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

The problem with automated accessibility tools

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Do you all know what is an automated accessibility tool? Automated accessibility tool is a piece of software which can evaluate a web page, or even an entire website for accessibility purpose. Furthermore, automated accessibility tools are useful because they can save a huge amount of time.

But are these tools a little too good to be true?? Can you really assess a website for accessibility so easily? Unfortunately the answer is NO. There are a number of underlying problems associated with using just automated tools to check for accessibility.

The problem are as below :

1) Can't check many coding issues
The vast number of accessibility guidelines tend to be related to how the site is coded. Automated accessibility tools are unfortunately unable to check for many of the coding too. For example, HTML-related accessibility considerations which these tool's can't check for the coding as well.

2) Outdated guidelines are used
Automated accessibility tools generally uses the W3C accessibility guidelines, which by now are over five years old. As such, a number of guidelines were outdated and do not apply on it anymore. In fact, some of them are now thought to hinder accessibility rather than help, so it is better to totally ignore these outdated guidelines.

3) Most guidelines aren't properly checked
Automated accessibility tools can check for a number of guidelines, and can tell you when a guideline is not being adhered too. However, when the tool claims that a guideline is being fulfilled this may in fact be a false truth as automated accessibility tools were hardly recognize outdated guidelines.

4) Warnings may be misinterpreted
The reports generated by the automated accessibility tools provide warnings, as well as errors. These warnings are basically guidelines that the automated tool can't check for, but which may be errors. Often they are not, and in fact they are often not even relevant to it. However, some people reading a report may try to get rid of these warnings message by making an appropriate changes to their site for precaution. By doing this, they may be implementing guidelines that needn't be implemented and inadvertently lowering the website's accessibility.

As a conclusion, automated accessibility tools can be useful sometime as they can save a large amount of time in performing some very basic check for accessibility. However, they must be used with caution and they cannot be used as a stand-alone guide for accessibility checking. Indeed, some expert accessibility knowledge should always be applied in evaluating a site's accessibility not only replying on an automated accessibility tool itself.

Source: http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/automated-tools.shtml

The secret benefits of web accessibility

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As all of you know, web accessibility have many benefits. One of the main benefits is increased usability, which according to usability guru, Jakob Nielson, can increase the sales or conversion rate of a website by 100% and traffic by 150%.

An accessible website is not automatically more usable but there are many areas of overlap.

1) Descriptive link text

Visual impaired users can scan web pages by tabbing from link to link and listen to the content of the link text in an accessible website must always be descriptive of its descriptions.

Equally, regularly sighted web users don't read web pages in word-for-word, but scan them looking for information they wanted to search.


2) Site map Provided

Site maps is a useful accessibility tool for visually impaired users as they provide a site straightforward list of links to the main pages on the site, without any of the fluff in between. Site maps are useful for everyone as they provide us with a way of finding pages quickly and help us visualize the structure of the website.

With site maps, it will be easier for them to search the information they want and would not have any difficulties on finding the information especially the visually impaired users.


3) Simple and easy language

From an accessibility point of view, it is important for people with cognitive disabilities and site visitors who first language isn't the one they are writing in.

From a usability point of view, it helps everyone. Reading from computer screens is tiring for the eyes and about 25% slower than reading from papar. The easier the style of writing the easier it is for site visitors to absorb the words of wisdom. Shorten sentences would be more easier for them to read and this would help them to absorb the words of wisdom easily. Use, "apply" instead of "make an application".


4) CSS used for layout

CSS - based sites are generally have a greater ratior of content to HTML code so that there are more accessibile to screen readers and search engines. Websites using CSS for layour can also be made accessible to in-car browsers such as WebTV and PDAs.

As well as improved accessibility, CSS - based websites have one large usability benefits which is increased the download speed. Broadband is not as widespread as what you all think. In the UK for example, just one in four web users are booked up to broadband. Even in Malaysia not much people using broadband as their connection.

Improving the download speed of the web pages could provide a great usability advantage over the competitors if possible.


With all this overlap between web usability and web accessibility there are no excuses for not implementing basic accessibility on the website. Outside of the ethical argument there will be many reasons to make one website accessible, on of the main one being that its usability will be improved. No one can argue with that.

So, in my opinion, I think that, every website should make it accessible to prevent any difficulties that occur on people with disability and it could give a hard time for them to figure what the websites are all about.

For more information, you can log in to http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/web-accessibility-usability.shtml

Source : http://www.webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/web-accessibility/web-accessibility-usability.shtml

Is web accessibility a human right?

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Source taken from : http://www.bcics.northwestern.edu/events/humanrights/

What is human right? Human right are basic rights and freedoms to which all of us are entitled. Some of the right include the right for work, the right to choose where we work, the right to access education. All of this rapidly becoming obtainable through one primary source that is the web. If one group of people is denied access to much of the web, therefore constitutes a denial of those human right that are exercised via the web.

The web is now so tightly integrated into our society that it is second nature to obtain the human rights properties. If the web is now a permanent and integral part of society, then is denying a group of people access to much of the web a form of discrimination and a denial of a human right?

Lets say if the web is unusable, who will be affected? People with disabilities will be affected where they are not able to participate in much that is offered on the web. They are computer users and able to be productive when using desktop application. Yet when it comes to accessing the web, they encounter many barriers that does not found in the general computer usage.

