Website Accessibility

 

 

Olivia Potter

 

 

ro_potter10@yahoo.com

 

 

LIS 458

 

 

16 September 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.fasttrackteam.com/how-to-improve-website-accessibility.aspx  

 

Introduction

 

      Most people assume that websites are accessible to everyone. While this is mostly true, people with disabilities are not able to use websites as easily as others. Therefore, to make a website accessible is to make it so that people with disabilities can use the website as easily as others. “More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web” (Henry, 2005). It can also be explained as “Accessibility, when pertaining to a webpage, means that information has been made available for use by almost everyone, including persons with disabilities” (Hackett, Parmanto, & Zeng, 2007).

 

Background

 

     The best way to explain the history and background of website accessibility is to simply state the fact that it has gotten better over the years, especially for those with disabilities. Technologies now make web access easier for the visually impaired by allowing them to magnify the screen, and use braille technologies equipment. According to American Foundation for the Blind website, “Blind or visually impaired people who read braille can use the following specialized equipment: Braille display technology which provides access to the information on a computer screen in braille. Braille printers that provide hardcopy information from computer devices [and] electronic braille notetakers that provide a powerful alternative to mechanical notetakers such as the Perkins Brailler or slate and stylus” (“Braille”, 2014).

    

     Blind or visually impaired people can also use optical character recognition technology [that] “offers blind and visually impaired persons the capacity to scan printed text and then speak it back in synthetic speech or save it to a computer” (“Optical”, 2014). There is a variety of accesses tools for those with physically disabilities or impairments. These include mouth stick, head wand, singe-switch access, oversized trackball mouse, adaptive keyboard, eye tracking, voice recognition software, “sticky keys”, and “slow keys” (GMC, 2014).    

 

Research

 

     The abstract for “Bobby Approves--Web Accessibility For the Print Disabled” by Anne Clyde in the Teacher Librarian Vol. 28 Issue 4, p52 reads,

 

     “Reports on the accessibility of Web sites for visually impaired individuals. Significance   of Bobby, a Web-based tool that analyzes Web page accessibility for people with       disabilities; Several Web browsers designed for people with impaired vision; Discussion         of some development programs which aim to improve Internet access for disabled users” (2001). 

 

     If a site is “Bobby Approved” that means that the sites supports the technologies used by the disabled. Bobby makes sure that the content can be shown visually, auditorially, or tactually. Bobby also makes sure that if information is conveyed through visual elements like color and shape, that there is an alternative way of displaying that information.

 

     The article also discusses several different screen reads that can be used. They are, ZoomText Xtra from Ai Squared, BigShot Screen Magnifier software, IBM's Home Page Reader known as "the Voice of the World Wide Web", Netscape Navigator, JAWS (Job Access With Speech) from Henter-Joyce, and Artic Technologies' WinVision. Also discussed are three Web browsers that are easy for the visional impaired to use. They are Lynx, Opera, and BrookesTalk. Lynx is “a text-based browser that employs the keyboard rather than a mouse for page navigation; Opera [is] a fast browser that can also be used via the keyboard and incorporates ‘low vision features’ such as a zoom function; and BrookesTalk [is] a Web browser for the blind and visually impaired that was developed at Oxford Brookes University in Britain” (Clyde, 2001).

 

Best Practices

 

     The best practice for making and/or having a website that is accessible to those with disabilities is to make sure the site is “bobby approved” and that it follows the web content accessibility guidelines that the World Wide Web consortium started as part of the web accessibility initiative. “The World Wide Web Consortium is an international community where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. Led by Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee and CEO Jeffrey Jaffe, W3C's mission is to lead the Web to its full potential” (About W3C, 2014).

 

     More information about the World Wide Web Consortium’s web accessibility initiative can be found at www.w3.org/WAI/. As Tim Berners-Lee is quoted saying on the World Wide Web consortium website, “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect” (Accessibility - W3C, 2013).

Bibliography*

 

About W3C. (2014). Retrieved November 14, 2014, from                            http://www.w3.org/Consortium/

 

Accessibility - W3C. (2013). Retrieved November 14, 2014, from http://www.w3.org/standards/webdesign/accessibility

 

Braille Technology - American Foundation for the Blind. (2014). Retrieved November 15, 2014, from http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/using-technology/assistive-technology/braille-technology/1235

 

Clyde, A. (2001). Bobby Approves--Web Accessibility For the Print Disabled. Teacher Librarian, 28(4), 52.

 

GMC | Assistive technologies for people with physical impairments. (2014). Retrieved November 14, 2014, from http://www.gmc-uk.org/accessibility/assistive_technologies/physical_impairments.asp

 

Hackett, S., Parmanto, B., & Zeng, X. (2007, February 3). Taylor & Francis Online :: A retrospective look at website accessibility over time - Behaviour & Information Technology - Volume 24, Issue 6. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01449290500066661#.VGOtKMnt89h

 

Henry, S. L. (2005). Introduction to Web Accessibility. Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php

 

Hoag, S. (2014). [Section of a keyboard near the Enter key in which the Shift key has been replaced with a blue key with an image of a handicap symbol on it.] Fast Track. Retrieved from http://www.fasttrackteam.com/how-to-improve-website-accessibility.aspx 

 

Optical Character Recognition Systems - American Foundation for the Blind. (2014). Retrieved November 14, 2014, from http://www.afb.org/info/living-with-vision-loss/using-technology/assistive-technology/optical-character-recognition-systems/1235

*I know that bibliography page sources are supposed to be done with a hanging indent but when I copied my paper over it took away the hanging indents and I cannot put them back in.