[webproducers] Re: Website accessibility

Hi Keren,

Sorry for the delay in writing.  Hope you can still use this information.

IBM has great information about accessibility.  I especially like its
checklist.  It makes implementing the sometimes vague W3C and Section 508
guidelines easy.  http://www-3.ibm.com/able/

Believe it or not, Microsoft also has good information, although a lot of it
relates to software.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/default.htm

Last time I checked (a few months ago), there still wasn't any definitive
legislation regarding websites and accessibility.  AOL and the Sydney
Olympics both settled class action suits some time ago, and made their
sites/products accessible.  Bank of America also settled a suit, making its
site and ATMs accessible.  However, all of these were deemed "public spaces"
and therefore covered by the ADA.  In general, courts have not considered
the average website (even ecommerce) a public space.

Forrester had an article in December that had good information for building
a business case.  Primarily,
- although accessibility of sites is not mandated now, it probably will be
in the near future
- it's much less expensive to include accessibility in the initial
(re)design requirements than to retrofit it later
- the disabled tend to be more loyal than the average consumer, so the early
bird will get and keep the worm

Companies need to remember that disability is not limited to blind and
possibly deaf visitors, and "designing for accessibility" goes beyond alt
tags, a plain text site for screen readers, and written transcripts for
audio content.  It includes, among other things, clear color schemes and
multiple ways to access information.

Although the W3C and Section 508 requirements can be vague and confusing,
it's actually not difficult to build a site that's accessible by most
visitors.

HTH,
Sue


-----Original Message-----
From: webproducers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:webproducers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Keren Solomon
Sent: Friday, July 12, 2002 1:07 PM
To: webproducers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [webproducers] Website accessibility



Hi all.

Can anybody point me to some links about website accessibility?  What's
required under the ADA, what are best practices when trying to make a site
accessible, etc.  There's tons of information out there, but I feel like
much of it is outdated.  I'm trying to create an executive summary for a
client, and I want to be able to say something like "Recent ADA-related
legislative initiatives require that websites be accessible to users who
blah blah blah.  When designing a site, these rules should be followed --
include ALT tags for people who view websites in text-only mode because blah
blah blah,  use of red-green colors schemes may make it difficult for
color-blind users to see, blah blah blah"

If you guys could help me fill in the blah blah blahs, it would be much
appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

keren

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