If you don't agree that web accessibility is a human right, then what it is? If web site accessibility is a human right, then all web sites should be accessible with a few exceptions. If web sites are open to the public then these web sites must offer equitable access to everyone who uses them, if not it is not fair for people with disability.

All the stakeholders in web technology have the obligation to make the web accessible for people with disability, yet most of them are doing little to progress web accessibility. For example, the authors of the next generation of HTML do nothing to make the language itself more accessible. Web authoring tool vendors are slow in implementing existing accessibility features.

With each passing day, a group of people are deprived of the right to choose their employment, have access to education because much of the web is inaccessible to them. Many stakeholders in web technology shirk any responsibility in their obligation to make the web accessible and instead tell these people to wait for future solutions. As what martin Luther king. Jr said " a right delayed is a right denied " .

So for me, I think that web accessibility is a human right thing. People with disability have the right to get the web accessible so they would uses the web technology wisely and fairly.

For more information please visit http://rebuildingtheweb.com/en/is-web-accessibility-a-human-right/

Source : http://rebuildingtheweb.com/en/is-web-accessibility-a-human-right/

PS : please do vote for our poll. Thank you for your support. :)

Essential Components of Web accessibility

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Hello reader! I'm back to discuss more about web accessibility. So, today I will be discussing about the essential components of web accessibility.

It is essential that several different components of web development and interaction work together in order for the web to be access for people with disability. These components includes :

• Content ( Information in a web page or Web application )
• Web Browser,Media player
• User's knowledge and experience using the web
• Authoring tool ( software that creates Web Site )
• Evaluation tool ( Web accessibility evaluations tools )

How did the components relate with each other? Web Developer usually use authoring tool and evaluation tool to create the web content. Besides that, users uses Web browser, Media Player or other user agents to get and interact with the content. People with disability will eventually get to surf the web page smoothly.

Obtained from http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/components.php

When accessibility features are effectively implemented in one components, the other components are most likely to implement them. When web browsers, media player and other user agents support and accessibility feature, users are more likely to demand it and developer are likely to implement it in their content for reference for the user with disability. Furthermore, when developer want to implement an accessibility feature in their content, they are most likely to demand the authoring tool that make it easier to implement it. It's like a routine thing where each components need each other to support so users ( people with disability or people with ability ) can use it smoothly and easily.

Obtained from http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/components.php

For more information about the essential components of web accessibility and how they relate, you can log in to this website http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/components.php

Source : http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/components.php , retrieved on 30th January 2010

Web Accessibilty Tools

Link to Us: http://snipr.com/u79iv

As we known from the previous post, The disability people today's can enjoy and having the same lifestyle as other peoples. For example, those disability teenagers can play online games as others.But how it's works?

Through the Web accessibility's Tools, It really helpful to those disability people such as:

taken from (http://www.fujitsu.com/global/accessibility/assistance/wi/)

Web accessibility Inspector examines the accessibility of a website and points out those important problems that affect mainly to the elder and visually disable people. This software will be serve in many countries around the world which with the addition of the chinese and korean version.

taken from (http://www.fujitsu.com/global/accessibility/assistance/wi/)

Beside Web accessibility Inspector, there are another Tools that provides a collection of the free tools to assist both developers and designers in the development and testing of accessible web content. The consortium is a collaboration of some of the world's leading accessibility practitioners, founded by Accessible Information Solutions (Australia), Infoaxia (Japan), The Paciello Group (USA), Wrong HTML (Japan), and Juicy Studio (UK)

Web Accessibility Tools Consortium, to develop new tools, improve current tools and expand the range of browsers, operating systems and languages in which our tools are available.

For Example:

Web Accessibility Toolbar for opera (WAT for Opera) 1.1

For More information of WAT-C , you can log in to this website :http://www.wat-c.org/tools/index.html#under

What is the opportunities has offered by web accessibility?

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As we know, the internet is a great tool that is used by millions of people everyday. To accessing websites is very easy and straightforward process if you have great vision, good listening and all of your limbs. But still, at least more than 90 percent of the websites are inaccessible to a large portion of the population. Why? Because of the Internet, one of the best things seems that ever happened to people with disabilities.

Obtained from www.calstatela.edu/accessibility/




Obtained from www.uiaccess.com/understanding.html

Did you know for example that someone who is blind can actually use the Internet? Yes. They can use some special software, known as a screen reader. It actually reads what's on screen to them. People with other types of disabilities use technologies to help them use the Internet as well. Example,before the internet, how did blind people read the newspaper? Most of them didn't, If they want to know, they could ask their friends or family member to read for them and if comparing with today's, blind people can actually know the news from internet.

Most of the online news which publish already in a format which can read by "screen readers" which used by the blind. These software programs can read out the text loud.So,blind people can access any text content through the computers. Similarly, if the people with disabilities who cannot pick up the book and turn it to another page, through the technologies that adapt the computer interface to their own disabilities. Sometimes the adaptations are simple, such as having the person place a stick in the mouth and use it to type keyboard commands. In other cases, the adaptations are more sophisticated, as in the use of special keyboards or eye-tracking software that allows people to use a computer with nothing more than eye movements.

From web accessibilities we know that they really offers unprecedented opportunities and increase more public awareness to everyone.