Is Your Website Accessible?

"Accessible" means usable to a wide range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning difficulties, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech difficulties, photosensitivity and combinations of these. Following these guidelines will also make your Web content more accessible to the vast majority of users, including older users. It will also enable people to access Web content using many different devices - including a wide variety of assistive technologies."

Recommended Reading

W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Approved as ISO/IEC International Standard

15 October 2012

Today the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and the Joint Technical Committee JTC 1, Information Technology of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), announced approval of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 as an ISO/IEC International Standard (ISO/IEC 40500:2012).

W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Approved as ISO/IEC International Standard- Full Article

Writing Good Link Text

Originally written 28th November 2011 by Léonie Watson

Links are like sign posts. They should tell you what you’ll find when you follow them. Writing good link text isn’t difficult, but there are a few things to be aware of when you do.

Writing Good Link Text- Full Article

Myths About Low Vision

By Wayne Dick
July 5, 2011

Most people lump blindness and visual impairment into one group. This is a mistake that does serious harm to many people who have low vision but are not blind. Well meaning people cite accommodations for people who are blind as examples of things that work for all people who are blind or visually impaired. Even experts do this too. This includes many advocacy groups, national, regional and local governments, institutions and even the W3C WCAG Working Group.

Myths About Low Vision- Full Article

Top 5 Web Accessibility Pitfalls

Followers of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) working group and Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Interest Group would have seen a number of emails recently on software packages that claim to be all-in-one web accessibility solutions.

While last month’s column highlighted some useful tools, there is no single tool that can provide a definitive evaluation of a website’s accessibility or make a website accessible.

The challenge is finding out which products are of genuine benefit to avoid investing time and money in a solution that does not meet the full requirements for WCAG 2.0 compliance.

Top 5 Web Accessibility Pitfalls- Full Article

Complying with the Integrated Accessibility Standards (IAS): Captioning and Describing Web Videos

By Geof Collis

Now that the Integrated Accessibility Standards (IAS) are Law it is time to start implementing an often overlooked aspect of Web Accessibility, Captioning and Describing Web Video.

The good folks at Inclusive Media & Design, Inc. have compiled some Tips for you to consider and also have the solution for implementation.
Complying with the Integrated Accessibility Standards (IAS): Captioning and Describing Web Videos- Full Article

Applying Web Usability Criteria for Vision-Impaired Users: Does It Really Improve Task Performance?

Available accessibility guidelines do not necessarily guarantee usable Web sites, particularly when specific groups of users with special needs are considered.

Applying Web Usability Criteria for Vision-Impaired Users: Does It Really Improve Task Performance?- Full Article

IE9 and Firefox 4: let the standards showdown begin!

Posted May 4, 2011

Six months ago, the implementation of accessibility-friendly W3C standards, especially in relation to media players and screen readers, seemed pretty clear, with all web browsers having some level of implementation of HTML5 except for Internet Explorer 8. The HTML5 standard has since evolved rapidly,
particularly in January and with updates in April. We’ve also seen two major browser releases in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) and Mozilla’s Firefox 4.

IE9 and Firefox 4: let the standards showdown begin!- Full Article

The Alt and Title Attributes

When browser vendors bend the standards and implement something in a different way than what the specification states, they may cause problems, or at least confusion. One example of this is the way certain browsers, the most widely used being Internet Explorer for Windows, handle alt attributes (popularly
and incorrectly referred to as “alt tags”).

Alternate text is not meant to be used as a tool tip, or more specifically, to provide additional information about an image. The title attribute, on the
other hand, is meant to provide additional information about an element. That information is displayed as a tooltip by most graphical browsers, though
manufacturers are free to render title text in other ways.

Why Validate?

This document attempts to answer the questions many people have regarding why they should bother with Validating their web sites and tries to dispel a few common myths.

Tips for Webmasters: Improve Your Websites’ Accessibility

By Geof Collis
Badeyes Design & Consulting
January 16, 2010

In anticipation of the upcoming Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) Information and Communications Standard, I have put together some tips for Webmasters on how to make your website accessible.

Tips for Webmasters: Improve Your Websites’ Accessibility- Full Article

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