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Universal Web design: Making
Web sites accessible to all
by Doug Adams
 

What is an inaccessible Web page?
 
Han you imagine having to surf the Net without a monitor? What if you could see pages, but couldn't point and click? How would you navigate the Web?
 
     For most of us, an inaccessible Web page is one which uses technology not available in our browser. We haven't installed that plug-in, we are using an older version which doesn't support newer technologies, or our brand of browser doesn't support a competitor's technology.
 

 
Wany disabled Web users, however, use specialized browser software to enable them in different ways. Blind and visually impaired people, for example, mostly use screen reader software, which translates text on the screen to Braille or spoken words. Unfortunately, this software is usually limited to reading from left to right and top to bottom, which works fine for standard text but simply can't handle the complex formatting on many Web pages.
 
     Take a look at one of my favorite Web pages, CNET.Com, and imagine having to read it the way a text reader must. Newspaper style columns and tables used for formatting tend to throw most screen readers for a loop. Also, realize that much of the text in the middle is graphical (and thus unable to be read by screen readers).
 
 
Ahat about people who have problems with fine motor skills? Whether they are physically disabled or simply didn't grow up with Nintendo and its attendant hand-eye coordination requirements, many people don't have the ability to point and click easily. Now think of all of those Web pages with intricate image maps--when you click on one part of the image you link to one place, while another part links you to somewhere else. Imagine trying to click to your school on Net Day's map of the entire United States (http://www.netday.org/), if you couldn't control your mouse.

So what is being done to help?
 
Bhe World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), headquartered at MIT, is an internationally-recognized organization responsible for setting standards on the Web. They have created a set of specifications as part of their Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) which help make Web pages accessible to people with disabilities. You can read about these specifications at http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-WAI-PAGEAUTH
 
     The specs consist of guidelines in 10 different categories:

  1. Style and Structure
  2. Images and Image Maps
  3. Applets and Scripts
  4. Audio and Video
  5. Tables
  6. Links
  7. Frames
  8. User-Input Forms
  9. If All Else Fails ...
  10. Good Web Site Design Practices

     Guidelines are labeled as either required--meaning that it would be impossible for some to view non-compliant pages--or recommended--meaning that they make the page easier to use.

     Unfortunately, this list includes over 60 required or recommended adaptations, plus numerous tips and hints. How can a Web page designer ever really know whether their page is truly accessible or not? Bobby comes to the rescue.

Who is Bobby?
 
Oobby is a free program designed by the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST), which was founded in 1984 to expand opportunities for individuals with disabilities through innovative computer technology. Bobby will thoroughly check a Web page for accessibility issues and suggest changes needed to make the page W3C/WAI compliant.
 
     All you need to do to use Bobby is to type the URL of the Web page to be checked into Bobby's online form (http://www.cast.org/bobby/). Bobby will return a report detailing the required and recommended changes to make the site accessible. You can also check to make sure that your pages are compliant with a variety of Web browsers--which is nice if you want to make sure that you aren't alienating people using older or non-standard browsers like WebTV.
 
     A quick check with Bobby tells me that Edlines meets the required guidelines, but that we could improve accessibility with three recommended changes:

  1. Adding a TITLE tag to linked images
  2. Including a summary of each table
  3. Adding a TITLE tag to each horizontal rule

 
B obby also thoughtfully tells me about how long it will take to download each part of Edlines using a 28,800 bps modem. This is another usability issue for many people, and its inclusion is nice--although there are many other services on the Web that will do this for you (Doctor HTML [http://www2.imagiware.com/RxHTML/] is my favorite).

     One last point that I want to make is that following the WAI guidelines doesn't solely benefit disabled users--although that would be reason enough to make the changes. Following standards on the Web helps everyone. It ensures that browsers stay compatible and that Web pages remain usable, and most of the recommended changes take only a minute or two to implement. I certainly wouldn't argue that a personal Web page needs to follow the standards completely. But having a school, community, or organization with an inaccessible Web page is tantamount to a library without wheelchair access or a museum without services for the blind. So take a look at Bobby and see how your school's Web page stacks up.

     For more information on Web accessibility and usability issues, check out the following pages:

Created by Doug Adams, University of Kansas, Lawrence

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 Doug Adams is guru of all information at SCR*TEC, located at University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Read more about this educator.
 
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