Creating_Accessible_Websites_Mick_Wood_MSc

Creating Accessible
Web Sites:
A Prescriptive Approach
for Web Developers
Mick Wood
Multimedia Development Officer
Learning Development Unit
University of Central Lancashire
Preston PR1 2HE
mawood@uclan.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1772 892763

Mick Wood (110367407)
CO4804 Project: Creating Accessible Web Sites
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Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction………..................................................................................................7
2.0 Disability Legislation.............................................................................................10
2.1 Disability Discrimination Act 1995...................................................................11
2.2 Special Educational Needs & Disability Act 2001............................................14
2.2.1 DRC Code of Practice.................................................................................16
2.3 Human Rights Act 1998.....................................................................................17
2.4 European Union Law .........................................................................................18
2.5 Sydney Olympic Games Legal Case..................................................................18
2.6 Legal Summary…..............................................................................................20
3.0 What is an Accessible Web Site?...........................................................................21
3.1 Definitions………..............................................................................................22
3.1.1 ‘Anyone’….. ...............................................................................................22
3.1.2 ‘Any Web Browsing Technology’..............................................................22
3.1.3 ‘Any Site’…................................................................................................23
3.1.4 ‘Full and Complete Understanding’............................................................23
3.1.5 ‘Full and Complete Ability to Interact’ ......................................................24
3.2 Definition Summary...........................................................................................24
4.0 Compliance of Existing University Web Sites ......................................................25
4.1 University of Central Lancashire.......................................................................25
4.2 UCLAN Web Site Audit....................................................................................26
5.0 Incidence of Disability...........................................................................................27
5.1 General Disability Statistics...............................................................................27
5.2 Disabled Students in HE ....................................................................................27
6.0 Barriers to Access… ..............................................................................................28
6.1 Visual Barriers to Access...................................................................................28
6.2 Aural Barriers to Access ....................................................................................30
6.3 Physical Barriers to Access................................................................................31
6.4 Cognitive Barriers to Access..............................................................................32
6.5 Summary………................................................................................................34
7.0 Learning Theories, Styles & AFA Course Strategy...............................................34
7.1 Learning Theories ..............................................................................................34
7.1.1 Internet Based Learning..............................................................................35
7.1.2 Open Learning ............................................................................................36
7.1.3 Situated Learning........................................................................................37
7.1.4 Constructivism............................................................................................37
7.2 Learning Styles… ..............................................................................................37
7.2.1 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).................................................38
7.2.2 Kolb's Learning Style Model ......................................................................38
7.2.3 Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model ....................................................39
7.3 AFA Course Strategy.........................................................................................40
7.4 Summary………................................................................................................41
8.0 Accessible Web Site Resources.............................................................................41
8.1 Books…………… .............................................................................................42
8.2 Web Sites………. ..............................................................................................42
8.3 Summary………................................................................................................45
9.0 User Needs Analysis..............................................................................................45

