Web Accessibility -> Universal Accessibility

Web Accessibility - my random thoughts...

I was fortunate to attend a one-day workshop by Dr. Jon Gunderson from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign sponsored by UT Information Technology’s Web Services Group and UT Disability Services. The title of the workshop was “Designing Accessible Web Resources”. It was billed as a workshop to help web developers create web resources that are more usable for people with disabilities. But it was readily apparent that Dr. Gunderson was talking about making web resources more usable for everyone. “Universal design for universal access” was a phrase he used often throughout the day.

Dr. Gunderson challenged his audience with the concept that web developers “must begin to design to standards, not to browsers”. My own experience as a web application developer, confirms that implication. Too often we code web pages for specific browsers, usually our favorite browsers. In addition we feel compelled to use all the latest bells and whistles that are allowed with the newest version of that browser.

Anyone still using Netscape 4.7 isn’t really on the cutting edge and we don’t need them viewing our site. We just want the sophisticated users that have upgraded to Netscape 7. So it doesn’t look right in Netscape. They should be using I.E. instead. I’m not going to limit my table size to 640x480 for people with small monitors anymore. Everyone has big flat screens now!
Okay, enough sarcasm … but I’m betting you’ve heard it before.

With applications such as Dreamweaver, GoLive, and Netscape Composer, anyone can create web pages. But have we lost sight of what a web site represents? Does it show the world how creative WE are, how smart WE are, how much on the cutting edge WE are? Internet use has mushroomed because it allows for sharing of information to a vast audience seemingly instantaneous. But today it appears we are more focused on websites as graphical mediums with less thought on the actual information we are trying to express. Developers should create web resources where users can get the information quickly and in the easiest format/structure for the USER. Well, enough of my pontificating, let’s get back to the workshop.

Each member of the audience was given a CD-ROM that contained Dr. Gunderson’s presentation and much of the resource materials he referenced. That freed me up to listen, really listen and engage, rather than worrying about taking notes.

During the first morning session, Dr. Gunderson introduced his thoughts on why we should be concerned with universal design. I suspect many of us in attendance were there because new laws are making ‘web accessibility’ more than just a buzzword. Dr. Gunderson envisions forward-looking web design to replace the, all-to-often, reactionary change of the website because of mandates.

At the second morning session, we viewed some popular websites using applications that duplicated certain disabilities; macular degeneration, color blindness, hearing loss, etc. It was visually and aurally evident how unfriendly these sites were for such users - astonishingly so. Now that Dr. Gunderson had our attention, we broke for lunch!

The afternoon was spent on, what I call, the nuts and bolts of creating universal usable web resources. We understood the ‘why’, now we needed the ‘how’. Again, Dr. Gunderson did not disappoint. We viewed examples of web pages with and without simulated disabilities, noting any accessibility issues. Then we examined the same websites after their redesign. He convincingly demonstrated how, by using style sheets, we can achieve the same layout while making the page more usable for everyone.

Well, if you’ve made it this far in the reading, I suspect you’re growing wearisome over the length of this entry. So allow me to list below those items of particular significance to me. You can read about them in detail at Dr. Gunderson’s website: http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/presentations/2005-04-28-ada/
- use heading tags to give structure and allow for easy navigation
- use style sheets to format your page in place of table tags, frames and rollovers
- create accesskeys for faster navigation through the page
- when possible, specify images as backgrounds instead of <img src> tags. This even works with that infamous spacer.gif image!
- replace onMouseOver with onBlur or onFocus for users without mouse access
- when specifying width, use percentages, when specifying height, use ems
- in general, use less graphics. If it can be done with text, do so
- always use alt tags for images, labels for form tags and id’s
- frames are a ‘no-no’
- don’t use ‘click here’ or ‘more’ for hyperlinks
- give more information otherwise speech browsers lose track
- use applets and plugs-ins sparingly
- since different browser display differently, always set margins, borders and padding to zero so they all start at the same point.

Formatting your pages through style sheets separates the content with the look. This gives control back to the user as they can apply their own style sheet (increased font size) to your web page without losing any content. This separation also allows for better portability to pda’s, cell phones, etc.

Final thought: Even if your page is 508 compliant, it doesn’t mean it’s accessible to all. Minimums are just that - go further!