Chapter 3: Accessibility

Although I talked about this chapter in a previous post, I felt that I should provide more details. Please refer to my previous post for the brief describtion of the chapter.

1. If a Website is Being built for the U.S. Government it Must Meet all the Requirements of Section 508.
- Section 508 states that Federal agencies must design their websites so that all
users, including those with disabilities, have equal access to information.

2. Desing Forms that are Compatable with Assistive Technologies.
- Online forms must be designed in such a way that those who use assistive
technologies can complete and submit forms like every other user.

3. Do Not Use Color Alone to Convey Information
- Designers must allow for information that is conveyed in color to also be
available without color.
- Use color combinations that can be discriminated by uses with color deficiencies
- Test how Web pages will appear to those with color deficiencies
- Lightness contrast between foreground and background must be high
- Increase the lightness contrast between colors in either end of the spectrum
- Avoid using the combination of light colors from either end of the spectrum
with dark colors from the middle of the spectrum.

4. Allow Users to Skip Repetitive Navigation Links
- Although many designers use routine navigational links in several places on
webpages, it can be a tedious task to wait for the repeated links to be read
- Users with assistive devices should be able to avoid these links when they
desire to do so.

5. Provide Text Equivalents for Non-Text Elements
- Text should be used for all non-text elements such as:
images
symbols
image map regions
animations
applets and programmatic objects
ASCII art
frames
scripts
images used as list bullets
spacers
grapical buttons
sounds
stand-alone audio files
audio tracks of video
video

6. Test Plug-Ins and Applets for Accessibillity
- Developers should test applets and plug-ins to ensure that it can be
interpreted by assistive devies and technology

7. Ensure that Scripts Allow Accessibility
- Make sure that the scripting langauges can be read by assitive technology
- If using mouseovers, ensure that they can be activated using a keyboard

8. Provide Equivalent Pages
- Create text-only pages if their if no other way can be found to allow access
to those with assitive techology
- Text-only pages should be updated just as their non-text counterpart

9. Provide Client-Side Image Maps

10. Mutimedia elements should be synchronized
- Captions and auditory descriptions should be synchronized with the visual
elements.

11. Do Not Require Style Sheets
- Style sheets are used to control the Web page layout and appearance. Therefore
they should not be quired unless they do not compete with assistive devices.

12. Provide Frame Titles
- Titles are important as they allow the user to identify and navigate within
page.

13. Avoid Screen Flicker
- Web pages should not cause the screen to flicker greater than 2 Hz and lower
than 54 Hz
- 5% of the people who live with epilepsy are photosensitive and can have
seizures that are triggered by certian screen flicker frequencies.

Hope this helps!