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9.1 AFA Course Participants ...................................................................................46
9.1.1 User Groups. ...............................................................................................46
9.1.2 Primary User...............................................................................................46
9.1.3 Environment................................................................................................47
9.1.4 Hardware….................................................................................................48
9.1.5 User Tasks / Learning Objectives...............................................................48
9.2 AFA Retro-fitted Web Site ................................................................................49
9.2.1 Users Tasks / Learning Objectives .............................................................50
10.0 Web Site Project Management.............................................................................50
10.1 Waterfall……… ..............................................................................................50
10.2 System Assembly from Reusable Components ...............................................51
10.3 The Dynamic Systems Development Method .................................................51
10.4 Prototyping……...............................................................................................51
10.5 Summary………..............................................................................................52
11.0 Comparison of Web Authoring Tools..................................................................52
11.1 Macromedia Dreamweaver MX.......................................................................53
11.2 Microsoft FrontPage 2002 ...............................................................................54
11.3 Adobe GoLive…..............................................................................................55
11.4 Software Chosen ..............................................................................................56
12.0 AFA Web Site Guidelines ...................................................................................57
12.1 HTML………… ..............................................................................................57
12.1.1 The World Wide Web Consortium...........................................................58
12.1.2 The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)...................................................58
12.1.3 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) .....................................59
12.1.4 WCAG Priorities.......................................................................................60
12.1.4.1 Priority 1 ............................................................................................60
12.1.4.2 Priority 2 ............................................................................................60
12.1.4.3 Priority 3 ............................................................................................60
12.1.5 WCAG Conformance................................................................................60
12.1.6 Browser Specifications .............................................................................61
12.1.7 Dept of Physics, Astronomy & Mathematics ...........................................61
12.1.8 Summary…...............................................................................................62
12.2 Colour………… ..............................................................................................62
12.3 Content……….................................................................................................64
12.3.1 The screen layout will be consistently formatted .....................................65
12.3.2 Page sizes will be limited to 30K..............................................................65
12.3.3 Frames will not be used ............................................................................65
12.3.4 Paragraphs and sentences will be kept short.............................................65
12.3.5 Each page will have a descriptive and different title, a clear heading and
logical structure…................................................................................................66
12.3.6 Font Guidelines.........................................................................................66
12.3.7 Links will be clearly identified .................................................................66
12.3.8 Pages will be fluid/flexible .......................................................................67
12.3.9 Pages will be device independent .............................................................67
12.3.10 Content will comply with Plain English Guidelines...............................67
13.0 Creating the AFA Evolutionary Prototype ..........................................................67
13.1 Splash Screen – index.htm...............................................................................68
13.2 Template – Main.dwt.......................................................................................70
13.3 Home Page – home.htm (index.htm)...............................................................75
13.4 Accessible Tables – table.htm..........................................................................76

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13.5 Accessible Forms – forms.htm ........................................................................77
13.6 Images – image.htm…………………………………………………………. 79
13.7 Image Map – imagemap.htm ...........................................................................81
13.8 countries.htm…................................................................................................81
13.9 Summary………..............................................................................................82
14.0 Evaluation of the AFA Evolutionary Prototype...................................................82
15.0 Working Prototype...............................................................................................84
15.1 Site Definition…..............................................................................................84
15.2 Meta Data…….................................................................................................84
15.2.1 Keywords…..............................................................................................84
15.2.2 Description................................................................................................85
15.3 Tabindex and Accesskeys ................................................................................85
15.4 Status Bar Messages ........................................................................................87
15.5 Changing the default Dreamweaver template..................................................87
15.6 User Manual….................................................................................................87
16.0 Evaluation & Feedback........................................................................................88
16.1 Comments…….. ..............................................................................................89
16.2 Usability Testing..............................................................................................91
16.2.1 Lack of Tag Line.......................................................................................92
16.2.2 Homepage Link to Homepage ..................................................................92
16.2.3 ‘Pop-up’ Windows....................................................................................92
16.2.4 ‘Last Updated’ Information ......................................................................93
17.0 Conclusion………. ..............................................................................................93
17.1 Economic Reasons...........................................................................................94
17.2 Selfish Reasons. ...............................................................................................94
17.3 Altruistic Reasons ............................................................................................94
17.4 Design Reasons................................................................................................95
18.0 Further Reflections...............................................................................................95
Appendix A: Student Disability Tables 2000/2001.....................................................98
Appendix B: UCLAN Web Site Structure..................................................................99
Appendix C: WCAG Guidelines ..............................................................................101
Appendix C1: Guideline 1 ....................................................................................101
Appendix C10: Guideline 10 ................................................................................105
Appendix D: HTML Code Comparison ....................................................................107
Appendix E: Internet Trends.....................................................................................108
Appendix E1: Demographics (users shown in millions) ......................................108
Appendix E2: User Web Browser Settings (April 2003)......................................108
Appendix E3: User Screen Resolution Settings (April 2003)...............................109

