Assessing Webpage Accessibility

Now that we know WCAG 2.0 standards, what now? 

As I mentioned in my last post, there are tools available to check the accessibility of a web page, and also give you tips on how to correct any errors. One of my personal favorites is the WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation) tool created by the WebAim (Web Accessibility In Mind) team. 

WAVE is a very straightforward tool: simply copy the URL of the website or page you would like to check, and paste the URL into WAVE. After hitting the next button, the tool will assess the site and create a report. Here's an example of the tool in use:

1. Users paste or type in the URL of the page they would like to check:

2. After a few moments of analyzing, WAVE produces a short report of the errors (or lack of errors) encountered on the page. (Not shown in image is the web page with errors indicated by symbols on the applicable page sections.): 

3. Users can click on the symbols listed to the left of the summary menu for more detailed descriptions of the errors as well as the explanation of the symbols marking the page:

While one cannot use the tool to perform the corrections, this report does allow the user to modify the appropriate content or submit this information to your IT department. Another cool feature is the contrast checker, which allows you to see if the contrast meets WCAG 2.0 standards for website visitors with low-vision or color deficits. The person can even enter different font colors to see if they pass or fail contrast checks!

Pretty neat, huh? This tool is just one of the many ways that web developers and site editors can verify that they are meeting accessibility requirements. As always, for more information about web accessibility standards, review the WCAG 2.0 technical standards for a comprehensive guide. However, for beginners and other users like myself, this is a great way to get started!

Web Accessibility

Promoting Digital Access

When the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) passed in 1990, many individuals with disabilities in the United States gained physical access and rights to places historically inaccessible. Visiting sites such as the ADA Legacy Project or ADA Anniversary gives us an appreciation for just how far we've come in those short 25 years, from Universal Design features such as curb cuts and automatic door openers to more social justice ideas such as these featured on the blog Words I Wheel By: 

• More equal opportunities for people with all types of disabilities to receive a public education
• Greater social involvement among the disability community in all areas of society
• Expanded employment opportunities for disabled people
• Disabled athletes can thrive in adaptive sports
• Support systems exist for people with all types of disabilities
• Misconceptions and prejudices can be more easily debunked
• There is a bigger presence of disability in the media
• Adaptive products are more widely available
• There is a bigger focus on studying disability in academia
• Provides a legal basis to maintain momentum in pursuing accessibility and justice
• Helps prevent discriminatory actions or retaliation
• Social recognition of disabled people as full, contributing citizens

What I hope to focus on in this blog are adaptive products. On that note, a product that has revolutionized our society has been the advent of the internet, and for brevity, this post will focus on web design.

A great introduction to making the web accessible was compiled by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) which very simply and thoroughly goes through the what, why, and how of making web pages accessible. They are the organization behind the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines that are the current standard for web accessibility (as of this post, their guidelines are at the 2.0 revision).

Web design can be pretty complex. For our purposes, the main goals of accessible web design follow the principles of the ADA: provide equal access and equal opportunity to all users. Some basic tenants of accessible web design are universally applicable, such as simple, easy to navigate websites. For those so inclined, the WAI group has very comprehensive guidelines and techniques for you to review. If you're not involved in web design, a cool resource to check out to see if a website you are affiliated with or visit is accessible is WAVE, which stands for Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool. Simply pop in the URL of the website you'd like to check, and WAVE runs it through its system of checks (and then, if it's your website, you can send the results to your IT department to fix). Kind of neat!