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2.5.2 Accessibility in WCM 6.1
The following article discusses issues around web site accessibility and the underlying standards
The Web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life: education, employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, and more. It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society.
As a starting point, what exactly do we mean by the term "Accessibility".
Definition from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) -
"
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging."
Why accessibility is important for everyone
Websites are primarily about communicating information with the widest possible audience, whether is a news site like the
BBC, a commerce site like
Amazon or an technology organisation like
IBM; it's about information dissemination and communication. Making a site like those listed above accessible is about removing the barriers that limit the groups of people that can receive the information they provide; removing these barriers is what make a web site Accessible. It's important to realise that the Internet and website are growing and involving more and more area of our society.
When you think about accessibility it's easy to think about how your website is presented to those with disabilities, people who are partially sighted, blind, those who require assisting hardware to access IT. However, easily overlooked are those that are perhaps new to IT, maybe mature users of the Internet or someone who's a non-native language speaker. It's important when thinking about the accessible web that your thoughts are broad enough to encompass the widest possible audience.
The Lotus Web Content Management system provides you with a platform and components to build your assessable website. Using your existing skills, and tooling the IBM WCM platform provides you with a foundation and management system to facilitate accessible web design and development.
2.5.2.2 - Standards: W3C WAI, Section 508, etc
2.5.2.2 Standards: W3C WAI, Section 508 etc...
Making websites accessible is only really possibly by adhering to the standards such as the
WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative) and it's guideline document, &
Section 508. In addition, in country regulations need to be understood and applied appropriately.
WAI
The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is focused upon addressing the needs for web accessibility. WAI provides a repository of the latest web accessibility guidelines and tools.
The WCAG guidelines are primarily intended for 4 main focus groups,
* Content developers (content contributors, presentation designers and developers.)
* Web authoring tool developers
* Web accessibility evaluation tool developers
* Others who want or need a technical standard for Web accessibility
The WCAG documentation provides guidelines as to how to make web content accessible to people with disabilities, that's the text, images, forms, sounds, etc.. that are part of any web page or web application.
WCAG is part of a series of accessibility guidelines, including the Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines (ATAG) and the User Agent Accessibility Guidelines (UAAG).
Note: WCAG 1.0, was completed in 1999, is it's scope is HTML & CSS. As of September 2008 the WCAG 2.0 guidelines are in draft and close to being published. Unlike WCAG 1.0, which was limited to HTML & CSS, WCAG 2.0 will be principle based in order to be applicable to all Web technologies. Here is a
mapping of the two guidelines
Section 508
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 requires all US federal agencies to make their information technology accessible to their employees and customers with disabilities. Important to web content management is that Section 508 also applies to Web sites that are produced for government agencies.
Testing tools
Both the WAI and Section 508 websites make reference to several tools to assist the content contributor or web designer with their efforts to ensure that standards and guidelines are implemented successfully.
In addition to tools provides by the standards bodies noted previously, IBM has also developed it's own tools to assist with the testing of accessible websites and social information.
aDesigner - A disability simulator that helps Web designers ensure that their pages are accessible and usable by the visually impaired.
What is aDesigner?
aDesigner is a disability simulator that helps designers ensure that their content and applications are accessible and usable by the visually impaired.
Voice browsers and screen readers read aloud the text on Web pages and are used by visually impaired people. However, these devices are less effective with certain kinds of content, such as highly graphical material. Web developers can use aDesigner to test the accessibility and usability of Web pages for low-vision and blind people.
aDesigner also helps users to check accessibility of ODF documents and Flash content. It also has accessibility information (MSAA/IA2) inspection functions.
Rational Policy Tester - Accessibility Edition
The
Accessibility Edition helps ensure Web Site user accessibility by monitoring for over 170 accessibility checks. It helps determine the site's level of compliance with government standards and displays results in user-friendly dashboards and report