Web Accessibility
BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE UCSB WEB
STANDARDS GROUP
Outline:
•W H A T I S W E B A C C E S S I B I L I T Y ?
•W H Y I S W E B A C C E S S I B I L I T Y I M P O R T A N T ?
•M A K I N G W E B S I T E S A C C E S S I B L E
•Q & A # 1
•S H O R T B R E A K
•S C R E E N R E A D E R D E M O N S T R A T I O N
•Q & A # 2
•T H E U C E L E C T R O N I C A C C E S S I B I L I T Y L E A D E R S H I P
TEAM (EALT)
•Q & A # 3
What is “Web” Accessibility?
•M A K I N G M A T E R I A L O N T H E W E B A V A I L A B L E T O T H O S E
WITH A VARIETY OF DISABILITIES INCLUDING BUT NOT
LIMITED TO THOSE WITH VISION IMPAIRMENTS,
DEFICITS IN HEARING AND OTHER MEDICAL AND
HEALTH LIMITATIONS.
•E N S U R I N G E Q U A L A C C E S S T O I N F O R M A T I O N
•
Enrollment, Housing, Employment
•E N S U R I N G E Q U A L A C C E S S T O E D U C A T I O N
•
Registration, Financial Aid, Course Content
Why is Web Accessibility
Important?
•T H E L A W : S E C T I O N S 5 0 4 , 5 0 8 , T H E A D A A N D O C R .
•U N I V E R S A L D E S I G N
•I N D E X I N G
Section 504
 States that "no qualified individual with a disability
in the United States shall be excluded from, denied
the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination
under" any program or activity that either receives
Federal financial assistance aka “equal access to
education”
Section 508
 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
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
 The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires
covered entities to furnish appropriate auxiliary aids
and services where necessary to ensure effective
communication with individuals with disabilities.
 The ADA has occasionally been used to support
claims against providers of inaccessible web content,
starting with a lawsuit against Target in 2008.
Office of Civil Rights (OCR):
 All students with disabilities, including those who are
blind, should have full access to the information on a
school's websites.
 Schools today rely on websites to register students,
distribute course materials, collect homework, and
administer quizzes. Students with disabilities cannot be
denied the same opportunity to access these services on
the web 24/7 from anywhere.
Acting Assistant Secretary for
Civil Rights Seth Galanter.
Universal Design
 Research shows that accessible websites have better
search results, increased audience reach, helps
decrease the “digital divide” and in general, the
benefits extend to both those with disabilities and
those without.
Indexing
 Every correctly labeled image allows your site to be
crawled by search engine spiders more accurately,
improving search rankings.
“Accessible” doesn’t have to mean “Plain
Disney Store UK with Images On
Disney Store UK with Images Off
Student Affairs KIOSK Site With Images On
Student Affairs KIOSK Site With Images Off
and CSS Stripped Out
Making Websites Accessible
LOGAN FRANKLIN – CO-CHAIR, WEB STANDARDS GROUP
Screen Reader Demonstration
MATT LOWE – GRADUATE, UCSB CLASS OF 2013
What is a Screen Reader?
A screen reader is a software application that
attempts to identify and interpret what is being
displayed on the screen.
This interpretation is then represented to the user
with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a Braille
output. Screen readers are a form of assistive
technology (AT) potentially useful to people who
are blind, visually impaired, or learning disabled,
often in combination with other AT such as screen
magnifiers.
Benefits of Testing with Screen Readers
When Evaluating Accessibility
 Why is screen reader testing important?
Screen readers allows us to evaluate our content from the
perspective of a blind person. Screen readers can also help you
identify problems with reading order, table markup, form elements,
and many other aspects of accessibility.
 Popular Screen Reader Software:


JAWS – Demo available for download, or test at DSP Facility
Window Eyes – Demo available for download; or, test at DSP
 How can I test my site?
The UCSB Disabled Students Program can provide a limited screen
reading overview of your site. Contact Mark.Grosch@sa.ucsb.edu
for more information.
UC Electronic Accessibility
Leadership Team (EALT)
•W E B S I T E : H T T P : / / W W W . U C O P . E D U / E L E C T R O N I C -
ACCESSIBILITY/INDEX.HTML
•U C S Y S T E M W I D E G R O U P D E D I C A T E D T O H E L P I N G
CAMPUSES WITH WEB ACCESSIBILITY ISSUES ON
THEIR CAMPUSES
•P R O V I D E L I S T S E R V , T R A I N I N G V I D E O S , T O O L S ,
CAMPUS CONTACTS AND ACCESS TO SCANNING
SOFTWARE
UC Electronic Accessibility Leadership Team (EALT)
 Scanning Initiative started in 2011
 Goals:
 Inventory accessibility against WCAG 2.0 A and AA standards
 Include UC campuses, ANR, LBNL, UCOP
 First scan results  developers
 60 days to fix
 Final scan results  CIOs
 Repeat annually
UC Electronic Accessibility Leadership Team (EALT)
Initial scans were of 7 main campus sites:

