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A Holistic Approach To
Web Accessibility
Brian Kelly
UKOLN
University of Bath
Bath
Email
[email protected]
About The Speaker
Brian Kelly is a Web
adviser to UK cultural heritage
and Higher and Further
Education communities.
He has attended several W3C
WAI meeting, has published
surveys of the accessibility of
UK University entry points and
organised a panel session with
Judy Brewer, head of WAI at
WWW 2003 conference.
UKOLN is supported by:
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Background
Web Accessibility
Areas of agreement:
• Accessibility of digital resources greatly benefits
many users and potential users
• Organisations (especially publicly-funded
bodies) should seek to maximise the
accessibility of their services
• W3C WAI has been tremendously successful in:
• Raising awareness of accessibility issues for digital
resources
• Developing various guidelines for helping Web
developers, software developers, etc.
But we face some challenges …
Acronyms
2
WAI:
W3C:W3C’s
World Web
WideAccessibility
Web Consortium,
Initiative,
is the
is the
body
body
responsible
responsible
for
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
for
overseeing
overseeing
development
development
of Web
of anstandards
accessible Web
Background
Where Are We Now?
Current status on Web accessibility:
• Widespread awareness within public sector Web
communities
• Widespread support for implementation
• Sharing of approaches, discussions, etc.
But:
•
•
•
•
Implementation challenges
Lack of clarity of what exactly we should do
Still ambiguities (cf DRC report)
Have things changes since WAI WCAG 1.0
released in 1999?
Acronyms
3
DRC: Disability Rights Commission is an independent body established in
A centre
expertise
in digital information
management
2000
to of
stop
discrimination
& promote
equality of opportunitywww.ukoln.ac.uk
for the disabled
Challenges
Accessibility Survey
Survey of UK University home pages carried out in
August 2002 and repeated in June 2004
Used Bobby – so only objective criteria measured
Findings
2002 2004
WAI AA compliant
3
7
WAI A compliant
70
93
See <http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/
workshops/webmaster-2004/talks/phipps-kelly/survey/>
Reminder: this is probably an over-estimate of
compliance. Problems which can only be spotted with
manual detection can reduce these figures.
Also note that this is just the home page – not the
entire
A
centre of Web
expertisesite!
in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
4
Challenges
What Can We Conclude?
What can we conclude from the lack of WAI WCAG AAA
compliance and small percentage of AA compliance:
• The higher education community doesn't care
about Web accessibility
• WCAG AAA and AA compliance is difficult to
achieve (even on a single, high profile page)
• There are other issues to consider
Acronyms
5
WCAG: Web Content Accessibility Guidelines have been developed by WAI
centreWeb
of expertise
in digital to
information
toA help
developers
create management
accessible Web content www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
WAI WCAG AA and AAA
In order to achieve WAI WCAG AA compliance:
• Avoid deprecated features (e.g. FONT)
• Use W3C technologies when available and
appropriate (no Flash, MS Word or PowerPoint)
• .. use the latest versions [of W3C formats]
• Create documents that validate to published formal
grammars (i.e. HTML must be valid)
In order to achieve WAI WCAG AAA compliance:
• Provide information so that users may receive
documents according to their preferences (i.e.
markup language)
• Specify document collections with the LINK element
and "rel" and "rev"
A centre of expertise in digital information management
6
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
Concerns Over WAI WCAG
Guidelines Too Theoretical
• Some WCAG guidelines appear theoretical
• WCAG seeks to promote W3C standards (including
new ones) in addition to addressing mainstream
accessibility issues
• Overall WAI approach is dependent on content,
authoring tools and user agent guidelines – the
latter two are outside the remit of Web authors
Developments Outside Of W3C
• WAI has succeeded in raising awareness of
accessibility – and commercial sector has
responded (cf. accessibility in OS, proprietary
formats, …)
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
Standards Or Guidelines
Are WAI's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines:
• Pragmatic and much needed guidelines which can
help authors to make Web pages more accessible
• To be interpreted and applied sensibly
or:
• Mandatory standards which must be implemented
in order to (a) claim WAI compliance and (b) abide
with legislation
• No room for interpretation
Use GIF images or FONT tags? Use HTML 4.0? HTML
validation errors? WAI A is best you can achieve!
11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate for
a Atask
and
use the
latest
versions
when supported. [Priority
2]
centre
of expertise
in digital
information
management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
8
Challenges
WAI WCAG Flaws
Logical Flaws
• On 1 Aug 2002 when XHTML 1.0 released WAI AA
pages became A (unless immediately upgraded)
W3C Web Site
• W3C Web site is not
fully AA compliant
DRC Web Site
• DRC Web site is not
AA compliant, despite
AAA logo on home
page
• DRC report is still not
available in HTML
format
A centre of expertise in digital information management
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
W3C View Of A Web User
A centre of expertise in
information
Acknowledgements
todigital
Lawrie
Phipps, management
TechDis for these slides
10
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
The Student Experience
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www.ukoln.ac.uk
Challenges
So what should that mean?
• Pragmatism is the key
• Education & culture are holistic experiences
(it not just about the Web)
• Develop a policy, meet the standards, but
above all, consider all users!
A centre of expertise in digital information management
12
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
13
TechDis/UKOLN’s Holistic
Approach
Our approach is based on recognising:
• External pressures
e.g. funders, auditors, …
• Local technical
infrastructure issues
• Wider technical
developments
• Learning & teaching
issues
• Usability & accessibility
issues
• Focusing on the user’s needs
Remember legislation expects organisations
tocentre
take
"reasonable
measures"
A
of expertise
in digital information
management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
Applying This Approach (1)
Flash Game
• Flash game developed for use in Libraries
• “It’s not accessible – I’ll have to remove it or I may
be sued”
• “What is it used for?”
• “To keep kids entertained while parents select
books. They seem to like it”
• “So keep it. But make sure you have an equivalent
amusement for children who can’t (e.g. visually
impaired) or won’t (don’t like it) use the game.
What about a bouncy castle, building blocks, …”
A centre of expertise in digital information management
14
www.ukoln.ac.uk
Solutions
Applying This Approach (2)
Visual Images For Blind & Visually Impaired
• Tate Gallery wishes to allow visually impaired to
appreciate work of Picasso & Matisse
• Conventional approach (based on universal
design) would be to provide ALT tags and
LONGDESC textual descriptions of images
• i-Map project made use of:
• Approach based on needs of visually impaired
• PDF files of raised images
 Flash animation
• See <http://www.tate.org.uk/imap/>
<http://www.wired.com/news/culture/
0,1284,54256,00.html>
and
"For the first time I am able to access pictures without a sighted person," said Isabella
Murdoch, who used I-Map's text-only function to explore the site. "It allows me the freedom
of choice to
find out
about a work
of information
art at home
and decide whether to visit orwww.ukoln.ac.uk
not."
A centre
of expertise
in digital
management
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Conclusions
16
Conclusions
To conclude
• WAI have done a great job
• But full implementation of WAI guidelines can be difficult
and may not be justified (remember WAI WCAG is only
version 1.0)
• Within cultural heritage & educational sectors a holistic
approach which seeks to provide equivalent
cultural/educational experiences may prove valuable
• This approach may be controversial in certain circles
• Within the museums sector the approach may well reflect
mainstream practices (cf. using a real world surrogate for
a digital resource with a digital surrogate or a real world
cultural object)
• This approach does not mean accessibility can be
A centre
of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
ignored!