Library websites are about to become subject to new accessibility legislation. Is yours ready? If you have no idea where to begin, this webinar can help you to get a firm grasp on the basics of preventing legal violations. This presentation looks at what it takes, under the hood, to make a website meet accessibility standards. Web accessibility is about a lot more than just using an "alt" tag.
This is more than an overview--we're going to be getting dirty with actual code. Please note: Attendees will need at least a basic understanding of HTML and/or XHTML to get the most from this session
3. Wht we’ll cover:
• Why web accessibility?
• Current accessibility guidelines
• Online validators
• Getting into the guts of Section
508 (**CODE WARNING**)
22. Make sure your code validates!
Photo credit: Sebastian Bergmann
23. Use the <lang> attribute
• Syntax:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0
Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-
transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang=“en"
xml:lang=“en">
31. Use header tags correctly
BAD:
<h2>This is a Level-2 Header</h2>
<h3>This is a Level-3 Header</h3>
GOOD:
<h1>This is a Level-1 Header</h1>
<h2>This is a Level-2 Header</h2>
32. Forms
Form picture & following 2 examples from the Veterans Health Administration
http://www.webjunction.org/accessibility/-/articles/content/98661533
33. Form labels
• Bad Checkboxes:
• <LABEL>Please rate your
experience with our
services</label>
• <P>
• <INPUT id=good type=checkbox
value=good name=good><br>
• Good
• <INPUT id=excellent
type=checkbox value=excellent
name=excellent>
• <br>Excellent!
• <INPUT id=spectacular
type=checkbox value=spectacular
name=spectacular>
• Spectacular!
• Good Checkboxes:
• <legend>Please rate your
experience
• with our services</legend>
• <P>
• <INPUT id=good type=checkbox
value=good name=good><LABEL
for=good>good</label>
• <INPUT id=excellent
type=checkbox value=excellent
name=excellent><LABEL
for=excellent>Excellent</LABEL>
• <INPUT id=spectacular
type=checkbox value=spectacular
name=spectacular><label
for=spectacular>Spectacular</lab
el>
34. Text input fields
Bad text input:
Full Name<BR>
<INPUT name=first>
<INPUT maxLength=1 size=1
name=MI>
<INPUT id=last size=25
name=last>
Good text input:
Full Name<br />
<label>for=“first“>First</label>
<input name=“first“ id=“first“ >
<label for=MI">M.I.</label>
<input maxlength=“1“ size=“1“
name=“MI“ id=“MI“>
<label for=“last“>Last</label>
<input id=“last“ size=“25“
name=“last“>
41. Some notes about NVDA
• Download: http://www.nvda-project.org/
• Use it in Firefox
• It takes a lot of time to get familiar with it!
• The page may not scroll while the reader
is reading
• Getting started guide:
http://webaim.org/articles/nvda/
42. Resources
• Official Section 508 website:
http://www.section508.gov/
• Website Accessibility Under Title II of the ADA
(from the DoJ)
http://www.ada.gov/pcatoolkit/chap5toolkit.htm
• Writing great alt text
http://webdesign.about.com/od/accessibility/a/gr
eat_alt_text.htm
• “Web accessibility no longer an afterthought”—
CNN, 2009
http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/12/15/cnet.web.
accessibility/index.html