Web Accessibility Workshop 2008

Accommodating People with Disabilities

• People with low vision or blindness
• People who are deaf or hard of hearing
• People with limited or no speech
• People with limited use of their hands
• People with learning disabilities

Assistive Technology

• Large fonts & high contrast
• Screen magnifiers (ZoomText, MAGic)
• Screen readers (JAWS, Window-Eyes)
• Speech recognition (Dragon NaturallySpeaking)
• Closed captions

Accessibility Laws

• Section 504
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Section 508
• Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act

Lawsuit: Target.com

• Make repairs by February 28, 2009
• Monitoring by the NFB
• $20,000 to original plaintiff
• Attorneys fees
• $6 million class-action fund (up to $7000 per person)

Accessibility Standards

• W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
• Federal "Section 508" Standards
• Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0

• Complete re-write of WCAG 1.0
• Expected December 2008
• www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20

What's new in WCAG 2?

• Generalized
• Contrast Ratio (see our Contrast Ratio Calculator)
• Audio & Animation Controls
• Timing Controls
• Scripting
• Error Messages

Section 508 Refresh

• Complete re-write of Section 508 Techincal Standards
• Expected 2009?
• www.access-board.gov/sec508/update-index.htm

What's new in Section 508?

• "Harmonized"

Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act

• Update the Illinois Web Accessibility Standards
• Effective August 20, 2008
• www.dhs.state.il.us/iitaa

What's new in the IITAA?

• Aligned with Section 508 & WCAG
• Audio, Video & Multimedia

  "...when it is provided to the public and/or required to be viewed by employees"

• Downloadable Documents
• Scripting

Forms Mode (old)

• Requires users to activate a special mode to complete forms
• Reads only focusable elements (fields & links)
• Required developers to use work-arounds

Auto Forms Mode (new)

• Toggles in and out of forms mode as needed

ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications)

• New W3C framework for Accessible Web 2.0 Applications
• Roles – menu, tree, tabpanel, etc.
• States – required, invalid, etc.

Functional Accessibility Evaluator

• Free on-line testing tool from the University of Illinois
• Tests pages or sites
• Being updated for the IITAA
• fae.cita.uiuc.edu

Firefox Accessibility Extension

• Free testing toolbar from the University of Illinois
• Tests dynamic pages
• Being updated for the IITAA
• firefox.cita.uiuc.edu

Manual Testing

• Manual testing still required...
• IITAA Web Accessibility Resources (www.dhs.state.il.us/iitaa)
• Expert Accessibility Audits
• Free 5-minute Accessibility Reviews

PDF Accessibility

• Content & Tags
• "Quick Check"
• "Full Check"
• Reflow
• Accessible Text

CommonLook for Adobe Acrobat

• Section 508 Wizard
• Logical Structure Editor (Content & Tags)
• Table Tool
• Reports

LiveCycle Designer

• Builds forms from scratch
• Automates accessibility (labels & tooltips)
• Allows editing without starting over

Flash Captioning

• Accessible Skins
• FLVPlaybackCaptioning component
• W3C "Timed Text" (DFXP) caption format
• Subtitle-Horse (www.subtitle-horse.org)

Adobe Captivate

• Flash-based computer training
• Basic accessibility features
• Powerful captioning tool
• See Accessibility Techniques for Adobe Captivate 3 (www.msfw.com/accessibility/techniques/captivate3.aspx)

Make using the web easier for people who have:

• Mild visual impairments
• Low literacy or reading skills
• English as a second language
• Learning disabilities such as dyslexia

Who can help?

• MSF&W Accessibility Solutions
• Texthelp Browsealoud
• Illinois Assistive Technology Program