Anyone planning to create online learning resources, activities, websites and the like should be aware of current guidelines regarding accessibility.
While making your content available to as many people as possible is just good sense, there are also laws in force designed to allow people with disabilities access to web sites and other things published on the Internet.
Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act describes sixteen requirements to which Web sites must conform.
Even if you are not a web designer, there are things you can do to make your website more welcoming to people with disabilities.
If you explore accessibility on the Web, you will discover references to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This is not the same as Section 508. There is some controversy about the guidelines, which are law in many other countries.
Testability is debated in part because if a criteria is not able to be tested in particular ways, those criteria are not able to be used. For example, a photo on your web page must have a non-text equivalent that conveys the same information. Deciding what description would do that is as varied as the web designers given the task of writing them. Which means that you can't really test this criteria.
Much of accessibility is about Web design and technical aspects of making your site accessible to people using assistive technologies. What you can do, though, is pay attention to details that would make your site easier for visitors using assistive technologies to use.
While making your content available to as many people as possible is just good sense, there are also laws in force designed to allow people with disabilities access to web sites and other things published on the Internet.
Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act describes sixteen requirements to which Web sites must conform.
Even if you are not a web designer, there are things you can do to make your website more welcoming to people with disabilities.
- If you create a video and post it to your site, include captions and a transcript.
- Keep your pages simple, avoiding long lists of links.
- Remember that forms that require a timed response may time out before someone using assistive technology can get through them.
- Use names for your links that will make sense if read aloud out of context.
- Underlining links helps draw attention to them.
- Be careful in your use of color in text. Remember those who are colorblind may not be able to tell the difference.
- Make the name of each of your links unique (descriptive) so that they are not confusing.
- Work with your web developer to make sure your forms are accessible to someone using a reader.
- If you use Google forms or apps, learn what settings will make your content more accessible.
- Avoid putting text over backgrounds that are very busy or could make contrasting text hard to see. (such as putting green words on a red background).
If you explore accessibility on the Web, you will discover references to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This is not the same as Section 508. There is some controversy about the guidelines, which are law in many other countries.
Testability is debated in part because if a criteria is not able to be tested in particular ways, those criteria are not able to be used. For example, a photo on your web page must have a non-text equivalent that conveys the same information. Deciding what description would do that is as varied as the web designers given the task of writing them. Which means that you can't really test this criteria.
Much of accessibility is about Web design and technical aspects of making your site accessible to people using assistive technologies. What you can do, though, is pay attention to details that would make your site easier for visitors using assistive technologies to use.
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