Accessibility: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 09:15, 16 June 2011

Websites built with accessibility in mind are flexible in meeting different user needs, preferences and situations. Though these methods can increase usability for everyone who uses the web they are often legally required to be implemented in a specific effort to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities.

See the tracker under Accessibility Compliance in Moodle 1.8 and Compliance with Italian Legislation on Accessibility for more information on what we are doing for Moodle 1.8.

Starting points

These are some readable introductions to accessibility that cover; what accessibility is, why it is important, as well as practical advice.

Standards, guidelines and legislation

International & USA

Web Accessibility Initiative
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (draft)
  - An article on the problems with WCAG2 from A List Apart
Section 508

Other countries

UK:

SENDA - Special Educational Needs and Disability Act/Bill

Disability Discrimination Act 1995

Germany:

Barrierefreie Informationstechnik-Verordnung - BITV

Tools

Firefox Accessibility Extension by the Illinois Center for Information Technology and Web Accessibility (iCITA)
Web developer extension for Firefox
Blank Your Monitor and Easy Reading Extension for Firefox
W3C validation (for HTML in Moodle, CSS and RSS)
Web accessibility evaluation tool
Cynthia Says accessibility checker
Fangs – the screen reader emulator for Firefox
NVDA NonVisual Desktop Access - open source screen reader for Windows

see also this long list of accessibility tools.

Resources

Dive Into Accessibility by Mark Pilgrim

Joe Clark's writings on accessibility

Building Accessible Websites by Joe Clark (online version)

Semantic HTML
Accessibility forum on Moodle.org
Using Moodle New Accessibility Themes forum discussion
See en:Usability FAQ for the related concept of usability.
en:Moodle Accessibility Specification
http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=127807#p559951
The Introduction to Moodle Programming provides some extensive information and discussion on accessibility.
EASY: Interface Between The Virtual Environment Moodle Learning and People with Visual Impairments
BBC blog post on how their Web 2.0 homepage was made accessible
BBC Accessibility Help

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{stub}}
+Websites built with '''accessibility''' in mind are flexible in meeting different user needs, preferences and situations. Though these methods can increase [[Development:Usability|usability]] for everyone who uses the web they are often legally required to be implemented in a specific effort to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities.
-{{draft}}
-Being worked on.
+See the tracker under [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7396 Accessibility Compliance in Moodle 1.8] and [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-7860 Compliance with Italian Legislation on Accessibility] for more information on what we are doing for Moodle 1.8.
-In the mean time see the links below.
-==See also==
+== Starting points ==
-* [[Moodle Accessibility Specification]]
+These are some readable introductions to accessibility that cover; what accessibility is, why it is important, as well as practical advice.
-* [[Accessibility]]
+* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php Web Accessibility Initiative's ''Introduction to Web Accessibility'']
+* [http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ Mark Pilgrim's ''Dive into Accessibility'']
+* [http://joeclark.org/book/ Joe Clark's ''Building Accessible Websites'' book]
+== Standards, guidelines and legislation ==
+=== International & USA ===
+* [http://www.w3.org/WAI/ Web Accessibility Initiative]
+** [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)]
+** [http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (draft)]
+*** An article on the [http://www.alistapart.com/articles/tohellwithwcag2 problems with WCAG2] from A List Apart
+* [http://www.section508.gov/ Section 508]
+=== Other countries ===
+* UK:
+: [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200001/ldbills/003/2001003.htm SENDA - Special Educational Needs and Disability Act/Bill]
+: [http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1995/1995050.htm Disability Discrimination Act 1995]
+* Germany:
+: [http://www.einfach-fuer-alle.de/artikel/bitv/ Barrierefreie Informationstechnik-Verordnung - BITV]
+== Tools ==
+* [http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu/ Firefox Accessibility Extension] by the Illinois Center for Information Technology and Web Accessibility (iCITA)
+* [[Web developer extension]] for [[Firefox]]
+* [[Blank_Your_Monitor_and_Easy_Reading_extension_for_Firefox|Blank Your Monitor and Easy Reading Extension]] for Firefox
+* [[W3C validation]] (for [[HTML in Moodle]], [[CSS]] and [[RSS]])
+* [http://wave.webaim.org/ Web accessibility evaluation tool]
+* [http://cynthiasays.com/ Cynthia Says accessibility checker]
+* [http://www.standards-schmandards.com/projects/fangs/ Fangs – the screen reader emulator] for Firefox
+* [http://www.nvda-project.org/ NVDA NonVisual Desktop Access] - open source screen reader for Windows
+see also this [http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/tools/complete long list of accessibility tools].
+== Resources ==
+* [http://webstandards.org/action/atf/manifesto/ Web Standards.org's ''Accessibility Task Force Manifesto'']
+* [http://alistapart.com/topics/userscience/accessibility/ Accessibility articles from ''A List Apart'']
+* [http://diveintomark.org/archives/2003/08/29/semantics Mark Pilgrim's ''Won’t somebody please think of the gerbils?'']
+: [http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ Dive Into Accessibility] by Mark Pilgrim
+* [http://joeclark.org/access/webaccess/ Joe Clark's writings on accessibility]
+: [http://joeclark.org/book/ Building Accessible Websites] by Joe Clark (online version)
+* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility Wikipedia article on ''Web Accessibility'']
+* [http://juicystudio.com/article/validity-accessibility.php ''Validity and Accessibility'']
+* [http://www.edtec.unsw.edu.au/inter/support/accessibility/access_vids.cfm Videos showing as student accessing another Learning Management System via Screen Reader software]
+== See also ==
+* [[Semantic HTML]]
+* [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?f=820 Accessibility forum on Moodle.org]
+* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=85119 New Accessibility Themes] forum discussion
+* See [[:en:Usability FAQ]] for the related concept of usability.
+* [[:en:Moodle Accessibility Specification]]
 * http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=127807#p559951
 * The [http://dev.moodle.org/course/view.php?id=2 Introduction to Moodle Programming] provides some extensive information and discussion on accessibility.
-* See [[Usability FAQ]] for the related concept of usability.
+* [http://www.easy.pro.br/ EASY: Interface Between The Virtual Environment Moodle Learning and People with Visual Impairments]
+* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2008/03/homepage_accessibilty.html BBC blog post on how their Web 2.0 homepage was made accessible]
+* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/ BBC Accessibility Help]
 [[Category:Coding guidelines|Accessibility]]
+[[Category:Accessibility]]

Documentation