Have you heard of the W3C, Tim Berners-Lee, WAI or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines? No! not to worry.

Heres the skinny…

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.

Tim Berners-Lee is the Director of the W3C and inventor of the World Wide Web.

The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) works with organizations around the world to develop strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) developed by the WAI are guidelines widely regarded as the international standard for Web accessibility. They are also referred to as best practice guidelines

Over the years Segala has conducted many many independent audits of Web sites for accessibility compliance. This means we have manually checked if a Web site passes or fails the WCAG check points. Companies have engaged Segala to ensure their Web sites are compliant on the fear that they maybe excluding some users from accessing information within their Web site.

Below is a list of common issues found during some of those accessibility audits:

• Images have inappropriate alternative text
• Page sections don’t have their own headings
• Headings are incorrectly nested (H2 should follow H1, H3 should follow H2 etc)
• Link text does not make sense when read of out context
• A Focus state is not provided for links
• Form labels are missing or incorrectly positioned
• On-page items are incorrectly marked up in HTML
• Skip to main content link not provided
• Decorative elements are marked up in HTML code

To any developer well versed in the world of accessibility these issues are easy to over come. If the world of accessibility is new, you can sit down with a very large cup of coffee and try digest all the WCAG documents and working examples. It is possible and I would advise reading them and when finished read them again and again. After that take one guideline and apply it to your own Web site, baby steps.

Over the next few posts I’ll cover each bullet point above in more detail. Its very easy to pick up a bad habit, all I’m asking is that you develope the habit of considering accessibility when building a Web site.

I’m not going to quote guideline check point after check point. Instead I’m going to cover what is considered best practice and how people implement them in the real world.

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The article is a great promotion piece for accessibility, we have received a few enquiries today just because of it. Thanks Marie.

I have pasted the full article below but you can always read it on the Irish Independent Web site.

If someone told you that your shop or business property was so badly designed that 10pc of your customers had great difficulty finding your products or services, would you consider a better layout or just watch them leave in frustration?

Nowadays, your website is just as much a port of call for the average customer as your physical premises. If you have not considered accessibility as part of its design, then you are excluding the 8.3pc of the Irish population with a disability of some kind, be it physical, visual or cognitive.

Simply put, this amounts to an estimated €3.3bn in spending power that is out of your reach.

The spending power of the 10 million-plus disabled community in the UK was estimated to have been worth £50bn sterling in 2005.

Having a website that is accessibility compliant is not only about opening up your business to those with disabilities, it can also add value to your business, says Paul Walsh, founder and CEO of Segala.

Segala helps website owners understand the commercial benefits of adopting accessibility best practices.

One website that uses the services of Segala is O2.com, which was completely re-designed to comply with accessibility guidelines laid out by the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), an organisation under the directorship of founder of the web, Tim Berners-Lee.

The benefits are undeniable, says Walsh. When O2 decided to change the colour scheme of part of its site, because it had adhered to W3C standards, this involved changing one simple piece of code in what could otherwise have been an arduous task.

Because many companies are not fully accessibility compliant, Walsh says they tend to shy away completely, fearing an entire tearing down and rebuilding of their website.

“You don’t have to change your entire website overnight. It’s about making ongoing changes, letting the user know you are aware of accessibility and doing something about it.”

The major problem is the misconception surrounding accessibility. Many believe it will be exorbitantly expensive to build this into their site, while others assume it will render their website ugly or leave it with less functionality.

Some businesses are even afraid it will affect revenue by discouraging banner or Flash advertising, and this is simply not the case, says Brendan Spillane, co-founder of Dublin-based accessible design firm Ilikecake.net.

“Irish businesses and government organisations are doing better than they used to.

“With any government tenders placed on the eTenders website, it is very rare to see one that does not specify accessibility and to the correct level, which is more important,” says Spillane.

Vivienne Trulock, co-founder of Ilikecake.net, carried out research on the level of accessibility among Irish websites and tested 152 different websites — all tested three years previously — to check their progress.

“There is an improvement in the level of knowledge that guidelines for accessibility exist, but not the same amount of improvement in the actual level of change,” says Spillane.