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


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Main Campus Website (www)
Undergraduate Admissions
Graduate Admissions
Student Housing
Disabled Students Office
Staff Jobs Listing (Human Resources)
Healthcare or Student Health Services (if no medical center)
Initial Results
Initial Scan Results
UCOP
San Francisco
Campus
Irvine
Santa Cruz
Los Angeles
Berkeley
Davis
Merced
LBNL
Santa Barbara
San Diego
Riverside
ANR
80.00
85.00
90.00
95.00
100.00
Initial
ANR
98.23
Berkeley
93.72
LBNL
93.20
Merced
93.07
Davis
91.59
Santa Barbara
90.44
Riverside
89.52
San Francisco
89.15
Santa Cruz
88.90
Los Angeles
88.21
Irvine
87.35
San Diego
87.07
UCOP
87.04
Final Results
UCOP
San Francisco
Irvine
Santa Cruz
Los Angeles
Berkeley
Initial
Davis
Final
Merced
LBNL
Santa Barbara
San Diego
Riverside
ANR
75.00
80.00
85.00
90.00
95.00
100.00
Campus
Initial Final
Change
ANR
98.23 98.64
Riverside
89.52 98.50
San Diego
87.07 95.81
Santa Barbara
90.44 94.77
LBNL
93.20 94.04
Merced
93.07 93.23
Davis
91.59 92.97
Berkeley
93.72 92.90
Los Angeles
88.21 92.69
Santa Cruz
88.90 92.30
Irvine
87.35 89.63
San Francisco
89.15 89.26
UCOP
87.04 85.62
0.41
8.98
8.74
4.33
0.84
0.17
1.38
-0.82
4.47
3.41
2.28
0.11
-1.42
Next Step – Acquiring the Tool
 One of the most FAQ – Can I have access to the
Tool?
 Decision was made to fund systemwide for 2 years
 Expectation of continued scans conducted by
campus reps
 Expanded list now includes: Library, Summer
Session, Extension, Bookstore and Development
Continuing the Process
 Expectation of continued scans conducted by
campus reps
 Expanded list now includes: Library, Summer
Session, Extension, Bookstore and Development
 Scans typically started in Spring Quarter
AMP Testing Tool
 SSB BART Group's Accessibility Management
Platform (AMP), to assist all UC personnel with
accessibility testing and remediation.
 Accounts available using single sign-on.
 Website: http://tinyurl.com/UCSBSSO
 Also available is a Firefox plugin for use on test and
dev sites.
AMP Testing Tool
AMP Testing Tool
AMP Testing Tool
AMP Testing Tool
The Key to Evaluation –
Human Interaction Testing
Web accessibility requires more than just validation and
accessibility tools; it requires human judgment!
It is important to remember that accessibility tools can only
partially check accessibility through automation. The real key
is to learn and understand the Web accessibility standards
rather than relying on a tool to determine if a page is accessible
or not. Also tools change over time!
Quick and Easy Tests
 Turn off Images (Firefox Plugin)
 Can you discern the content without the images displayed?
 Can you navigate throughout your site without guessing at link destinations?
 Is alt text present?
 Turn off Sound
 Is content still understandable?
 Change font sizes using browser controls
 Is page still readable at larger font sizes and does all content scale upward?
 Use only the keyboard for Navigation
 Can you navigate your entire site

For more detailed information see:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/eval/preliminary.html
Other Resources:
The UCSB Web Standards Group has put together
a very comprehensive set of documents for helping
you achieve your accessibility goals:
http://www.ucsb.edu/webguide
The EALT also has some resources on accessible
web design:
http://www.ucop.edu/electronic-accessibility/webdevelopers/tools-and-testing/index.html
Other Tools to Test Accessible and Valid Code
Tools can help you to identify the problem areas of your site.
There are 3 tools the WSG recommends:
The W3C Markup Validation Service for testing valid code
http://validator.w3.org/
The WAVE Accessibility Tool for testing accessible code
http://wave.webaim.org/
The Web Developer Extension for Firefox and Chrome,
which can test for valid and accessible code
http://chrispederick.com/work/web-developer/
Firefox/Chrome Web Developer
http://addons.mozilla.org/
Test for Valid Code and Accessibility
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There are many useful tools in Firefox Web Developer:
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HTML and CSS validation
Display which images are missing alternate text
Disable images entirely
Disable Style Sheets
Linearize page
Disable JavaScript
View form info
Edit HTML/CSS
Final Q&A