Creating an Accessible Web Site

Good Web sites are accessible to all visitors. Everyone should have an equivalent experience with a Web site regardless of his or her physical abilities or computer configuration. Your visitor may have a physical impairment that restricts her interpretation or use of your site. She may be accessing your site with a screen reader or with other software that you have not tested. Even physically able people may be using an unusual device, like a wireless PDA. Making your site accessible improves everyone's experience with it, not just people with sight, hearing, or mobility impairments.

Accessible Design Resources

UW research projects are encouraged to have accessible Web sites because of UW policy (see the Equal Opportunity Office) and federal regulations (see the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act).

Campus resources for accessibility include a free Catalyst Web Design Workshop on Accessibility and Usability, which is taught about once per quarter. There are also UW Web resources that can help you build an accessible site:

• DO-IT's Accessible Web Design Resources
• DO-IT's World Wide Access: Accessible Web Design
• UW Computing and Networking: Making Web Sites Accessible to Everyone
• Catalyst Web Design and Usability
• UWired's Accessibility Resources

Other good resources on the WWW include:

• Introduction to Web Accessibility. Introduction to some common physical disabilities and their impact on Web browsing ability.
• Microsoft's MSDN Library. Contains many good articles about accessibility.
• Bobby Worldwide. Describes best practices for accessibility and offers a free Web site accessibility check service.
• Accessibility in Web Design. About.com's collection of links.

Simple project sites may have only some text and images, in which case labeling images with ALT text may be all that is needed to make the site accessible. Other sites may have Macromedia® Flash® animation and other complex programming or interactive elements that require more effort or creativity to become accessible. Flash is a common Web site element but is also notorious for being inaccessible. If you use Flash, look at Macromedia's Flash Usability site, Macromedia's Flash Accessibility site, and Macromedia Exchange for accessibility extensions.

Checking Your Site for Accessibility

Since you may not have access to different browsers or alternative access tools, try some of these simple methods to test your Web design for accessibility:

• Run a sample of your pages through Bobby Worldwide's Web site accessibility check service. Review Bobby's report, and fix at least the major accessibility problems.
• In Internet Explorer, turn off stylesheet support
  
  (Tools > Internet Options > General. Click Accessibility, and check all boxes under Formatting.)
  
  and image support
  (Tools > Internet Options > advanced. Uncheck Show pictures.)
  
  Did your site lose any information by turning off stylesheet and image support?
• Browse your site in Lynx, the text-only browser that is accessible through Tera Term. How easy is it to navigate through your site in this linear environment? Did your site lose any information from the text-only layout?

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