“The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.” Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
What is accessibility?
Accessibility ensures that content is accessible : can be navigated and read by everyone, regardless of location, experience, or the type of computer technology used.
What users require accessibility?
Blind Users using a screen reader, Partial or Poor Sight Users that need to enlarge the text on a site, Users with forms of Color Blindness, Deaf Users, Keyboard only users (no mouse), Voice Only users, Epileptic Users (need to avoid seeing flickering between 2 and 55hz), Web Users with a first language other than English and Users from outside your industry (explain industry specific terminology and acronyms and strive for clear, concise English text), Users on PDA’s and mobile devices (width can be as small as 120px and horizontal scrolling is not an option : uneven support for large images, Javascript, Flash, CSS), WebTV (maximum width of 575px and horizontal scrolling isn’t possible), Users on slow connections, etc.
What is section 508?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires access to electronic and information technology procured by Federal agencies. Accessibility standards for the various technologies covered by the law are also incorporated into the Federal government’s procurement regulations.
Where can I find the actual law, Federal Acquisition Regulation, and the final Standards?
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act
Recommended Policies and Guidelines for Federal Public Websites June 9, 2004
Are there any international standards for Web accessibility?
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the W3C publishes accessibility guidelines and resources. Current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Overview.
Online Website Checker Accessibility Tools
Test your site with WAVE, the web accessibility evaluation tool. Easy to use and easy to understand – icons show you where to make changes on your website to improve accessibility. For completely private, and secure accessibility reporting, they also provide a WAVE toolbar for Firefox. Developed by WebAIM and provided as a free community service.
Accessibility Valet Demonstrator is a free online accessibility tool from WebThing.
The HiSoftware® Cynthia Says portal tests one page at a time.
Fundación CTIC (Centro Tecnológico de la Información y la Comunicación) lets you use the Analizador to test your site against WCAG 1.0, 2.0 and MobileOK standards and get a custom set of detailed reporting pages. Though the website is in Spanish – these reports are returned in English.
The University of Toronto (developers of the old A-Prompt) has released a new online accessibility checker, named AChecker. There is a printable Web Accessibility Checker handbook/manual available.
note:
As of February 1, 2008 the Watchfire webxact and Bobby Online products will no longer be publicly available.
Online HTML, CSS, RSS, MobileOK, Validation Tools
The free online W3C Markup Validation Service validator checks the markup validity of your web documents in HTML, XHTML, SMIL, MathML, etc.
Check the syntax of Atom or RSS feeds with the free W3C Feed Validation Service.
To check your Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and (X)HTML documents with style sheets, use the W3C CSS Validation Service tool.
How can you tell if your website is mobile-friendly? Start with the W3C mobileOK Checker tool.
Online Link Checker Tools
Check your links and anchors in individual web pages or full websites with W3C Link Checker online tool.
The free online Link Validation Spider from Dead-Links checks both internal and external (outgoing) links. This tool does not check links inside frames, javascript or flash.
Free Link Checker Software
Xenu’s Link Sleuth (TM) checks your websites for broken links and produces detailed reports. . Verifies regular links, and images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style sheets, scripts and java applets. The free software works on MS Windows, and is definitely the fastest tool to use for large sites.
The Webmaster Toolkit offers a free online link checker for up to 60 links per page.
Online Robots.txt Checker Tools
Check the validity of your robots.txt syntax with the free online
Robots.txt Checker
Google Webmaster Central has a built-in utility (along with many other necessary tools for webmasters) to validate your robots.txt file. Create a free Google Webmaster Tools account to gain access.
Misc Accessibility Tools and Resources Online
AnyBrowser.com browser compatibility resources, and tools. Want to see how your visitors are viewing your website? Use their Web Site Viewer tool.
The Trace center at the university of Wisconsin-Madison has the bestt list of accessibility related resources on Designing More Usable Web Sites
Useful Accessibility Articles
Accessible Design Guide by anybrowser.org
What Is Web Accessibility? by Trenton Moss
Dive into Building Accessibility by Mark Pilgrim
Building Accessible Websites by Joe Clark
Benefits of Web Standards by Max Design
The Business Case for Web Accessibility by Andy Budd
Collection of Web Accessibility How-To Articles by WebCredible
Misc Accessibility Resources
Checklist for 508 compliance, provided by the nonprofit WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind).
USPS AS-508 Section 508 Handbook in HTML or PDF
USPS AS-508-A Section 508 Technical Reference Guide in HTML or PDF
Vischeck : Online tool that simulates colorblind vision and shows how your website looks to people with Deuteranope, Protanope, or Tritanope. You can also use the Visicheck Image Checker on most image formats. Then try Daltonize online on your images to correct them for 3 colorbliind types.
Microsoft has an Accessibility Resource Center with tutorials, guides, and assistive technology products.
New York Public Library Style Guide maintains an online guide for markup and design requirements for XHTML and CSS.
Books on Accessibility Issues
Building Accessible Websites Joe Clark
Designing With Web Standards Jeffery Zeldman