Web Accessibility Resources
We are pleased to provide more information regarding web accessibility. We will update this page often and we will include the most relevent and important resources about developing accessible websites.
General Information
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
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.
Wikipedia Definition
Web accessibility refers to the practice of making websites usable by people of all abilities and disabilities. When sites are correctly designed, developed and edited, all users can have equal access to information and functionality.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility
Apple Accessibility
Since 1985 Apple has been committed to helping people with disabilities access their personal computers. Apple's commitment to accessibility is evident throughout the Mac OS X operating system, which is not only easy to use by design, but also includes a wide variety of features and technologies specifically designed to provide access to users with disabilities. Apple refers to these features collectively as Universal Access and has integrated them into the operating system so they can be used in conjunction with a variety of applications from Apple and other developers. Apple is also changing the ways people interact with technology through innovative products like the iPhone, which bring new possibilities for making user interfaces accessible to users with disabilities.
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/
WebAIM
WebAIM has provided comprehensive Web accessibility solutions since 1999. These years of experience have made WebAIM one of the leading providers of Web accessibility expertise internationally. WebAIM is a non-profit organization within the Center for Persons with Disabilities at Utah State University.
e-Bility Disability Information Resource
e-Bility's web site is an example of web accessibility in practice. We also help other businesses, community organisations and Government departments achieve accessibility through our web design and user testing services.
Accessibility for Microsoft
Discover accessibility settings that are already on your PC, and make your computer more comfortable, and easier to see, hear, and use.
Web Accessibility Standards
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. W3C is a forum for information, commerce, communication, and collective understanding.
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
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.
Web Standards Project
Founded in 1998, The Web Standards Project (WaSP) fights for standards that reduce the cost and complexity of development while increasing the accessibility and long-term viability of any site published on the Web. We work with browser companies, authoring tool makers, and our peers to deliver the true power of standards to this medium.
Common Look and Feel for the Internet 2.0
The Internet is an increasingly important communication tool providing an effective means for the public and the government to exchange information and for the government to offer its services in the official language and at the time and place of Canadians' choosing. The consistent and predictable presentation of government services and content offered by Common Look and Feel standards facilitate effective online interaction.
The new Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet were developed to reflect modern practices on the Web, changes in technology and issues raised by the Web community over the past six years as well as to improve navigation and format elements. The standards were rewritten to eliminate duplication and conflict with other Treasury Board policy instruments and were reformatted to improve their structure and organization.
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf2-nsi2/index-eng.asp
US Setion 508: The Road to Accessibility
Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. IT Accessibility & Workforce Division, in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508.
categoryWeb Accessibility Guidelines
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) covers a wide range of recommendations for making Web content more accessible. Following these guidelines will make content accessible to a wider range of people with disabilities, including blindness and low vision, deafness and hearing loss, learning disabilities, cognitive limitations, limited movement, speech difficulties, photosensitivity and combinations of these. Following these guidelines will also make your Web content more accessible to the vast majority of users, including some older users. These guidelines however are not able to address the needs of all people with disabilities.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0)
These guidelines explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. The guidelines are intended for all Web content developers (page authors and site designers) and for developers of authoring tools. The primary goal of these guidelines is to promote accessibility. However, following them will also make Web content more available to all users, whatever user agent they are using (e.g., desktop browser, voice browser, mobile phone, automobile-based personal computer, etc.) or constraints they may be operating under (e.g., noisy surroundings, under- or over-illuminated rooms, in a hands-free environment, etc.). Following these guidelines will also help people find information on the Web more quickly. These guidelines do not discourage content developers from using images, video, etc., but rather explain how to make multimedia content more accessible to a wide audience.
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
WAI WCAG Overview
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) documents explain how to make Web content accessible to people with disabilities. Web content generally refers to the information in a Web page or Web application, including text, images, forms, sounds, and such. (More specific definitions are available in the WCAG documents.)
http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php
Common Look and Feel for the Internet 2.0
The Internet is an increasingly important communication tool providing an effective means for the public and the government to exchange information and for the government to offer its services in the official language and at the time and place of Canadians' choosing. The consistent and predictable presentation of government services and content offered by Common Look and Feel standards facilitate effective online interaction.
The new Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet were developed to reflect modern practices on the Web, changes in technology and issues raised by the Web community over the past six years as well as to improve navigation and format elements. The standards were rewritten to eliminate duplication and conflict with other Treasury Board policy instruments and were reformatted to improve their structure and organization.
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf2-nsi2/index-eng.asp
University of Toronto Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
The Adaptive Technology Resource Centre advances information technology that is accessible to all; through research, development, education, proactive design consultation and direct service.
US Setion 508: The Road to Accessibility
Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. IT Accessibility & Workforce Division, in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508.
Canadian Initiatives
Directory for Accessibility
The Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services Directory for Accessibility is your one-stop resource of service-providers in Ontario that can help you make your place of business accessible. Make your business or organization accessible to employees and customers with disabilities.
http://www.accessibilitydirectory.ca/
Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005
Ontario has an important law. It's called the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005. It's the first of its kind in Canada. People with disabilities should have the same kind of opportunities as everyone else. They should be able to do the things that most of us take for granted - going to work or school, shopping, taking in a movie or eating out. The Ontario Ministry of Community and Social Services Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities.
Services Canada
Service Canada's Web site has been developed in accordance with the Government of Canada's Common Look and Feel Guidelines.
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/
Canadian Human Rights Commission Report: No Alternative
NO ALTERNATIVE: A Review of the Government of Canada's Provision of Alternative Text Formats for People Who Are Blind, Deaf-Blind or Visually Impaired.
