USING CONTEXT TO SUPPORT EFFECTIVE APPLICATION OF WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBILITY GUIDELINES
Keywords:
Web Accessibility, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, Inclusive DesignAbstract
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed guidelines to support the creating of Web content that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of disability. Yet without considering the context in which a Web site will be used, a purely guideline-based approach may leave levels of accessibility and usability to disabled people disappointingly low. A reliance on end-user adoption of appropriate browsing technology and author adoption of appropriate authoring tools may also prevent effective accessible design, while inappropriate reference to guidelines in policy and legislation may also lead to problems. This paper promotes a framework for a holistic application of the W3C’s Web Content Accessibility Guidelines in designing Web content, by supporting consideration of the target audience, the intended outcome or experience the resource will provide its users, the usage environment, and the existence of alternative delivery mechanisms. Examples are given of how the framework might be applied to support more effective implementation of accessible Web design techniques.
Downloads
References
1998 Amendment to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Retrieved March 15 2005 from
Section 508.gov Web site http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=14
Beyer H. and Holzblatt K. (1998) Contextual design: defining customer-centred systems. San
Francisco: Morgan Kaufman.
Chisholm W. and Henry S. (2005) Interdependent Components of Web Accessibility. In:
Proceedings of the International Cross-Disciplinary Workshop on Web Accessibility (W4A),
Chiba, 2005. ACM Press, pp31-37.
Clark R., Williams J., Clark J. and Clark C. (2003) Assessing Web Site Usability: Construction
Zone. Journal of Healthcare Information Management Vol. 17, No. 2.
Clark J. (2002) Building Accessible Web Sites. New Riders.
Colwell C. and Petrie H. (1999) Evaluation of Guidelines for Designing Accessible Web Content.
In: Buhler and Knops (eds) Assistive Technology on Threshold of New Millennium., pp39-47.
Coyne K. and Nielsen J. (2001) Beyond ALT text: making the Web easy to use for users with
disabilities. Fremont, CA: Nielsen Norman Group.
Dardailler D. and Palmer S. (2001) EARL - the Evaluation And Report Language. Retrieved 1
July 2005 from W3C Web site: http://www.w3.org/2001/03/earl/
Disability Rights Commission (2004). Formal Investigation report: Web accessibility. Retrieved
March 10, 2005, from DRC Web site: http://www.drc-gb.org/publicationsandreports/report.asp
Ellison J. (2004) Assessing the accessibility of fifty United States government Web pages: Using
Bobby to check on Uncle Sam. First Monday, volume 9, number 7 (July 2004). Retrieved 1 July
from First Monday Web site: http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_7/ellison/
Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (2000) Maguire v SOCOG - Retrieved 1 July
from HREOC Web site: http://www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/law/maguirevsocog.htm
IMS Global Learning Consortium (2002). Guidelines for Developing Accessible Learning
Applications, version 1.0. Retrieved March 10 2005 from NCAM Web site
http://ncam.wgbh.org/salt/guidelines/
Isolani (2004) Sitemorse gets nasty, accessibility is the victim. Retrieved March 16 2005 from
Isolani Web site:
http://www.isolani.co.uk/blog/access/SiteMorseGetsNastyAccessibilityIsTheVictim
Kelly B. (2002) An Accessibility Analysis Of UK University Entry Points. Ariadne issue 33, Sept
Retrieved March 10, 2005 from http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/Web-watch/
Kelly B. (2003) Institutional Web Management Workshop 2003: Accessibility Questionnaire.
Retrieved March 10, 2005, from UKOLN Web site: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/Webfocus/
events/workshops/Webmaster-2003/accessibility-questionnaire/
Kelly B, Dunning A, Guy M and Phipps L. (2003) Ideology Or Pragmatism? Open Standards
And Cultural Heritage Web Sites. In: Proceedings of ichim03: Cultural Institutions and Digital
Technology, Paris, September 8-12, 2003. Retrieved March 10 2005, from:
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/papers/ichim03/
Kelly B., Phipps L. and Swift E. (2004) Developing A Holistic Approach For E-Learning
Accessibility. In: Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 2004, Vol. 30, Issue 3.
