Information Architecture for the Web: Information Architecture

Web Accessibility In Mind (WebAIM) is administered through a grant provided by the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) Learning Anywhere Anytime Partnerships (LAAP). Our goal is to improve accessibility to online learning opportunities for all people; in particular to improve accessibility for individuals with disabilities who currently may have a difficult time getting access to postsecondary online learning opportunities. - WebAIM

Accessible website are defined as those that can be used by people regardless of physical or technological limitations.

As you plan your website, consider the following categories of physical disabilities: visual, auditory, motor, cognitive, and seizure. Think about how a person with a particular disability would be able to access the information on your website. Specifically, consider the following areas:

Animations
Applets
Audio
Cascading Style Sheets
Charts and Graphs
Color and Contrast
Forms
Frames
Image Maps
Images
Movement: Blinking, flickering, changing content
Plugins
Scripts
Tables
Text-Only Pages
Timed Responses
Video

Also consider the technological challenges of your end user. People with small screens, dial-up connections, and limited software should still be able to benefit from your website.

Read Web Style Guide: Accessibility for some background information on accessibility.

Section 508

Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act requires access to electronic and information technology procured by Federal agencies. Be sure to read the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Section 508). Regardless of your website's purpose, you should plan to meet the demands of Section 508.

Approaches to Accessibility

There are two approaches to accessibility.

First, you can embed the site with resources that will assist a user with access. For example, adding ALT tags to describe images is integrated right into the website.

Second, you can create an alternative version of your website or individual pages within your website. For example, you could create a Text-Only version of your website. Or alternative activities for an interactive Flash animation assignment.

Read Understanding disability issues when designing Web sites. Then, review the web accessibility guidelines.

Read The User's Perspective and HTML Accessibility from WebAIM.

Next download and skim Beyond ALT Text: Making the Web Easy to Use for Users With Disabilities (PDF 1478 pages), a report from the Nielsen Norman Group. "This report addresses the second level in improving the user experience of websites and intranets for people with disabilities. Yes, you must ensure technical accessibility but you should also ensure good usability, ease of use, and high productivity for employees and customers with disabilities."

Tables and Accessibility

Tables cause particular problems for visually impaired users. It's a good idea to avoid tables unless you have a specific need to display data.

By default, a screen reader will read table text row by row, from left to right. If your data table runs logically in columns, a row-by-row reading will render it unintelligible. You can make your table more accessible by applying a few more attributes.

Some table markup does not yet work for screen readers. You should at least use the SUMMARY attribute to describe your table as well as the CAPTION tag instead of other tags to give your table a title. Also use the TH tag to indicate table headings.

CSS and Accessibility

Over the past few years there has been much discussion about making Cascading Style Sheets more accessible. There are a few techniques that can assist particular types of users. For example aural properties such as voice-family, volume, pitch, and cue can assist users. See exmples at Aural Properties.

Go to W3C Accessibility Features of CSS and Aural Cascading Style Sheets to learn more about specific issues.

Read Designing Web Sites to be Disability Friendly by Lisa Seeman (2000). This article discusses ways to make your CSS more accessible.

Test Accessibility

Although you may work hard to address accessibility issues, it's still a good idea to test each web page to ensure compliance. WebXACT (formerly Bobby) is a popular tool for testing single pages of content for quality, accessibility, and privacy issues.

Go to WebXACT. Choose SHOW ADVANCED to select the type of accessibility. Then, enter the URL. Press Go! Then, review the results.

Learn More

Section 508: Tools and Resources