EDSE/EDIT 526: Web Accessibility and Design

Topic 5: Web Accessibility and Universal Design

Contents

Introduction

For those of you who have been wondering if we were ever going to get to the details of web accessibility in this course named "Web Accessibility and Design," the wait is over. This is the week that we'll discuss this topic in some detail. This topic entails quite a bit of reading, so don't delay it too long. I would be interestedand in hearing your reactions and insights in the discussion forum. Most of the reading is in the CD-ROM that you should have already purchased. If you haven't purchased it yet, go to the WebAIM web site and purchase it, using the discount code you received earlier.

Part 1: Read about Web Accessibility

Read the following from the WebAIM Guide to Web Accessibility CD-ROM:

(Note: the chapters are relatively short, but all together this is a fair amount of reading, so it would be a good idea to start early)

Part 2: Experience a Screen Reader

This is your chance to "see" the web as a blind person sees it. This will help you understand things from the perspective of people with disabilities.

Note: We experimented with a screen reader briefly in class, so some of you have already had exposure to the general concept, but I encourage you to experiment some more and get a better feel for the way that screen readers work.

Choose from the following screen readers (available only for Windowsnote):

You can try just one of the screen readers if you like, but I encourage you to try a couple of them. They work differently and have different options available to users. It's worth it to experience the differences between the technologies.

Note: Although the Macintosh OSX operating system comes with a built-in screen reader of sorts, it is not sophisticated enough at this point to substitute for any of the Windows-based screen readers. You will need to use a Windows-based computer for this assignment. If you do not have a Windows-based computer yourself, see if you can use the computer of a friend or colleague, or use the computer labs (see note below)

Another Note: If you don't want to use your own computer, or can't use it for whatever reason, or don't have access to a computer at home, you can use the Commerce I computer lab (available Saturdays from noon until 5:00) or the Assistive Technology Lab (Thompson Hall 221, 703-993-3589, see the lab schedule).

When you use a screen reader for the first time you may be overwhelmed by the experience. You may have a hard time trying to figure out how to use the screen reader and get discouraged quickly. You may begin to think that everything on the web is inaccessible to screen readers, because it seems so hard for you to use! It will take some time and patience on your part to learn to use a screen reader. I don't expect you to become screen reader user experts with this assignment alone. It often takes users months to get used to the software.

The most important keyboard shortcut to learn is how to make the reader stop reading: this is the control key. The shortcut to make it start reading again varies between screen readers (see the appendix of the CD-ROM for keyboard shortcuts). Using the screen reader and your keyboard, practice navigating from link to link with the tab key. Use shift + tab to go backwards through links. Use the enter key to click on links. Use the keyboard shortcuts (which are different for every screen reader) to navigate from heading to heading, or to get a list of links, or to enter into table navigation mode and navigate from cell to cell within tables. Get to to know some of the features of screen readers.

As you use the screen readers, consider these questions:

Part 3: Watch a News Video Clip

Go to a news web site such as www.cnn.com, www.msnbc.com, www.abcnews.com, www.foxnews.com, etc. and watch a news video clip, but watch it with the sound turned off.

Consider these questions:

Part 4: Evaluate a Page's Accessibility Using WAVE and Cynthia Says

Go to few web sites, such as www.amazon.com or any of the news sites previously mentioned, or the site of the place where you work. Evaluate the sites using WAVE and Cynthia Says.

Consider these questions:

Part 5: Discuss your experience in the Blackboard discussion forum

Go to the Blackboard discussion forum and post some observations about these topics. Please also read the responses of others, and respond to them as appropriate. This may mean that you visit the discussion forum more than once during the week (hint, hint!).