AUB - ACC - Resources - Accessibility

Academic Computing Center - American University of Beirut - Web Page Design

		CONTACT ACC: Phone: 2599 3515 3519 3587 Email: ACC Moodle ACC RESOURCES Web Accessibility Tutorials Teaching Material Technology in Education e-Books & e-Journals Internet & Web Web Page Design Copyright on the Internet Citing Internet Sources Electronic Plagiarism Glossaries & Dictionaries Computing Updates Software Web 2.0 Save Office Documents as Web Page Computer Ergonomics		PATH TO THIS PAGE: Academic Computing Center > Resources > Accessibility
				Web Accessibility and Usability It is very important to design pages which will be accessible by as many people as possible. A very large portion of the world population has some type of disability (visual, hearing, mobility) and most computer users have old computers with slow connections. All these issues need to be taken into account when designing Web pages. To test your site for accessibility, use one of the tools mentioned in the Complete List of Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools. Notice that the list includes several free open source tools and offers two search options. Web Accessibility The links below provide guidelines and tips on how to design accessible Web pages:
				Practical Accessibility: Core Concepts http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/articles/access.html "One of the defining principles of the Web is that it should provide all people, regardless of physical or technological readiness, with access to information." Very good page from the Web Teaching site of Dartmouth College. Also from the Dartmouth College, a very good Accessible Design Guidelines, by Sarah Horton. http://www.dartmouth.edu/~webteach/resources/download/guidelines5.pdf "In 1998, the US Congress amended the Rehabilitation Act to require Federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities." Read more: http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=14 There are several reasons why Web accessibility is important. To learn about this issue and about what to do to make sites accessible, see an Online Presentation about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) http://www.w3.org/Talks/WAI-Intro/Overview.html The World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) commitment to lead the Web to its full potential includes promoting a high degree of usability for people with disabilities "The 'Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 ' are a W3C specification providing guidance on accessibility of Web sites for people with disabilities. They have been developed by the W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative. The specification contains fourteen guidelines which are general principles of accessible design. Each guideline is associated with one or more checkpoints describing how to apply that guideline to particular features of Web pages. An appendix to the guidelines, 'List of Checkpoints for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 ' presents the checkpoints sorted by priority for easy reference. These guidelines not only make pages more accessible to people with disabilities, but also have the side benefit of making pages more accessible to all users, or to users using different browsers or one of the emerging handheld or voice-based computers." Web Usability Another important aspect in Web design is *Web usability. "In general, usability refers to how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their goals and how satisfied they are with that process." (Usability.gov) To learn more about Web usability, visit the links below:* Step-by-Step Usability Guide - http://www.usability.gov/ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Usable Web - http://usableweb.com/ "Usable Web is a stale collection of links about information architecture, human factors, user interface issues, and usable design specific to the World Wide Web."
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