White Papers and Presentations

It is proposed that the alt attribute will be optional rather required in HTML 5, proponents of the change claim that it will not have an adverse effect upon the accessibility of images. Initial testing of this claim with assistive technolgy suggests otherwise.

alt attribute and HTML 5

Workshop slides and notes from techshare 2007. Topics covered include, keyboard accessibility, accessible forms and widgets, Screen readers and Javascript and WAI ARIA.

Techshare 2007 - presentations

Workshop slides and notes from CSUN 2007. Topics covered include, Screen readers and Javascript and WAI ARIA.

CSUN 2007 - presentations

Most technology is not suitable or usable by people with disabilities because users/people with disabilities are rarely integrated into the conceptual design of a product...researchers and usability specialists need to devise evaluation methods engage people with disabilities in the processes of user interface design and usability testing.

Assessing Usability

Information access for people with disabilities is creating numerous opportunities and challenges within the Information Highway community. Additionally, as a result of the increasing paradigm shift by the publishing industry toward Internet and WWW-based document delivery systems, the importance of producing accessible information using electronic document mechanisms has increased immeasurably.

Designing the Web for People with Disabilities

The emergence of the World Wide Web has made it possible for individuals with appropriate computer and telecommunications equipment to interact as never before. An explosion of next-generation information systems are flooding the commercial market. This cyberspace convergence of data, computers, networks, and multimedia presents exciting challenges to interface designers. However, this "new technology frontier" has also created enormous roadblocks and barriers for people with disabilities. This panel will discuss specific issues, suggest potential solutions and solicit contributions required to design an accessible Web interface that includes people with disabilities.

User Centered Approach

This article will focus on the needs of the "print impaired". Print-impaired persons include the blind and low vision users. However, the term is not limited to individuals who experience sensory loss in their eyes. Print-impaired people also include those who have limited or no use of their hands or fingers in order to turn pages of a book or to access a keyboard or mouse interface for electronic documents. People with cognitive disabilities (for example, dyslexia) are sometimes included within the print-impaired category.

Accessibility Design for the Blind

When a statement such as the one that appeared in the November-December 1996 issue of the “The X Journal” is made, eyebrows are raised. A comment regarding GUI's and computing noted that, “GUI's are the Model T Fords of our industry: they’ve made computers accessible to everyone.” A powerful statement that unfortunately falls dramatically short of reality. The fact is, GUIs are not accessible to everyone! Rather, it is an established fact that GUI's have imposed significant interface barriers to individuals with disabilities, particularly users who are blind or visually impaired.

The X-Windows Accessibility Conquest

By Russell Windman - Section 508(b), essentially a federal procurement mandate requiring that government electronic and information technology be accessible to those with disabilities, will in the long run affect far more than federal intranets and Internet sites.

ROI

By John Moore - Congress passed a law in 1998 that included a provision for making federal information technology—including Web sites—a usable resource for people with visual and hearing impairments. The U.S. Access Board has fleshed out that provision—known as Section 508—in a set of compliance standards (www.access-board.gov/508.htm). Those standards, in turn, have been embedded in the government's Federal Acquisition Regulation. As of June 25, Web sites procured by federal agencies must comply with the Section 508 regulations.

Accessibility Mandate

What started out as the home of computer gurus is now an integral part of human society. The Web has become a commodity that everyone has to have and everyone needs to use because it is built upon the most important commodity of the next millennium: information. Beginning with the launch of the Web Accessibility Initiative (or WAI, pronounced "way") in April 1997, it became clear that building and redesigning the Web to be accessible to people with disabilities would become an important directive of the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C ).

Introducing Web Accessibility

The subject matter in this excerpt centers on people with disabilities. It is much easier to explain what you need to do to make your Web site more accessible when administrators, designers, and engineers understand the user characteristics of the disabled. If you are not a person with a disability — for example, loss of vision, hearing, or mobility — then likely you're not familiar with their needs as Web surfers. In the development of any interface, the first rule of thumb is "know thy user."

Disabilities Community

This is in fact a 1980 estimate maintained by the United Nations and contained in their report on the World Programme of Action Concerning People with Disabilities. No doubt this number has increased in 20 years. Of course, not all of those people are impacted by accessibility issues on the Web. It's important to remember, however, that people with disabilities are found in all socio-economic levels.

500 Million and growing

Federal Web masters by now understand they must strive to ensure their department or agency Web sites are at least minimally compatible with assistive technologies used by people with disabilities. Specifically, they must address the areas described in Section 1194.22

Section 508 and You

By Mike Martin - Personability, adaptability, scalability, reliability, portability. A lot of Internet technology buzzwords have a common root -- "ability" -- that may seem ironic to one wave of Web surfers because of a glaring omission. People with disabilities advocate buzzword status for "accessibility," a routine concept in the world of brick-and-mortar that is still catching on online.

Breakthroughs

By Mike Paciello - With Aural Cascading Style Sheets (ACSS) being added to CSS2 and the new rules, attributes, and elements in HTML 4, there's renewed emphasis on increasing accessibility for people with disabilities. Mike describes the new structured elements, and shows how to treat images, image links, text links and forms.

Improving Accessibility

The current state of the Web would suggest that designing accessible pages is extremely difficult, but in fact, it's never been easier. In this column, I'll provide a list of publishing tools, guidelines, and online tutorials to help you create accessible Web pages.

Intersection Metaphor

By Justin Chen Last July, Marla Runyan made history by becoming the first legally blind athlete to qualify for the American Olympic team in any sport. The 31-year-old resident of Eugene, Ore., who suffers from a degenerative retinal disorder known as Stargardt's Disease, competed this week in the women's 1,500 meters event in Sydney, Australia, advancing Wed., Sept. 27, to the semifinals... Runyan's achievement is marred by just one shortcoming—as she competes in Sydney, her blind and sight-impaired fans will be unable to follow her progress on the official Olympic website, Olympics.com.

Cyber Strides for Visually Impaired