It is also interesting to note that structuring a website to work with the navigation software used by the visually impaired or blind makes that site easier to be listed and found on Google, Walsh says.

“Somebody once said that Google is the web’s most important blind man. If we make content accessible to people with disabilities, whereby a complete text alternative is made available in the background, then the search engine can read it and rank it accordingly.”

Spillane says his own firm’s website is proof of the pudding because it comes up as No 1 in its category when searched for on Google.

The internet should be the perfect enabler for those with disabilities, says Walsh. “When a blind person enters a supermarket for the first time, they have no way of knowing what kind of chocolate biscuits, for example, are on the shelf.

“But when they enter a website for the first time, there is the opportunity to have this information at their fingertips.”

© Silicon Republic Ltd 2008

All content copyright 2008, Silicon Republic Ltd — all rights reserved

Email: editorial@siliconrepublic.com

© Silicon Republic Ltd 2008

- Marie Boran

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Right up to my leaving cert I had to struggle. The front row was for swots, one I was not. So I opted for the back row. Class mates thought I was mad – it appeared as if I always ignoring teachers’ requests and roll call. I was able to keep up and with a gentle nudge from a mate (Darren Woodings), I’d know when the teacher had called my name.

When teachers turned to write on the board, that was a whole different ball game, almost a black out. I could no longer make out what they were saying, as I couldn’t see them speak and I’d loose a huge chunk of the lesson. I got into a bit of trouble from time to time, with a few close calls of flying objects to get my attention. To quote one school report “Very smart, but in a world of his own”. I got by and it wasn’t until my final PTA did my mother break her silence about me being half deaf. That was my fault, I told her if anyone found out I’d get picked on and I’d never go back. The penny dropped with the teachers and one apologised for not picking up on it.

It’s now 2008, we have the Web and all the benefits it brings to people with special needs. A lot of people think accessibility is about helping the blind, but its not, there is more to it.

Below is an extract from a recent enquiry we received

I am deaf and I am heavy internet user. I am interested to apply for online MBA programs from either IE Business School or Thunderbird Business School. The challenge I am facing nowadays is that these schools are not compliance either with ADA or DDA given the fact that at least 20% to 50% of the learning method is based on live online participation and streaming videos. They do not come with Closed Captioned or with English subtitles. And thats provide an obstacles for me to learn.

What answer should we provide?

I suggested that he contacts each school and ask if they have anything in place to support his needs. We know they do not provide closed caption or English subtitles but maybe (and this would not be to difficult to implement) the school provides a hosted chat room to convey a live text transcript of the audio and live online participation. This would benefit not only deaf students but also users whose PCs don’t support audio, or those who are not in a noisy environment.

Another option as seen on TV (News) would be to provide a translator to do sign language. Signing for such is likely to be very tiring and they couldn’t support all online participation, but they could convey the really important stuff.

The school could also provide a post video download of each session and test transcripts. Although this is not the same as live participation – it would benefit not just users with special needs but also any student who may have missed a session.

If you have had a similar experience or know of an alternative school for a course supporting users with special needs, please leave a comment or email me directly.

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Dear WAI Interest Group Participants,

We are interested in collecting experiences, stories, and perspectives
on people with disabilities using the Web via mobile devices. For
example: What are use cases of accessing the Web via a mobile device
that are particularly useful for a person with a disability? What are
unique issues accessing the Web via mobile device (versus desktop or
laptop) for people with disabilities?

We are also interested in similar information about Web access via
mobile device by “seniors”, older users who may have Web accessibility
needs related to aging. Are there cases when accessing the Web via a
mobile device is particularly useful for older users, or they have
unique issues using the Web via a mobile device?

Please note that we are limiting the scope of this query to *specific
accessibility issues using the Web*, and *not* more general hardware
issues, non-Web functionality, etc.

You can send your feedback to me, the WAI interest list or you can send them
to wai@w3.org.

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The first draft of the application design was only intended to support Web accessibility (WCAG) but we decided to keep going simply from the reaction of folks we told about the application. The result is you will be able to label Web sites to make claims about compliance to WCAG, MobileOk and Section 508.

It does not stop there. The application can also create content labels for Web Sites that use a Creative Commons license and we’ll be adding more standards and codes of conduct as they come down stream.

