Accessibility/Usability Validators — Readings

MIT’s Usability Guidelines

Accessibility / Usability Information from Anitra Pavka

Cynthia Says – web page accessibility checker

Accessify – Online Accessibility Resources

Web XACT – 508 / WAI 1,2,3 Analysis Tool

A great interview with Joe Clark, web accessibility master/guru/expert/etc.

W3C HTML Validator

W3C Link Checker (it will tell you if you have any “bad” links)

Color blind simulator

Frequent web page accessibility issues:

• Frames — oftentimes, developers use frames as a convenient means to separate data sets. Frames are usually a virtual roadblock for users with visual impairments due to incompatibility with screen reader technology.
• Alt tags — Alt tags are used to describe images. If an image is used to provide a user with content then the tag needs to correctly identify the image. If an image is used as a design element then the tag needs to be coded as alt=””. This will allow screen readers to pass over an image without wasting a user’s time.
• CSS/XHTML –Structured markup will ensure that when images and formatting are removed, the content of a site will still be accessible for all users.
  Skip navigation links — If navigational menus are duplicated on all pages of a website than a developer should always provide the user with a means to skip the duplicated menu. This will create a heightened usability factor for your user.
• New windows — When a web site opens a new window, a user’s navigation ability can be severely decreased. The back button becomes useless and the ability to navigate to the previous page becomes impossible.

A List Apart: Source for web standards information
http://www.alistapart.com/topics/accessibility/

Assistive Technology Act of 1998
http://section508.gov/docs/AT1998.html

Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center (ITTATC):
National Assessment of State E&IT Accessibility Initiatives
http://www.ittatc.org/laws/state_intro.cfm

International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet
http://www.icdri.org/

Making Web Sites Work for People With Disabilities
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v47/i21/21a03001.htm

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/programs.html

Opera: a web browser with several accessibility features
http://opera.com/features/access/

Oregon State University online accessibility documentation
http://www.oregonstate.edu/accessibility

Section 508 Information
http://www.section508.gov

Spazowham Design — “we build sites from raw, organic table-free XHTML and CSS, 100% validated, compliant to W3C standards and Section 508, and ready to run in any browser on any device.”
http://www.spazowham.com/

WebAIM: Accessibility in Mind — Free online accessibility tools
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/articles/freetools/

WebAIM: Accessibility in Mind — Section 508 Web Accessibility Checklist
http://www.webaim.org/standards/508/508checklist.pdf

Web-Based Information and Prospective Students with Disabilities:
A Study of Liberal Arts Colleges
http://www.educause.edu/apps/eq/eqm04/eqm0446.asp