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University of the West of Scotland


Accessibility

Web Design

This is one of several documents on guidelines to make information accessible to people with disabilities.

Please also see Printed Materials and Electronic Materials which provide some good design information for the production of text.

The guidelines here for web accessibility are from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) which is an organisation which develops standards for the internet.

The W3C Web Contents Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

The Fourteen Guidelines

In brief, in order to ensure that your website is universally accessible, the following should be considered and implemented.

  1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content . Provide content that, when presented to the user, conveys essentially the same function or purpose as auditory or visual content, e.g. text summaries or transcripts.
  2. Do not rely on colour alone . Ensure that your text and graphics are understandable when viewed without colour.
  3. Use mark up and style sheets and do so properly. Mark up documents with the proper structural elements; control your presentation with style sheets rather than with HTML presentation elements and attributes.
  4. Clarify natural language usage . Use mark up that facilitates pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text. This assists speech synthesisers and Braille devices, and also allows search engines to find keywords in a natural language.
  5. Create tables that transform gracefully . Ensure that your tables have necessary mark up to be transformed by accessible browsers and other software.
  6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully . Ensure that pages are accessible even when newer technologies are not supported or are turned off, e.g. when style sheets are not supported. When appropriate provide the <noframes> and <noscript> options.
  7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes . Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating objects or pages may be paused or stopped.
  8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces . Ensure that the user interface follows the principles of accessible design: device-independent access to functionality, keyboard operability, e.g. do not rely on scripts, applets and plug-ins for essential functions.
  9. Design for device-independence . Use features that enable the activation of your page elements via a variety of input devices, e.g. if an imagemap is used provide a text alternative.
  10. Use interim solutions . Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technologies and older browsers will operate correctly.
  11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines . Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility guidelines. Where this is not possible or where doing so would result in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the content that is accessible.
  12. Provide context and orientation information . Provide context and orientation information to help users understand complex pages or elements, e.g. complex relationships between parts of a page can be difficult for users with cognitive disabilities and for those with visual impairment.
  13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms . Provide clear and consistent navigation mechanisms - orientation information, navigation bars, a site map, etc. in order to increase the likelihood that users will find what they are looking for on your site.
  14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple . Ensure that documents are clear and simple so they may be more easily understood, e.g. consistent shape and feel, use of plain language, recognisable graphics.

For more detailed information on the above please refer to the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0Clicking the link opens the page in a new window

Quick Tips to Make Accessible Websites

The Quick Tips are one of the many resources available from the WAI ResourcesClicking the link opens the page in a new window.

  1. Images & animations. Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
  2. Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
  3. Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
  4. Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
  5. Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
  6. Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
  7. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
  8. Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
  9. Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
  10. Check your work. Validate. You can use the WCAG tools, checklist, and guidelinesClicking the link opens the page in a new window.
Minimum Standards for New Websites

All new University websites should be developed to meet the W3C Priority 1 (Conformance Level A) ie things that must be done to make a web page more accessible. See W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0Clicking the link opens the page in a new windowfor more information.

Webmasters should aim to implement the W3C guidelines for existing sites.

Checking Tools

There are several checking tools available that can check a web page for accessibility. The University suggests WebXactClicking the link opens the page in a new window from Watchfire.

 

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