Retrieved March 10, 2005, from: http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/Web-focus/papers/cjtl-2004/
Koyani S, Bailey R., Nall J., Allison S., Mulligan C., Bailey K. and Tolson M. (2003) Researchbased
Web design and usability guidelines. Retrieved March 10, 2005, from Usability.gov Web
site: http://www.usability.gov/guidelines/guidelines_notice.html
National Disability Authority of Ireland. Accessibility Guidelines for Web. Retrieved March 10,
, from NDA Web site: http://accessit.nda.ie/technologyindex_1.html
Newell A.F. and Gregor P. (2000) User sensitive inclusive design— in search of a new paradigm.
In (eds Scholtz and Thomas) CUU 2000- First ACM Conference on Universal Usability, pp39-44.
Parlamento Italiano - Disposizioni per favorire l’accesso dei soggetti disabili agli strumenti
informatici. Retrieved March 15 2005 from http://www.camera.it/parlam/leggi/04004l.htm
(Unofficial English translation retrieved March 15 from
http://www.pubbliaccesso.it/normative/law_20040109_n4.htm)
Petrie H., King N. and Hamilton F. (2005) Accessibility of Museum, Library and Archive Web
Sites: the MLA audit. London: Council for Museums, Libraries and Archives.
Petrie H., King N., Hamilton F. and Weisen M. (2005) The accessibility of museum Websites:
results from an English investigation and international comparison. Proceedings of HCI
International 2005. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. In press.
Regan B (2004) Web Accessibility and Design: A Failure of the Imagination. In: Proceedings of
Designing for the 21st Century III, December 7-12 2004, Rio de Janeiro. Retrieved March 15
from http://www.designfor21st.org/proceedings/proceedings/plenary_regan.html
Section 508 Standards. Retrieved March 15 2005 from Section 508.gov Web site:
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12
Sitemorse (2004) Confusion Reigns Over Website Accessibility Compliance. Retrieved March 16
from http://www.business2www.com/news.html?id=1217547344
Sloan D., Gregor P., Rowan M. and Booth P. (2000) Accessible accessibility. In: Scholtz J. and
Thomas J. (eds) CUU 2000- First ACM Conference on Universal Usability, pp.96-101.
Sloan M. Web Accessibility and the DDA. In: Paliwala, A. and Moreton, J (eds) The Journal of
Information, Law and Technology (JILT) 2001 (2). Retrieved March 10 2005 from
http://elj.warwick.ac.uk/jilt/01-2/sloan.html
Smith J. (2004) Creating Accessible Macromedia Flash Content. Part 3: Keyboard Accessibility &
Reading Order. Retrieved 1st July 2005 from WebAIM Web site:
http://www.Webaim.org/techniques/flash/3
Theofanos M. and Redish J. (2003) Bridging the Gap: between accessibility and usability. In:
Interactions Vol 10, No 6. ACM Press, pp39-51.
Urban M. (2002) Implementing Accessibility in Enterprise. In: Thatcher, J. et al, Constructing
accessible web sites. Birmingham, UK: Glasshaus pp282-303.
W3C (2005). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. W3C Working Draft, 30 June 2005.
Retrieved July 1, 2005, from W3C Web site: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/
W3C (2005) Web Accessibility Initiative Statement on Web Access Report from UK Disability
Rights Commission. Retrieved March 10, 2005, from W3C Web site:
http://www.w3.org/2004/04/wai-drc-statement.html
W3C (2005) Questions and Answers about Baseline and WCAG 2.0. Retrieved 1st March 2006:
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20-baseline.php
W3C (2002) Requirements for WCAG 2.0, W3C Working Draft, 26 April 2002. Retrieved July 1,
from W3C site: http://www.w3.org/TR/wcag2-req/.
W3C (2002) User Agent Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. December 2002. Retrieved March 10, 2005
from W3C site: http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-USERAGENT/
W3C (2000) Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. February 2000. Retrieved March 10,
from W3C site: http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-AUTOOLS/
W3C (1999) Web Accessibility Initiative Glossary. Retrieved March 10, 2005, from Web site:
http://www.w3.org/TR/1999/WAI-WEBCONTENT-19990505/#glossary
W3C (1999). Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. May 1999. Retrieved March 10, 2005
from W3C site: http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
WebAIM. Americans with Disabilities Act (1990), Retrieved March 15 2005 from WebAIM site
http://www.Webaim.org/coordination/law/us/ada/
WebCredible (2004) The DRC Blew it. May 2004. Retrieved March 16 2005 from WebCredible
site: http://www.Webcredible.co.uk/user-friendly-resources/Web-accessibility/drc-blew-it.shtml
Zeldman J. (2003) Designing with Web Standards. New Riders.
