Week 8 poll result

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Here is the result for week 8 poll. Week 8 poll question was "Why write accessible websites?" Most of the readers selected the accessible coding does not take extra time which are 57.1% and 42.9% selected It's the right thing to do.

Most of the readers think that making websites accessible coding does not take extra time. If a website is built to accessible standards from the start, it only takes a few seconds more than normal to develop the site. Most of that time comes from adding certain attributes on HTML elements such as tabindex.

Extra testing might be necessary, but for basic accessibility testing, programmer should not have to add more than a few hours to the development time. After enough experience, it becomes a regular part of their workflow and there will be no difference in development time.

Common issues with accessibility statements

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The accessibility link is usually placed on the outside of the main viewing area of the web page such as footer area, this making it difficult to locate. For example, screen reader user would have to listen to more much content before encountering the link and maybe will give up to know more from it.

Additionally, for keyboard only users, the location of the accessibility link can result in excessive key presses in order to select and then activate the link. The Digital Media Access Group carried out much more knowledge , evaluating the Usability of Online Accessibility Information, which reviewed websites from a broad range of sectors.

Most of the accessibility statements has too much detail on conformance and technologies utilized in making the website accessible. This information shows that the website has been designed with accessibility in mind, it does not provide any benefit to general website visitors. As this information is often placed at the beginning of the accessibility statement, it is likely to confuse website visitors before they even have a chance to read about the accessibility features provided.

The example include:

• The website conforms to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Priority 1 and
• The website complies with the requirements of Section 508.
• The HTML is valid and conforms to XHTML 1.0 Strict.
• All pages on this website validate to CSS2.

With technical information, accessibility statements listed the accessibility features which they provide, rather than how to use them. The following is an example of what can typically be found in an accessibility statement:

1. All text sizes are relative.
2. All images have an alt attribute.
3. Style sheets have been used to separate presentation from content.
4. Headings are semantically marked up.
5. Tables have been correctly marked up with headings.
6. Link text is unique which makes it make sense when taken out of context.

And that is why today's these are people who use websites on a daily basis!

Source :http://www.digital-web.com/articles/are_accessibility_statements_useful/

Benefits of Providing an accessibility statement

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What is an accessibility statement?

An accessibility statement provides website visitors with information on how to utilize any accessibility features implemented on the website. This information usually presented on a dedicated page within the website.

As you all know accessibility is important for a website, but do you know the benefits of providing an accessibility statement? Many people ignore the accessibility statement, they do not bother on how it would be. So here, i will explain the benefits of providing an accessibility statement.

The first benefit of providing an accessibility statement is to demonstrate how to use accessibility features provided. By demonstrating how to use the accessibility features in a website, it empowers the website visitor to improve their browsing tactics. For instance, they may be interested in how to make the text size larger or find out information about making the website speak with a speech output program such as I speech. When explaining how to use accessibility features, it is often useful to reference websites that are provided for explaining the information.

The second benefit is to detail the known barriers in the websites. Despite best efforts, they may be areas of the website which are still inaccessible and this create conflict for people with disability. Therefore, a known barriers section within the accessibility statement will enable this information to be provided in front together with alternative ways of obtaining the information and services. This will most likely benefit people with disability.

Last but not least, the last benefit I will discuss is to provide a point of contact. Website visitors or readers who experience difficulties whilst browsing will benefit from dedicated accessibility contact information. For example, the query will go directly to the team responsible for the accessibility of the website. This will likely result in the query being dealt with quickly, efficiently, and to the satisfaction of the website visitor as well.

When there are benefits, definitely there will be problem. Stay tune with us for the coming post where we will talk about the common issue with accessibility statement.

Source : http://www.digital-web.com/articles/are_accessibility_statements_useful/

Week 7 poll result

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The poll question for week 7 was " If technology cannot be made accessible, does the policy prohibit its use? Most of the readers disagreed on the statement which consists of 66.7% and 33.3% of the readers agreed on the statement.

Why most of the readers disagreed on the statement given? It is because the policy is not intended to prohibit the use of a technology, tool, resource or technique that would contribute to the quality of an activity.

If a technology, tool, resource or technique that cannot be made accessible is adopted for use, the adopter should remember that an equally effective accommodation must be provided to any person involved in the activity who needs an accessibility accommodation.

Choosing to use a technology, tool, resource or technique that cannot be made accessible must be defensible as a true contributor to quality, and not done in order to avoid the need to comply with the accessibility policy.

