Transcript Training for Web Accessibility

Training for Web Accessibility
Eastern Kentucky University
Dr. Gene Kleppinger
For the Session Evaluation:
• Presenter Name: Gene Kleppinger
• Session Date/time: S 9:00
• Presentation Title: Web Accessibility
Here’s my “handout”:
www.eku.edu/onlinelearning/waccess
Do you . . .
• have a WARP site?
• use the Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for
Microsoft Office?
• have a training program to help instructors meet
the “Section 508” standards or the “W3C”
guidelines?
• know why doing this to get your attention is bad
practice?
What is Web Accessibility?
Do you care?
• The Americans with Disabilities Act of
1990 (ADA) and Sections 504 and 508 of
the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 require that
individuals with disabilities receive equal
access to federally-funded programs,
services and activities unless doing so
would fundamentally alter the nature of the
program, service or activity or such access
would impose an undue burden.
What is Web Accessibility?
Do you care?
• In 1998 Congress amended the Rehabilitation
Act to require Federal agencies to make their
electronic and information technology
accessible to people with disabilities. Section
508 was enacted to eliminate barriers in
information technology, to make available new
opportunities for people with disabilities, and
to encourage development of technologies
that will help achieve these goals.
What is Web Accessibility?
Do you care?
• The law applies to all Federal agencies
when they develop, procure, maintain, or
use electronic and information technology.
Under Section 508, Federally-funded
agencies must give disabled employees,
and members of the public, access to
information that is comparable to the
access available to others.
Two reasons to care about
waccessibility
1. It’s a good idea!
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–
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Creating appeal for new student populations is a
good strategy.
Giving access to “everybody” has long been an
ideal for the World Wide Web.
You wouldn’t intentionally design Web pages so that
they worked only in Netscape, or only for Linux
users.
Two reasons to care about
waccessibility
1. It’s a good idea!
2. YOU MIGHT BE SUED
FOR NONCOMPLIANCE!
UC Berkeley/Davis case (2002)
Your Business Management course, maybe? Would a Deaf
student be able to watch the required narrated videos?
Different compliance standards,
same goal
• “Section 508”
– U.S. law, frequently reflected in state legislation
– Often cited by businesses and govt. agencies
• “W3C”
– International protocols developed through the World
Wide Web Consortium
– The “Checklists” are somewhat easier to implement
than the wording of 508.
– Three “Priority” levels encourage progressive work;
“you don’t have to do it all overnight.”
These disabilities cause the
greatest concern for Web use:
• Visual deficiencies (blindness, color
blindness, low vision)
• Aural deficiencies (Deafness, hardness of
hearing, frequency range problems)
• Motor disabilities (muscle control
problems, paraplegia, paralysis)
• Cognitive disabilities and central nervous
system problems (dyslexia, “ADHD” etc.,
LD, seizures, epilepsy, migraines)
Primary Web page defects
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Images without text descriptions (“alt tags”)
Tables with “tabs,” or without column headings
“Click here” and other bad navigation practices
Bizarre page layout, poorly composed text
Color used for emphasis, navigation or reference
Frames without names
Certain kinds of CSS (cascading style sheets)
Poor color combinations, low contrast, small fonts
Flashing text or animations at trigger frequencies
Assistive Browser Technologies
• Screen reading software (e.g., JAWS)
• Display enlarging tools (e.g., incorporated
in Mozilla/Firefox)
• ?? Voice recognition software ??
• Input device technologies (all sorts of
devices to substitute for mouse/keyboard)
• [Nothing to help with cognitive
dysfunctions yet]
Blackboard 6 and
Web Accessibility
• Blackboard’s document
– reviews some good practices
– explains how Bb meets the Section 508 standards
• Built-in features (also see login page link)
– All navigation features, including tests, are suitably
accessible.
– When users add images for display within a page, the
Bb editor requests a text alternative (“alt tag”).
– Chat (but not the VC) is designed for use with screen
reading software.
So . . .
• The Bb interface is waccessible (except the nonchat features in the Virtual Classroom).
• Content created or edited within Bb is generally
waccessible, but instructors must follow good
practices.
• BUT content created outside Bb and then
attached or uploaded may not be waccessible,
and special software tools may be needed.
– Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel; Impatica; PDF;
Macromedia Flash; all video; all audio; all HTML!
You Are
Not Alone
and
You Are
Not Helpless
Working waccessibly . . .
• Hit the high priority issues immediately:
– add image descriptors (“alt tags”),
– table headings, and
– meaningful figure captions
whenever you created new documents for Web
distribution (whether HTML or not). If your
current software does not provide convenient
waccessibility options, find software that does.
Working waccessibly . . .
• Test existing Web-linked information (such
as your External Links) with validation
software such as “Bobby.” Note that you
can’t use validation software directly with
your whole Blackboard sites (because the
site requires user authentication).
• BUT remember that these tools evaluate
only syntactic (formal) waccessibility,
measuring nothing about the semantics
(meaning and cognitive impact) of the site.
Working waccessibly . . .
• If possible, observe a demonstration of
screen reading software such as JAWS.
• With experience you will easily recognize
(and avoid using) page elements that are
likely to be nonwaccessible, such as data
columns created with the Tab key.
• Unless your organization demands the
impossible, you don’t have to fix everything
all at once.
More about working waccessibly . . .
• Find tools that will increase your
effectiveness, not become a hindrance.
Complain to software developers when
their tools are difficult to use!
• Remember that everything done in the
name of waccessibility actually helps
many more people than “the disabled.”
Using the Accessible Web
Publishing Wizard
for Microsoft Office
(U. Illinois at Urbana/Champaign)
http://cita.rehab.uiuc.edu/software/office/
(demonstration)
EKU’s plan
• Policy with “teeth” is under development.
• As we began creating policies specific to
Distance Education, the need for training
became brutally clear.
• We now expect to deploy training
BEFORE the policy with “teeth” gets
formalized.
EKU’s training plan
• Five modules, initially conducted in live
workshops
– Awareness (including JAWS demo)
– Validators; Word/PowerPoint best practices
– Adobe Acrobat and multimedia best practices
– Incorporating accessible content in Bb
– Web authoring techniques
• INCENTIVES for those who complete the
training! (required for online instructors)
Here’s my “handout”:
www.eku.edu/onlinelearning/waccess
For the Session Evaluation:
• Presenter Name: Gene Kleppinger
• Session Date/time: S 9:00
• Presentation Title: Web Accessibility