HTML code semantics

Following HTML code semantics is fundamental in making your web applications accessible because assistive technologies, like screen readers, rely on the code to transmit the correct information to the user.

Forms are communly inaccurate due to a lack of the label tag or the misuse of the input fields.(Check out the W3C for forms in HTML4 or W3C for forms in HTML5.)

Another commun mistakes involves data tables weither by not structuring your table with the proper elements or  by adding visual attributes that should go in the CSS, (Check out W3C for tables in HTML4 or W3C for tables in HTML5.)

Follow W3C standards to the letter and you will have a good start.

Use CSS

To keep the integrity of your code separate content from presentation. In the case of a data table, attributes like cellspacing and cellpadding should be replaced by padding of the td element in your css file. This will allow users to strip down the visuals to suit their own needs.

Tabbed Navigation

Many users use only the tab key to navigate within a web browser and webpage, because they cannot use a mouse (in case of limited motor skills or blindness).

Colour contrast

There are many tools to help you choose the appropriate colour contrasts between background and foreground of your text.

• Web based application (http://snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html)
• Downloadable application for Windows and MAC (http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/contrast-analyser.html)
• Firefox addons (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/wcag-contrast-checker/)

A proper ratio of luminosity assures that users with visibility issues can clearly see differences between elements. Think of users with colourblindness or eye sensitivity.

WAI-ARIA attributes

If you want to go a step further and you are coding in HTML5, you can use ARIA attributes to compliment all previous steps. WAI-ARIA is a set of elements that give extra code information to assistive technologies.

More information about ARIA:

• http://www.alistapart.com/articles/waiaria
• http://stanford.edu/group/accessibility/cgi-bin/presentations/html5_a11y/

1. Maintain a design and layout consistency throughout the site,
2. Avoid clutter,
3. Include written transcript for any audio and visual media,
4. Avoid multiple level menus. Do not have more than two levels,
5. Include a sitemap when your site has embed pages,
6. Avoid making the width of content too large,
7. Any one link should have the same title,
8. Make the titles of the pages clear,
9. Content must be simple and to the point (Especially if your target audience is broad.),
10. Do not add default value in form fields,
11. Make sure that the colours of the background and foreground are well contrasted,
12. Have a decent font-size. (14px is good.),
13. Avoid images with text on them,
14. Don’t use “Read more” links, instead use “Read more about THE TITLE OF THE PAGE”,
15. All links in the content should be underlined.

Maintain a design and layout consistency throughout the site

I have rarely seen an effective switch in design or layout within the same site. If it is absolutely required, make all changed subtle. Having differences in webpages of one site can be confusing and frustrating for a visually-impaired person and even for a new visitor. A visually-impaired person often uses a screen reader to read the content of the site to them. If within the same site the structure of the site changes from one page to the other, it can be disorienting. The norm is to maintain the same look and feel throughout a site, your new visitor might feel lost when jumping to another page with a completely different look.

Avoid clutter

Keep the layout as clear as possible. This makes it easier for the visitor to find the destination they are looking for.

Include written transcript for any audio and visual media

It’s fair to say that this demand is not obvious to produce. But it’s not fair to those who do not possess all senses. Food for thought!

Avoid multiple level menus. Do not have more than two levels

Not only do multiple level menus often not work properly in different browser, especially older ones, but they are very hard to navigate by keyboard only. Next time you see a multiple level menu try going through the menu by click on the tab key on your keyboard. You’ll see, it won’t be easy to get to the third level or even the second level.

Include a sitemap when your site has embed pages

If your site does have many sub-pages within a page, make it easier for your visitor to get to those pages through a complete sitemap.

Avoid making the width of content too large

When the width of a paragraph is too long, it is often harder on the eyes. The reader gets tired more quickly. Those affected may include people with learning disabilities, newbies, but even people with no known deficiencies.

Any one link should have the same title

You should avoid having the same link with different titles. For example, the link to the contact page with the title “Contact us” should not named “Reach us” elsewhere. We want to avoid any type of confusion that the visitor may encounter.

Make the titles of the pages clear

Be as accurate as possible when naming your pages. Think that you will be using these titles as your page’s main heading.

Content must be simple and to the point

Do not be verbose. Use lists whenever possible. Keep your sentences short. Use words effeciently. Read the W3C Writing Style section.

Do not add a default value in the text input field

The label of the text input field should be enough as to determine the desired input.

Make sure that the colours of the background and foreground are well contrasted

Colour contrast can be measured with applications like the Contrast Analyser by The Paciello Group. Download the application, install it and with the pipette determine if your chosen background and foreground colours satisfy the required contrast ratio.

Have a decent font-size

Make it as easy as possible to read your content. For a font like Arial, use a font-size of 14px.

Avoid images with text on them

If you must have text in your images, make sure to describe the image in the alt attribut.

Don’t use “Read more” links

Instead of linking to your full page with the very commun “Read more” link or the like add the title of what you are linking to. So if the title of the page the link is directing to is called “The Greatest Article Ever” have your link be “Read more about The Greatest Article Ever”. It might be redundant for sighted people, but when you consider that these links might be read out of context by screen reader, then it makes sense.

All links in the content should be underlined

In terms of usability, we want to inform the visitor when a textual information is linked to another page. Making the link a different colour may be indistinguishable to visitors with color blindness.

Many of these points have other implications when implemented in practice. We’ll leave those for another post.

I chose themes from the Free Theme Directory and searched for Web Accessible and Accessibility. I narrowed my selection by considering which theme would be easily customizable, have good contrast between foreground and background, have elements in a convenient location and be aesthetically pleasing as is.

I then used the plugin Demo Data Creator to generate more content for posts, pages, comments and categories.

