Four Steps to Evaluating the Accessibility of your Web Site

More information is available at WebAIM (See Related Links section).

Step 1: Validate Your HTML

Make sure that your HTML codes are valid by using the W3C Markup Validation Service (See Related Links section).

W3C's HyperText Markup Language (HTML) Home Page (See Related Links section) provides some rough guidelines for HTML authors. If you use these, you are more likely to end up with pages that are easy to maintain, look acceptable to users regardless of the browser they are using, and can be accessed by the many Web users with disabilities.

W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (See Related Links section) provides more formal guidelines for authors.

a. A question of style sheets

For most people the look of a document - the color, the font, the margins - are as important as the textual content of the document itself. But make no mistake! HTML is not designed to be used to control these aspects of document layout. What you should do is use HTML to mark up headings, paragraphs, lists, hypertext links, and other structural parts of your document, and then add a style sheet to specify layout separately, just as you might do in a conventional Desk Top Publishing Package. That way, not only is there a better chance of all browsers displaying your document properly, but also, if you want to change such things as the font or color, it's really simple to do so.

More information is available at Dave Raggett's Introduction to CSS (See Related Links section).

b. FONT tag considered harmful!

Many filters from word-processing packages, and also some HTML authoring tools, generate HTML code that is completely contrary to the design goals of the language. What they do is to look at a document almost purely from the point of view of layout, and then mimic that layout in HTML by doing tricks with FONT, BR and   (non-breaking spaces). HTML documents are supposed to be structured around items such as paragraphs, headings and lists. Yet some of these documents barely have a paragraph tag in sight!

The problem comes when the content of pages needs to be updated, or given a new layout, or re-cast in XML (which is now the new mark-up language). With proper use of HTML, such operations are not difficult, but with a muddle of non-structural tags it's quite a different matter; maintenance tasks become impractical. To correct pages suffering from injudicious use of FONT, try the HTML Tidy program (See Related Links section), which will do its best to put things right and generate better and more manageable HTML.

c. Make your pages readable by those with disabilities

The Web is a tremendously useful tool for the visually impaired or blind user, but bear in mind that these users rely on speech synthesizers or Braille readers to render the text. Sloppy mark-up, or mark-up that doesn't have the layout defined in a separate style sheet, is hard for such software to deal with. Wherever possible, use a style sheet for the presentational aspects of your pages, using HTML purely for structural mark-up.

Also, remember to include descriptions with each image, and try to avoid server-side image maps. For tables, you should include a summary of the table's structure, and remember to associate table data with relevant headers. This will give non-visual browsers a chance to help orient people as they move from one cell to the next. For forms, remember to include labels for form fields.

d. Accessibility Guidelines

W3C Accessibility Guidelines (See Related Links section) provide more detailed accounts of how to make your Web pages really accessible.

Step 2: Validate for Accessibility

Make sure that your HTML codes minimally conform to Section 508 by using the online web accessibility evaluators such as Cynthia Says (See Related Links section). Detailed information is available on Section 508 Standards 1194.22 (See Related Links section).

a. A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). [More Information]

b. Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation. [More Information]

c. Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup. [More Information]

d. Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet. [More Information]

e. Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map. [More Information]

f. Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape. [More Information]

g. Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.

h. Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers. [More Information]

i. Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation. [More Information]

j. Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz. [More Information]

k. A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes. [More Information]

l. When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology. [More Information]

m. When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l). [More Information]

n. When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues. [More Information]

o. A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links. [More Information]

p. When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required. [More Information]

Step 3: Forms

If you have forms on your web site, make sure that when the tab key is pressed, the cursor goes in order of the fields that need to be filled in.

Step 4: Test Site with a Screen Reader

If you are interested in “testing” your site with a screen reader to get an idea of how a blind person accesses your site, please contact M.J. Haverly at the Special Student Services Office