Accessibility

HTML Guides | Accessibility Validation Systems | Designing for Accessibility | Learning style

Step by Step Web Design Guides/Articles (top) :

WebMonkey, The Web Developers Resource http://www.hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/index.html  The name says it all. A great concentration of goodies for the apprentice nerd. (The master nerd will find something here as well!)

Webweaver Tutorials http://www.webweaver.nu/tutorial.htm This site has tutorials where you can go to learn how to design web pages for yourself, so that you can make a site that will look a lot more unique, and that you will have much more control over. Also, check out the color picker, a handy little utility program. It has the codes for 216 colors that you may need for a reference someday down the road (not in this class).

Accessibility Validation Systems (top) :

New! Cynthia Says http://www.cynthiasays.com/ This is a new site backed by internationally recognized accessibility expert, Cynthia Waddell. The site is a web content accessibility validation solution, it is designed to identify errors in design related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines. The main purpose of this portal is to educate web site developers in the development Web Based content that is accessible to all. This online test only validates one page at a time. Note this demo will test about one (1) page per minute / per site.

New! 5 Page Free Trial! LIFT http://www.usablenet.com/ To get a sense of the differences between 'free' and commercial software try Lift's 5 page free trial. Why not compare the results & advice offered by Bobby against that offered by the powerful (but pricey) Lift from Usablenet.com.

Bobby:http://www.cast.org/bobby/ CAST provides both Mac and PC versions of its Bobby software. You do not have to buy and download this product. You can run Bobby from the CAST website. (Until recently Bobby was available for free download. However the newest version now costs $99.) Your institution would be wise to purchase a copy and use it regularly. For the purposes of this assignment the website check is just fine.

New! Wave 3.0 Web Accessibility Tool http://www.wave.webaim.org/index.jsp You can test a web address or upload a page from your hard drive for an online report. Clear advice and a graphic readout make this tool less intimidating that a typical Bobby Report. Provides a side by side WCAG 1.0 & 508 report. Consider using this tool if Lift or Bobby seem too complex.

A-Prompt (Accessibility Prompt:) (Download the latest version) http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/ has been developed to assist Web authors in improving the accessibility and usability of HTML documents. By checking Web pages for barriers to accessibility and making repairs to correct any problems, A-Prompt will ensure that you are reaching the widest possible audience. (Note: PC only at this time.)

WC3 HTML Validation Service: http://validator.w3.org/

The Macromedia Accessibility Team Macromedia has just released an Accessibility extension pack. Anyone designing in this product should download this information. (Even if you don't use Dreamweaver, this is valuable information.)

Designing for Accessibility (top) :

New! University of Wisconsin-Madison Introduction to the Screen Reader View the video - gain some empathy!

Network for Inclusive Distance Education has excellent information including a link to a cascading style sheet generator that looks promising. The CSS Generator allows people with low vision, color blindness, mobility or cognitive problems to change font colors, font size, and enlarge hyperlinks to improve web site accessibility. This utility makes it easy for individuals to create their own style sheets and customize web page presentations to meet their own special needs. It creates style sheets automatically. Users are not required to have any HTML or CSS coding knowledge.

New! Webable.com a website covering accessibility issues. Great links! http://webable.com/

New! Website Accessibility Goes Main Stream -- The latest news on this breaking story. http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/06/15/web.site.accessibility.idg/index.html

ATRC user-centered design project http://www.utoronto.ca/atrc/

New! WC3 Alternative Web Browsing Consider downloading and using an alternate browser to gain more empathy for accessibility. http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, W3C Working Draft 25 January 2001 http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/

Chuck LeTourneaus Page http://www.starlingweb.com/webac.htm This site has pages on every aspect of web design you might wish to consider with respect to accessibility--images, forms, columns, and so on.

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Guidelines for Accessible Website Design http://www.trace.wisc.edu/world/web/index.html

Designing a More Usable World http://trace.wisc.edu/world/

WGBH National Center for Accessible Media http://www.wgbh.org/ncam (Observe how this site handles images.)

W3C Accessibility Developments http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/ (Click to "Guidelines and Specifications.")

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/

Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): http://www.w3.org/WAI/

WC3 Alternative Web Browsing: http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing

WC3 FAQ Fact Sheet for "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" : http://www.w3.org/1999/05/WCAG-REC-fact

These sites offer background on learning styles (top) :

Constructivist Theory: http://www.fcae.nova.edu/~turgeonm/construct.html

Learning Styles and Computers Aided Instruction http://hagar.up.ac.za/catts/learner/lindavr/home.htm

VARK a Guide to learning styles http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire

Technology and Multiple Intelligences http://annettelamb.com/tap/topic68.htm

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