I spent the day on the phone to our partners, touching base to say Hi and that they can expect and update shortly. If I haven’t called you yet, don’t worry, I will. Feel free to get in touch anytime.

I was delighted to hear partners still being so positive towards Accessibility. We all know the many reason and benefits of why a Web site should be accessible and comply with Web Standards. We need to push it so that brand/product owners also understand those benefits.

We will be sending out an update very soon.

We currently have more than 50 partners across at least 10 countries and looking to scale this when we raise funding. To find out more about the programme and sign up to the Accessibility Partner Programme visit here.

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I’ve heard people say “the Web is my lively-hood”. But, for some, reliance on the Web is much more than that. Some people believe accessibility is about giving Deaf/Blind people access to information on their Web site.

In the video below you’ll get a better understanding for how some use the Web. You’ll see a woman who runs the house hold, ordering groceries, managing the bank balance, paying all the bills and in her spare time, helping her hubby. She also finds the time to keep in touch with friends. She plays a pivot role in the house hold.

Marie has Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) a.k.a Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and credits the computer for saving her life. Marie uses SwitchXS to access her computer, KeyStrokes for word prediction and Proloquo for communication.

This is just one of many examples of how some people access the Web, more to come.

Marie uses SwitchXS to access her computer, KeyStrokes for word prediction and Proloquo for communication.

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“Bloom in the Park is the largest and most spectacular gardening event in Ireland, hosted by Bord Bia. Its a competition of sorts where gardeners can get creative as they like.”

The Bloom in the Park Web site should get a Golden Razzie. The site is one big image thats probably been run through a Dreamweaver chopping shop. Everything is an image right down to the text.

The competition is all about “getting creative” and obviously the organisers like things that look nice. (Note to organisers not everyone who uses the Web can see.)

I’ve seen a lot of bad sites and most could be put down to lack of knowledge and experience. In such cases the developers usually demonstrate that they did their home work and with a little research they did their best to make their Web site as accessible as they new best.

Chances are the developer marked up headings incorrectly, hard coded a few spacer gifs and forgot to provide alt text for images, but they gave it their best shot. With a little encouragement these developers can only get better and they do.

Part of the problem with accessibility is understanding, some people just cant think outside the box while others are not paid to think outside of the box. I’d love to know what their excuse is. It was the same last year.

This Web site clearly demonstrates the wool being pulled over the clients eyes, but is that good enough excuse, surely in this day and age they could manage to pull of a Single A compliant Web site?

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The W3C has just published a first public working draft of a Relationship between Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0 and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines document. This document aims to bridge the gap between WCAG and the Mobile Web Best Practices by providing direct mappings between the guidelines. If you know what WCAG checkpoints your site conforms to, then this document will tell you what additional steps you need to take to also make it Mobile OK.

It’s a very useful document as it demonstrates just how little effort is actually required to make your website Mobile OK.

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Microsoft announced last week that Internet Explorer 8 passed the Acid2 test. This is a milestone because IE has never been supportive of standards in the past, forcing Web developers to create multiple versions of the same code to ensure their Web sites were compatible with as many browsers as possible. This is a serious issue today as many sites have been developed specifically for IE and therefore exclude approximately 12% of the market who use other browsers such as Firefox.

Personally I think the Acid2 test is a little light. But it does encourage browser vendors to make significant adjustments to at least support a baseline of common standards.

(I purposely kept this post separate to the post that asks Microsoft to dump PICS in favour of Content Labels to enable better search based on trust. If Microsoft adopts Content Labels, it won’t really matter what crap Google servers up in 2008.)

According to the IE blog, Microsoft is very keen to adopt more standards. However, I’m a little unsure what exactly this means. It doesn’t articulate a commitment to the W3C, let alone specific standards.

Out of the entire blog post, there’s one point I’d like to highlight as a concern. The quote I’d like to question is

Now, with all that context, I’m delighted to tell you that on Wednesday, December 12, Internet Explorer correctly rendered the Acid2 page in IE8 standards mode.

