Web Accessibility for Community Colleges ---Support Materials

I. Accessibility Basics

A. The Principles of Accessibility

1. Perceivable
2. Operable
3. Understandable
4. Robust

See the forthcoming Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (working draft)

II. Planning, Evaluation, and Retrofitting

1. Evaluate current site
2. Fix easy issues on the home page
3. Fix your templates
4. Fix HTML errors
5. Fix non-HTML errors

Evaluation tools

• WAVE
• W3C HTML validator
• Firefox developer's toolbar

III. Techniques

A. Images

1. Use graphics to enhance comprehension.
2. Ensure sufficient contrast
3. Limit or avoid text within graphics
4. Avoid strobing effects
5. Add accurate, concise alt text
6. Add longer descriptions if necessary

WebAIM tutorial: Accessible Images

B. Tables

1. Use CSS instead of tables for layout
2. For data tables:
   1. Designate header rows and/or columns
   2. Link the data cells to the proper header cells
   3. Create captions for tables

WebAIM tutorial: Accessible Tables

C. Forms

1. Make sure form reading order is logical
2. Make sure forms are keyboard-accessible
3. Provide labels for form elements

WebAIM tutorial: Accessible Forms

D. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

1. Ensure the reading and tab orders are logical
2. Use relative sizing where possible
3. Ensure that the styles "degrade gracefully" in older browsers

WebAIM tutorial: Accessible CSS

E. Flash

• Creating Accessible Macromedia Flash Content
• Macromedia Flash MX 2004 FAQ

F. Captioning Web Multimedia

• Overview of Web Captioning
• Captioning for Quicktime
• Captioning for Windows Media
• Captioning for RealPlayer
  • RealText Authoring Guide
• MAGpie
• Hi-Caption

IV. Products and Services

WebAIM products and services:

• CD-ROM: WebAIM Guide to Web Accessibility Techniques and Concepts
• More information about WebAIM product and services is available at www.webaim.org