MM 440:
Web Presentation

Lecture//Accessible Design

Overview
The Question
Differences in Perception
Access Technologies

What to Consider
Background and Text
Images
Links
Frames
PDFs
Shockwave
Tables
User Interaction
Testing
Best Practices

Further Info

Validate your pages. Although writing valid HTML doesn't guarantee that your pages will be accessible, it is an important step in the process.

• If you use a mouse and a graphical browser, unplug the mouse and switch off graphics in your browser. Can you can still access, navigate and understand your website?

• Install a text only browser (e.g. Lynx which is free and can be downloaded from the Web) and test the pages in that - do they make sense?

• Whenever possible, ask a range of people with various abilities and disabilities to test your pages and give you feedback.

• Use "Bobby" to test your pages. Bobby is a program which can check your pages for compliance with the WAI Web Content Guidelines (it can also check for compatibility with various browsers and browser versions). It can be used online or downloaded and run offline. Bear in mind, however, that Bobby is an automated program and can only test for some accessibility errors - the fact that a page passes the Bobby test does not guarantee that it is fully accessible. For more information about Bobby, and to use or download this useful tool, go to http://www.cast.org/bobby/.

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