Department of Justice: Canadian Human Rights Act
The purpose of this Act is to extend the laws in Canada to give effect, within the purview of matters coming within the legislative authority of Parliament, to the principle that all individuals should have an opportunity equal with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able and wish to have and to have their needs accommodated, consistent with their duties and obligations as members of society, without being hindered in or prevented from doing so by discriminatory practices based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, family status, disability or conviction for an offence for which a pardon has been granted.
http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/H-6/index.html
Treasury Board of Canada: Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet
The Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet were approved by Treasury Board ministers on December 7, 2006 and are mandatory for all institutions represented in Schedule I, I.1 and II of the Financial Administration Act with a two-year deadline ending December 31, 2008, for the conversion of existing sites. Web sites launched after January 1, 2007, must conform to the new standards.
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/clf-nsi/index_e.asp
Statistics Canada Accessibility
The Statistics Canada accessibility page contains information concerning the newly redesigned organization and structure of the Statistics Canada website, the different elements contained within a page, and information on navigation strategies. This information is of a general nature, and thus avoids outlining any specific features of particular operating systems, web browsers or adaptive technologies.
American (US) Initiatives
US Setion 508: The Road to Accessibility
Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. IT Accessibility & Workforce Division, in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Governmentwide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508.
International Initiatives
Please contribute to this section.
Contact Us with your contributions for this resource.
Developers
Adobe Accessibility Resource Center
Adobe is an industry leader for accessibility and supports the creation of great web experiences by encouraging web developers to produce rich, engaging content that is accessible to all.
http://www.adobe.com/accessibility/
A-Prompt Project
A-Prompt has been around for several years now and is beginning to show its age. Rather than release a new version of A-Prompt we have created an entirely new accessibility checking program that improves upon it.
http://aprompt.snow.utoronto.ca/
BlackBerry Tools You Need
Leverage the standards-based BlackBerry platform and developer tools to create applications that are just right for your organization. Beginners can find out how to start developing for the BlackBerry platform, while seasoned developers can access labs, forums and other resources.
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/developers/
Microsoft Accessibility Information for Developers
As a leader in the software industry, Microsoft recognizes its responsibility to develop technology that is accessible to and usable by everyone, including those with disabilities. To make this vision a reality, Microsoft is committed to educating developers on how to create accessible technology.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/developer.aspx
Sun Developer Solutions
Since 1982, Sun has brought together the world's brightest technical minds to solve the world's biggest technical problems. Our vision of Everyone and everything participating on the network means that when people are networked, they share, they interact, and solve problems.
IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center
Accessibility is being driven into the IBM product development process by deploying an ever-improving management system and support infrastructure. Whether your organization is large or small, IBM can deliver the planning, design, development and e-learning services for accessibility solutions that integrate with your business initiatives.
http://www-03.ibm.com/able/index.html
Fujitsu's Concept of Accessibility
We at the Fujitsu Group regard the idea of Human Centered Design as our top design policy, placing the human in the center of our perspectives in regard to the development of both products and services.
Based on the idea of Human Centered Design, we think it is important to make our products and services not only high-performance and functional, but also accessible for all. That is to say, universal design.
Tools
W3C Markup Validator
W3C Markup Validation Service is a free service that checks Web documents in formats like HTML and XHTML for conformance to W3C Recommendations and other standards.
W3C CSS Validator
W3C CSS Validation Service is a free service that checks Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in (X)HTML documents or standalone for conformance to W3C recommendations.
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
Bobby
Watchfire Bobby is a web accessibility desktop testing tool designed to help expose barriers to accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, including Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). Bobby spiders through a website and tests to see if it meets accessibility requirements, including readability by screen readers, the provision of text equivalents for all images, animated elements and audio and video displays. During a scan, Bobby checks HTML against select accessibility guidelines and then reports on the accessibility of each web page.
Lynx viewer
Delorie Lynx Viewer simulates how a page will look in the Lynx text browser. Links on the page can be activated. If you follow links in the resulting page, they will also be filtered through Lynx viewer. It also handles frames the way Lynx does. However, doesn't not give menu of the ALT text or URL's of AREA elemnts like lynx does. Perl Source is posted at the site. Can only be used on a site that the user has file upload access to.
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html
Page Valet
WebThing Ltd Formal validation of HTML and XML, based on an Apache module (available under the GPL). Choice of report formats including cross-referencing errors to the code. Backend parsers supported are OpenSP (SGML/HTML, the same as the W3C validator) and Xerces (offering full XML support).
http://valet.webthing.com/page/
Vischeck
Vischeck is a way of showing you what things look like to someone who is color blind. You can try Vischeck online, either run Vischeck on your own image files or run Vischeck on a web page. You can also download programs to let you run it on your own computer.
Total Validator
Total Validator is a free one-stop validator or all-in-one validator comprising a HTML validator, an accessibility validator, a spelling validator, a broken links validator, and the ability to take screenshots with different browsers to see what your web pages really look like.
http://www.totalvalidator.com/validator/
Tidy
A quorum of developers have pitched in on a SourceForge project to maintain and further develop Dave Raggett's excellent HTML Tidy program. We have two primary goals. First, to provide a home where all the patches and fixes that folks contribute can be collected and incorporated into the program. Second, a library form of Tidy has been created to make it easier to incorporate Tidy into other software.
ATRC Web Accessibility Checker
This is an experimental service provided by the Adaptive Technology Resource Center (ATRC) at the University Of Toronto. It is a model system that demonstrates how web pages can be checked for accessibility problems.
