Accessible Electronic Content: Readings & Resources

Readings & Resources

Articles

"Special Issue -- Accessibility . . . An Integral Part of Online Learning." Educational Technology Review 10, no. 1 (2002).

Andrews, Sandra Sutton, et al. "Design for Accessibility of Academic Web Resources." Syllabus 14, no. 10 (May 2001): 30-33.

Andrews, Sandra Sutton, et al. "On Universal Accessibility and Online Journals." Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association, April 2002.

Burgstahler, Sheryl. "Distance Learning Universal Design, Universal Access." Educational Technology Review 10, no. 1 (2002).

Campbell, Leslie M., and Cynthia D. Waddell. "Electronic Curbcuts: How to Build an Accessible Web Site." June 24, 1997.

Foley, Alan, and Bob Regan. "Web Design for Accessibility: Policies and Practice." Educational Technology Review 10, no. 1 (2002).

Information Technology and Disabilities. [ISSN 1073-5727] Lake Forest, CA: EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information).

"Making Online Course Accessibility an Attainable Goal." University Gazette (March 26, 2003).

Waddell, Cynthia D. "Applying the ADA to the Internet: A Web Accessibility Standard." 1998.

Books

Clark, Joe. Building Accessible Websites. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2003. ISBN: 0-7357-1150-X.

Nielsen, Jakob. Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity. Indianapolis: New Riders, 2000. ISBN: 1-56205-810-X.

Paciello, Michael G. Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities. Lawrence, KS: CMP Books, 2000. ISBN: 1-929629-08-7.

Slatin, John M., and Sharron Rush. Maximum Accessibility: Making Your Web Site More Usable for Everyone. Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2003. ISBN: 0-201-77422-4.

Thatcher, Jim, et al. Constructing Accessible Web Sites. Birmingham, UK: glasshaus, Ltd., 2002. ISBN: 1-904151-00-0.

Waters, Crystal. Universal Web Design. Indianapolis: New Riders, 1997. ISBN: 1-56205-738-3.

Laws/Standards

North Carolina. Office of Information Technology Services. "Web Site Style Guide."

U.S. Department of Justice. "ADA Regulations and Technical Assistance Materials."

U.S. Department of Justice. "Section 508 Home Page."

U.S. General Services Administration. "Section 508."

World Wide Web Consortium. "Fact Sheet for 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0'."

World Wide Web Consortium. Web Accessibility Initiative. "Getting Started: Making a Web Site Accessible: Making a Web Site Accessible."

World Wide Web Consortium. Web Accessibility Initiative Website.

Websites

CPB/WGBH. National Center for Accessible Media.

EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information).

North Carolina State University. Disability Service's Assistive Technology Home Page.

North Carolina State University. Learning Technology Service's Accessibility Website.

Axel Schmetzke, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Library. Accessible Webpage Design: Resources.

University of Washington. DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) Program.

Utah State University. WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind).

Workshops/Tutorials

Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM) Online Tutorials
Topics include: Acrobat PDF, Dreamweaver, Dynamic Content, Forms, Frames, FrontPage, Graphics, Illustrations, Javascript, Keyboard Accessibility, Navigation, Page Layout, PowerPoint, and Tables.

Information Technology Technical Assistance and Training Center (ITTATC) Web Accessibility Courses
A free, self-paced online course to teach the techniques for creating accessible websites to web developers.

Webmonkey Tutorial "The Web Isn't for Everyone ... Yet"
Brief overview of accessibility issues and three lessons in creating accessible Web pages.

Listservs

There is a growing community of email discussion groups (listservs) on accessible web design issues.

UNC-Chapel Hill's Webaccess List
The list is a forum for UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and staff to post questions on accessible web design and share information on web accessibility topics.

WebAIM Web Accessibility Forum Mailing List
The goal of WebAIM (Web Accessibility In Mind) is to improve accessibility to online learning opportunities for all people; in particular to improve accessibility for individuals with disabilities who currently may have a difficult time getting access to postsecondary online learning opportunities. The Web Accessibility Forum mailing list is for anyone interested in discussing Web accessibility issues. Individuals from all organizations and specialties are encouraged to join.

EASI (Equal Access to Software and Information) lists
EASI's mission is to serve as a resource by providing information and guidance in the area of access-to-information technologies by individuals with disabilities. EASI sponsors three listservs:
EASI -- a general discussion on adaptive computing
AXSLIB-L -- a list for librarians to learn how to accommodate patrons with disabilities
EASI-SEM -- focuses on the special needs in accessing science and math by people with disabilities

AWARE-Techniques
This HTML Writers Guild mailing list, sponsored by the Guild's AWARE Center, is for discussion of issues related to accessible web design -- tips, techniques, and advice from fellow web designers who are working to make the Web more accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities.

WAI Interest Group
The World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative Interest Group (WAI IG) provides a forum for discussion of issues relating to Web accessibility, particularly issues related to activities of WAI standards groups.

Icons/Logos

After you have evaluated the accessibility of your web page and made necessary repairs, you may want to announce to users that your page conforms to one of the recognized levels of accessibility. There are a variety of icons that you can display on your web page to indicate which accessibility standard your page conforms to and what level of conformance it meets.

World Wide Web Consortium

W3C develops specifications, guidelines, software, and tools for the Web. The W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development. WAI recognizes three levels (priorities) of conformance to their guidelines for accessibility. See "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" for detailed explanations of all priority checkpoints. Each conformance level has an associated icon that you can display on your web page.

Conformance Level "A": all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied.

Conformance Level "Double-A": all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints are satisfied.

Conformance Level "Triple-A": all Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints are satisfied.

Adaptive Technology Resource Centre

ATRC at the University of Toronto and the TRACE Center at the University of Wisconsin are dedicated to improving the accessibility and usability of information technologies by people with disabilities. They have developed the A-Prompt (Accessibility Prompt) Toolkit to evaluate the accessibility of and to repair web pages. A-Prompt can evaluate your web page using either the World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines or the Section 508 of the U.S. Workforce Investment Act of 1998 Guidelines.

A-Prompt reports that your web page meets the Section 508 guidelines.

A-Prompt reports that your web page meets the W3C WAI Content Accessibility Guidelines "A" conformance level.

A-Prompt reports that your web page meets the W3C WAI Content Accessibility Guidelines "Double-A" conformance level.

A-Prompt reports that your web page meets the W3C WAI Content Accessibility Guidelines "Triple-A" conformance level.

National Center for Accessible Media

NCAM at the WGBH public television station in Boston has an image that may be used by webmasters to denote that their site contains accessibility features to accommodate the needs of disabled users.

To use this image on your site, simply include it your pages; the ALT text must be "Web Access Symbol (for people with disabilities)," and you should try to conform with the W3C WAI Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.

Other World Wide Web Consortium Icons

Web pages that follow recognized standards for well-formed HTML, XHTML, and CSS (cascading style sheets) are usually easier to make accessible. The W3C has developed tools that check your pages for conformance to W3C Recommendations and other standards. You can display the appropriate icon after your page has passed their verification.

Passed W3C's HTML Validation Service.

Passed W3C's XHTML Validation Service.

Passed W3C's CSS Validation Service.