When in doubt, offer same information in plain
text format as well
What do I use?
• Do NOT use Word’s “Export to HTML”
feature!
• Beginners: Course Genie will export a
valid, accessible site from Word
• Intermediate: use a good WYSIWYG
editor such as Dreamweaver
• Expert: hand-code XHTML and CSS
Checking for accessibility
• Online checkers help find problem
areas
• http://webxact.watchfire.com
• Good tool, but no substitute for human
testing!
It’s not difficult
• Most code changes are fairly minor
• Many changes benefit all students, not
just those with disabilities
• Many terrific resources available online
Go forth & accessify
• Try running your own site (or your
favourite website) through a validator.
How does it rate?
• Download a trial version of JAWS.
What does your website sound like?
Thank you for coming!
• Join us tomorrow for Coding an Accessible Website 12 pm PST
• Natasha Boskic (natasha.boskic@ubc.ca)
• Kirsten Bole (kirsten.bole@ubc.ca)
• Nathan Hapke (nhapke@interchange.ubc.ca)