Learner Description:
The rules on this page were written for a class of teenagers in a web development course.Why Is Web Accessibility Important?
Millions of web users have physical disabilities that impair their ability to use the Web the same way others do. The Web is becoming essential in more and more areas of life, including commerce, education, recreation, and employment. It is important that web pages provide equal access and equal opportunity to all people. Web designers can do this by following standards set by the W3C and other organizations.
There are many types of disabilities that can interfere with web browsing. People can have different combinations of disabilities, or varying levels of severity for a specific disability. People can also have temporary disabilities, such as someone with a broken arm who has limited use of a mouse. Other people have increasing limitations as they age - what may not be a problem one week can be insurmountable the next. A web designer needs to take into account all the possibilities when designing a site in order to make pages that are accessible to as many people as possible.
Even within one specific sense, for example vision, there will be different obstacles a person can face. Blindness involves severe loss of vision in both eyes. A person suffering from blindness may not be able to see any of the images included in a page or read text. They may rely on screen readers to read page content out loud to them, or use text-based browsers. Low vision, on the other hand, describes an impairment of vision rather than inability to see. Someone with low vision may prefer to increase font size or use specific color combinations that make it easier for them to see clearly. People with color blindness can have difficulty reading colored text on a colored background - something commonly found on web pages.
What would I see, if I couldn't see?
These tools can help a web designer visualize what a page will "look" like to someone with some kind of vision impairment.
Fangs Screen Reader Emulator - This Firefox plug-in creates a text version of a webpage to simulate how it would look to a screen reader
FireVox - Cross platform screen reader that works directly within the Firefox browser
Wave Toolbar - This Firefox plug-in runs the WAVE report directly within Firefox and points out potential problems for people with disabilities
Accessibility Color Wheel - This page simulates how people with different kinds of color blindness will view specific color combinations.
Test First, Ask Questions Later
It is important to evaluate a web page to make sure that people with vision difficulties will be able to view it the way you intend.
Cynthia Says Portal - Validates webpage accessibility and identifies errors related to established guidelines
WAVE - Visually reveals accessibility of a web page
Lynx viewer - See what a page will look like when viewed using a text-only browser
Total Validator - All in one validator that checks a page for HTML construction, accessbility, and cross-browser compatibility
Juicy Studio Image Analyzer - Check accessibility of images in your page
Accessibility Guidelines
WCAG - Overview of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
Section 508 Standards - The official standards for determining Web accessibility
Additional Resources
Wikipedia - Web Accessibility - A springboard for learning more about Web accessibility
VIDEO: Blind Computing - How do we do it? - An Introduction to screen readers for the blind.