The remaining 33.3% readers agreed on the statement because they did not know how serious it is when technology is not accessible, policy does not prohibit its use because its must be defensible as a true contributor to quality.

Web Accessibility for the Visually Impaired

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In the beginning of the web, the site were based with largely text. But, things are different now. Today it is possible to navigate entire sites by reading no more than a handful of words. Users have grown tremendously to colorful image.

But when users cannot see these images, navigation is far more difficult where the site may be totally inaccessible and this would be the disadvantage. However, information content is dispersed among words, picture, sounds and video. Good layout makes for inviting reading where the reader can identify the text and it may read words out of sequence since sentences have been chopped up to improve the page layout.

So how is one to get the content and hopefully the context of information on today's sites? In order to get around these issues, we need to design web pages with accessibility in mind from the beginning. And all of the content needs to be accessible through multiple channels.

At the very least the content needs to be text-based, and current web page standards have taken this into consideration. When developers place pictures onto a web page, they may be asked for alternate text for these images. This is not where developers name or comment on the picture; this is where they describe what is in the picture. They must imagine they are trying to describe the image to a friend over the phone.

Other disabilities benefit from this duplication of content across multiple channels. A deaf person can still see the video and now can read a narration. And persons with cognitive disabilities, especially those that limit attention span, can watch a video, see the text, and hear the text all at once. Information is presented with multiple channels and these channels increase the ability to concentrate on that information by blocking out other input.

By following the idea of universe recommendation for one disability, a web site becomes accessible to a broad range people.

Source :http://www.bgsu.edu/cconline/wilferthhart/4.htm

Step to Making a Web Site Accessible

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Everyone wondering why do we need to make our web site accessible? Making our web site accessible would highly benefits people with disabilities and this would make them feel alive again.

So here are the few step of making a web site accessible :

Before you begin, accessible design always starts on the blackboard itself. Think about accessibility implementation during the design process, before you are writing a line of code on it. You need to find out if you web site has to comply with any legislations, standards or regulations. For example, when you design a web base product for the U.S Federal Government, you need to comply with the Section 508 standards according to the country you used.

Firstly, you need to select a suitable accessibility standards or guidelines. Currently, most developers favor Section 508 or the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). If you want to design a web site for the U.S. government at a minimum you have to comply with the Section 508 as i mention earlier. In many other instances, you might have to use the web content accessibility guidelines as second option. Currently, the WCAG is the most thorough set of guidelines, and it is recommended using it regardless of the requirements. Also, WCAG provides numerous explanations and examples to make your work easier, and resources are continuously added.

Secondly, you need to select a third part components which can speed up your work by using the components written by third party. The most common ones are the use of content management systems, widgets, database, interfaces and etc. It is your responsibility to make sure that these components are accessible before you integrate them into your site. It is much harder to make components accessible after the fact, which you must do before accessibility is a requirement. Some providers will post an accessibility notice together with their products which you can use as a starting point for you web site. The other option to select a third party component is to write your own code. It takes longer, but does just what you want it to do, and is as accessible as you make it.

Thirdly, you need to learn about accessibility to create an accessible web site where you must find plenty of free information on the web. Two of the best resources are the official Section 508 site and the Web Accessibility Initiative site. Also, several training programs are available as well. This would enhance your knowledge about accessibility and there will be a big improvement in designing your web site.

Fourthly, let the world know that your web site is accessible. Not for bragging purposes, but to allow people with disabilities know that they will be able to use it. It is especially useful when you have competitors, some people might just make a decision based on how accessible is information to them. It is a common practice to post an accessibility notice on your web page, so others can see it accessible in your web site.

As a conclusion, with this four steps, I believe your web site will be accessible and its benefit people with disabilities in the same time. So, what are you waiting for? Start making your web site accessible now! :)

Source : http://www.evengrounds.com/articles/steps-to-making-a-web-site-accessible

Week 6 poll result

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Here come the week 6 poll result. The question for week 6 poll was : Will making site accessible mean making it bland and boring? As the poll result which has shown that there are mostly 62.5% readers were disagree with making site accessible mean making it bland and boring , and there were 12.5% for don't know, yes and depends.

Making site accessible is to provide convenient for all the people who can get their sources and use this applications as fast as they can and it will not be boring and bland if compare with some site which you have to take long time to process it , it might make your patient become worst and also, you will feel boring on it.

Lastly, making site accessible doesn't mean making the site bland and boring, it's because making fair to everyone included people with disability to surf the website.