The following themes made the cut:

Precious version 4.0.1
At first glance the layout is pretty simple and effective. Convenient breadcrumb on top of page. Upon disabling the style sheets, nothing is out of order. Validates for XHTML 1.0 Transitional and CSS2.

Stardust version 2.7
Very stylish out of the box with flexible width. Has “Skip to content” and “Skip to menu” without CSS. By disabling the images, the date for each post is too dark. Validates for XHTML 1.0 Strict, but not in CSS with 6 CSS2 errors.

Whitepress version 1.1.7
This theme includes a skip to content, navigation and search form when disabling CSS. Has a nice javascript for going through the sidebar items, but also works when javascript is disabled. Uses fixed width for 1024×768 resolution. Validates for XHTML 1.0 Strict, but not in CSS with 1 CSS2 error.

Dodo version 1.2.1
This theme is what this website is based on. The color of the posts date and other meta information is also too light. By disabling the images, the text of the main menu has not enough contrast with its background. With a little tweek here and there, it’s really nice. Fails to validate with XHTML 1.0 Strict with 1 error, but passes CSS2.

Precious and Stardust passed the Firefox Accessibility Extension 1.5.61.0 rule set with only warnings signaled .The themes Whitepress (2 Fails) and Dodo (1 Fail) did not pass.

For validation, I used Markup Validation Service and The W3C CSS Validation Service.

First, set a parent font-size as an absolute measurement. Let’s say 16 pixels in the body. All subsequent sizes use the following formula: child pixels/parent pixels = child ems. So if you want an h1 to have a pixel size of 24, then its em unit would be 1.5 (from 24/16).

Nested elements require particular attention, because they multiply on each level. If you have a div inside a div and the outer div has a font-size of 1.5em, then the inner div (div div) should be 1em to cancel its inheritance.

Now that the how is settled, let’s go to the why.

Other than WCAG 1.0 recommending the use of relative units (ei. em or %) as opposed to absolute units, there’s the fact that not all browsers deal with resizing in the same way. Some older browsers like IE6 won’t resize any absolute pixels.

The proper implementation of this guideline might be daunting for larger style sheets. My initial advice would be to break it down to specific sections. Have parent pixels on primary divisions and set your inner relative ems accordingly.

[Source: CSS for accessible web pages by Richard Rutten]

In Firefox, hover over the link you want to access, right-click your mouse to get a menu and click on “Open Link in New Tab” or “Open Link in New Window”.

In Internet Explorer, hover over the link you want to access, right-click your mouse to get a menu and click on “Open in New Tab” or “Open in New Window”.

I found other compelling reasons to avoid this habit on Accessify Forum. Kyle J. Lamson wrote“…Forcing new windows can confuse people when it opens behind the window and they do not realize it and it is really iritating when we are reading and it blocks our view.” He also mentions that some browsers or applications do not support multiple windows. He continues by adding “If I want to return to your site, I will… either back button or because usually I open links in new tabs. But if I am just using your site as a jump off point to somewhere else… then i do not wish to remain at your site and you should not force me to.”

I agree with Kyle, it’s all about giving choices and not forcing anything on the user.

So use the back button or get to know your browser. Simple and efficient shortcuts will help make your web browsing experience a better one.

Governments and now Educational Institutions, mainly Universities are taking the matter into their hands.

Blogs like www.prettysimple.co.uk/blog and contests like at www.accessibilityinfocus.co.uk encourage and pursue the issue in terms of content, design and context. I even came across a guild for accessible web designers. It is hopeful to see that web professionals consider web standards as an important facet of the web experience.

Here are the basics to remember:

• Make your menus into unordered lists,
• Place the list inside a div,
• Have an H2 header with menu title (hide it if not need to be visible),
• The ul has no left indentation (for browser compatibility),
• Use display:inline for horizontal lists,
• Breadcrumbs use nested lists,
• Be diligent.

To read more about lists: CSS Design: Taming Lists

For a preliminary review, select a page that is representative of the whole site or that most people will see. Try to choose a page that has tabular data, images and scripts. And then:

• Examine this page for alternative text,
• Divs instead of tables for page layout,
• Use the keyboard instead of the mouse for navigation,
• Test with different font-sizes and screen resolutions.

The Firebug and Web Developer extensions in Firefox will make your life easier in accessing the code and disabling images and even resizing your browser size. It might be a good idea to try a screen reader, and not to mention an Web accessibility evaluation tool like AChecker. These will enhance your understanding of the sites limitations and successes.

Another important part of evaluating a site is to get people with disabilities involved in the process. Some may have insights that other users will not.

For a complete procedure of website evaluation you have to go to the W3C – Web Accessibility Initiative page.

Although a little outdated, the WAI also provides a comprehensive checklist of accessibility guidelines (WCAG 1.0) and an useful template for the final accessibility report. They really thought of everything!

Ok, nobody likes having numbers thrown at them, but I hope that at least it impresses on you how important it is to consider people with impairments or disabilities as active members of our society and as such they should to be able to access with ease all the information everyone else can access.

You can have a look at the complete survey at the Statistics Canada website.

As a developer it is important to have a feel for what the user is getting out of your site. I found a good way to use a screen reader on any operating system (OS) without paying a dime. I am using Fire Vox. It utilizes the integrated screen reader application of any OS (Windows, MAC and Linux) and functions on your Firefox as an add-on. I tested it on a Windows XP and it worked pretty well. I got some choppiness in the sound but this is probably due to my old hardware. The only downfall for me is that I cannot easily turn it off. I would have liked to have this feature in the Fire Voxes options, but instead I have to go to the add-ons extensions list and completely disable it. Oh well, I’ll live