Originally prepared for a seminar for IT Support Staff in March 2003
but with some subsequent additions and alterations. |
Accessibility Legislation
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On-line Guides to Web Accessibility
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Tools for Accessibility Checking
- Opera
- an essential web browser for anyone checking accessibility issues.
- Lynx
- the classic text web browser.
- Betsie
- developed by the BBC for use with their own pages.
You can use this local copy for checking how it would handle your pages
- http://wwwsearch.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/betsie/your.site.ox.ac.uk
- but note this is a test facility, not a production service.
- Vischeck
- download the Photoshop plugin (works with Paint Shop Pro and others).
A screen grab can be quickly transformed to a colour-blind view.
- A-Prompt
- a downloadable, and free, checker for your master copy on disk.
- Sizer
- a free utility by Brian Apps that allows you to
quickly resize your browser window to 1024x768, 800x600 or even 640x480!
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Teaching Accessibility
- Netskills
- offer several training modules on accessibility issues.
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Accessibility Case Studies
Well, perhaps these might be a bit too sensitive to put online! So here are just the theme parts of each one:
- ALT texts
- No Frames?
- Use them only if you must.
- And if you must, leave a way out (or in!) those who can't handle them.
- JavaScript Navigation
- Remember that JavaScript implementation isn't entirely browser independent!
- Ensure that there is a way in for non-JS browsers.
- Doesn't everyone have JavaScript nowadays?
- pwWebSpeak doesn't
- Ht://Dig and Google don't
- 5% of the population are colour-blind
- Colour cues can be useful but, like JavaScript, they must not be depended on.
- Just listen to your web page
- It may not be a realistic simulation of a blind person listening to your web page,
but it can certainly be enlightening.
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