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Web Accessibility Class TOC
My Definition of Web accessibility
I would define Web accessibility as the "the ease in which any person using any software/hardware can navigate and/or create a Web site." So there could be good accessibility and bad accessibility. Good authoring tools and bad authoring tools.
I think accessibility of a site has a lot to do with layout which includes navigation techniques as well as the HTML code, design (appearance) and site content.
Web authoring tools need to be designed with the disabled in mind, both from a code generation view point and from a user viewpoint.
Name 3 distinct groups of people with disabilities; how would their access to the Web be affected?
Visually Impaired: Because of the graphical nature of the Web, this group of people can have a very difficult time navigating a site. They will use magnification, a screen reader and/or a Braille display. Because you cannot see the layout of a page, you are forced to step through every element on the page. Repetitive groups of navigation links that are not setup for a person to skip, can be time consuming and frustrating to negotiate on every single page. Large sites with many layers of pages can get confusing if there is no mechanism for site orientation. Keyboard equivalents for mouse commands will be used to access or create Web pages.
Motor Disabilities: Persons with motor disabilities will use specialized assistive equipment to access the Web. Browsers and Web authoring tools will need to support more than just a mouse, keyboard equivalents are important. Work station accessibility can be an issue for some of these people.
Cognitive Disabilities: can cause difficulty in processing information. Web sites need to be consistent, contain clear language, have non-distracting elements, and should include alternative methods of displaying information. Images and audio can support text. Text captions can support images and audio. Search functions should be clear and provide for both a simple and advanced search.
Summary: Many of the techniques and technologies that will aid people with disabilities will create a more useable/accessible Web for everybody.
How was the exercise "disabled access" similar/different for me than a person with disabilities?
The exercise was similar in that I often found myself confused and frustrated when trying to browse the different Web sites. It was very different for me because I knew the confusion and frustration was temporary. Not only that, but I could see. So even with the lack of images, color and a mouse, I still knew what links were on the page and could negotiate there. I think my biggest realization was how daunting the magnitude of links and information can be. At a minimum, I think Web sites should provide a mechanism to skip over the redundant navigation groups and I think this Checkpoint should be more than a priority 3.