I’d be very happy if there was a full stop (period) after the word ‘IE8’. But there isn’t. What they’re saying is that IE passes the Acid2 test when in ‘standards mode’. What does this mean? Does it mean that IE8 fails the Acid 2 test when using the default settings? What does this mean for end users?

I’d like some clarity on this so please let me know if you have any more information.

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One of the standards I’d like Microsoft to dump however, is PICS (Platform for Internet Content Selection). PICS was one of the very first W3C recommendations and the first to be adopted by Internet Explorer during the mid 90’s. It’s still in use today by the Content Advisor functionality (see screen shot below) to help parents protect children from inappropriate content.

PICS however, is inaccurate and it’s certainly not flexible enough to be meaningful in any way. This means that the filtering tool in IE is obsolete. It’s not Microsoft’s fault though, there hasn’t been an alternative until now.

What’s the alternative?

PICS will soon be formally replaced by a new method of classifying content called Content Labels in approximately two to four months. Before I move on and in case you haven’t read this blog before now, a Content Label put simply, is a file that contains Metadata on steroids. It’s this Metadata that would enable IE to learn more information about Web sites before presenting search results to end users.

As we’ve demonstrated with a Firefox extension in the screen shot below, IE could place a tiny icon beside each search result. This would tell users whether each Web site owner was making an assertion about the suitability of their content or not. As you can see from the screen shot, we’ve placed a red x beside search results where the Web site owners are not making an assertion of any kind.

The red x could just as easily be a question mark, or an exclamation mark. The search result with a green tick represents a Web site which has been independently verified by a trusted third party. The screen shot doesn’t display any search results with an amber tick but this could reflect Web sites that are making an assertion which hasn’t necessarily been verified by anyone.

Upon clicking on each icon the user is presented with a certificate, containing more information about the suitability of the content on that particular site. The certificate in the screen shot below isn’t particularly meaningful right now, but it could have a list of icons on the left side with a description of what each one represents to the right. Users could then select each icon to find out more about the actual assertions made by the site owner.

Based on the same Metadata, IE could build a better version of content advisor so users could filter Web sites based on more accurate and meaningful personal preferences. That’s what you call personalised search based on trust, relevance and safety.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the Web, Ivan Herman, Semantic Web Lead and others at the W3C, felt that the term Content Label would give the perception that we wanted to police the Internet. So, they asked that the name be changed to POWDER (Protocol for Web Description Resources). Don’t ask and I won’t confuse you any further.

I must admit, I was against their request for a name change but after delivering a few presentations, I quickly realised that some people, irrespective of how many times you say otherwise, think Content Labels is about policing the Web. So we decided to agree to the name change for the sake of keeping the peace and moving the project forward.

Whilst we refer to our method of classifying content in the W3C as POWDER, we will always refer to it as Content Labels outside of the W3C, as we find that it’s easier for our audience to relate to labels. I can’t even remember what POWDER stands for most of the time

So, in summary, POWDER and Content Labels is the same thing.

Why IE should read Content Labels to enable more trusted search results

1. Content Labels will replace PICS as a ratified standard in approximately two to four months, thereby making IE’s method of filtering obsolete as I said earlier.
2. IE can highlight Web sites that make assertions about conformance to industry standards and best practices. Type of assertions include accessibility, adult, privacy, copyright, eco-friendly, medical, marketing and more. PICS is only capable of making one type of assertion.
3. PICS and every other implementation of trust on the Web today, including SSL Certificates for security, are extremely limited in functionality. They only permit you to make an assertion about an entire domain. Content Labels on the other hand, are so flexible that it’s possible to make an assertion about an entire domain, or about specific Web pages.
4. Content Labels are based on the Semantic Web and therefore future proofing the Web for better content discovery.

How it works

Without getting into the technical detail, the browser would identify a Web site with a Content Label by locating a link tag in the header, just as it does with the title and description tags. It looks something like

< link rel=”meta” xhref=”http://www.segala.com/labels/tcuk_label_001.rdf” type=”application/rdf+xml” title=”Segala label” /

The browser then reads the contents of the Content Label by following the link above. Self labelled sites can be stored by site owners. Sites that have been independently verified reside on the trusted providers’ server.

Read more about Content Labels, the use cases and how mass adoption can be achieved.

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