Wednesday, January 14, 2009

power point and web accessibility

Mr. Sullivan's power point presentation starts by giving the definitions of web accessibility and adaptive hardware and software. He then shows us the Rehabilitation act of 1973. This act states that web accessibility is required by law. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an effort to improve the accessibility of the world wide web for people with disabilities and users of alternative user agent devices. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG) made content accessible, primarily for disabled users, but also for all user agents, including highly limited devices, such as cell phones. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG) is in the final draft stages. Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (ATAG) is for authoring tool developers in both creating a tool which is accessible to disabled end users, and a tool which creates accessible web pages. Some user agents include portable data assistants PDA's, alternative web browsers such as http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing which provides information on methods of access, and Braille displays. The goal of http://webaim.org/ is to make the web more accessible to individuals with disabilities.

Sullivan's slide show also gives a list of browsers, plug-ins, page validaters, and automated accessibility checkers. He also includes a list of miscellaneous tools such as a color blindness simulator and a readability test. There is screen magnification software such as Zoom Text and Magic that enlarges parts or all of the computer screen content. It also adjusts the viewing attribute such as color, contrast, cursor size, etc. It also reads textual content aloud. There is screen reader software such as Jaws and Window Eyes that read all parts of the screen and provides the user with all navigational and contextual information through speech. There is also voice recognition software such as Via Voice and Dragon Naturally Speaking in which a person enters commands by speaking into a microphone.

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