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Appendix E4: User Operating Systems (April 2003) ...........................................109
Appendix E5: Internet Connection Speeds (December 2001)..............................110
Appendix E6: User Colour Settings (April 2003).................................................110
Appendix F: Department of Physics, Astronomy and Mathematics..........................111
Appendix F1: Origin of Web Site Visitors ...........................................................111
Appendix F2: Browser Used by Web Site Visitors ..............................................111
Appendix F3: Operating System Used by Web Site Visitors...............................111
Appendix G1: Customising Internet Explorer ..........................................................112
Applying font and colour changes .........................................................................112
Changing the font…...............................................................................................112
Altering text size……............................................................................................112
Changing text and background colour ...................................................................112
Turning off images….............................................................................................113
Other Options……….............................................................................................113
Macintosh Users…….............................................................................................113
Appendix G2: Customising Netscape 4.x.................................................................114
Changing font size…. ............................................................................................114
Changing font settings ...........................................................................................114
Changing the colour of the background and text...................................................114
Turning images off….............................................................................................115
Turning off style sheets or JavaScript....................................................................115
Appendix G3: Customising Netscape 6....................................................................115
Appendix G4: Customising Opera 6.........................................................................116
Font size…………….............................................................................................116
Font, colour and link settings.................................................................................116
Other style settings….............................................................................................117
Switching between styles.......................................................................................117
Turning images off….............................................................................................117
Appendix G5: Setting Up Internet Explorer for Supernova .....................................117
Appendix H: FONT Tags...........................................................................................118
Appendix I: AFA Training Evaluation Form.............................................................120
Appendix J: AFA Usability Tests.............................................................................121
Appendix K: PROJECT OUTLINE FORM ..............................................................123
Appendix L: PROJECT COMPLETION FORM ......................................................124
References……………..............................................................................................125
Access for All Manual……………...………………………………………..Appended

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Abstract
The Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) received royal
assent on 11th
May 2001 and subsequently came into force on September 1st 2002.
Although many Higher Education (HE) and Further Education (FE) provisions were
already covered by the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA), education per se
was exempt. SENDA removes the exemption and has become the catalyst for many
HE and FE institutions to seriously consider disability issues.
This project considers one aspect of SENDA, namely the provision of electronic
information, whether general in nature or course specific, via the World Wide Web.
The ‘Access for All’ project involves training Web developers to retrofit, or convert,
an inaccessible Web site (and therefore illegal under SENDA) into an accessible one.
This is achieved by the creation of a ‘bad’ site using text, images, image maps, tables,
forms, and hyperlinks to highlight the majority of problems faced by disabled Web
site visitors. A comprehensive user manual explains the problems and how to rectify
them.
Upon completion of the course Web developers will be able to design and create
legal, SENDA compliant, Web sites.

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Acknowledgements
Thanks to Helen Campbell, Principal Lecturer, Department of Computing, University
of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), for her help, support, advice, and general project
supervision.
Thanks to Peggy Gregory, Senior Lecturer, Department of Computing, UCLAN, for
her help support and advice.
Thanks to Pam Houghton, Head of Learning Development Unit, UCLAN, for her
help, support, and advice.
Thanks to Fraser McMillan, Internet Co-coordinator, Media and Promotion Office,
UCLAN for providing the UCLAN Web site statistics.
Thanks to Zylpha Thomson, Head of Marketing Support, Marketing Services,
Department of Advancement, UCLAN, for providing access to the facts@uclan
document.
Thanks to Professor Mike Holmes, Department of Physics, Astronomy and
Mathematics, UCLAN for providing Department Web site statistics.
Finally, thanks to all those who undertook the ‘Access for All’ training course and
provided useful feedback and encouragement.

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1.0 Introduction
This document describes the creation of the ‘Access for All’ (AFA) project. AFA
tackles one aspect of student life, namely access to Web based information. This
information may be general in nature or specific to a particular course. In order to
comply with disability legislation, such information must be accessible to all students.
It would be very unlikely that the AFA project would ever have been developed if
there was no legal reason to do so. There are many supplementary benefits to creating
accessible Web sites but the perceived costs involved would probably have prevented
academic institutions from implementing a Web accessibility policy.
AFA sets out to train university Web developers to create accessible Web sites. This
is achieved by showing the developers, using both Web and printed material, how to
retrofit a pre-built inaccessible site.
Many university staff responsible for the creation and maintenance of Web sites are
not dedicated Web developers. They may be office administrators with numerous
other roles and responsibilities or they may be university lecturers who are being
encouraged to provide e-learning materials, perhaps in an effort to attract distance
learners.
Many of these staff developers will not understand nor be able to write Hyper Text
Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) or Extensible Hyper Text
Markup Language (XHTML). Instead they will rely on ‘What You See Is What You
Get’ (WYSIWYG) editors such as Macromedia Dreamweaver or Microsoft
FrontPage. In order to create accessible Web sites it is vital that the Web developers
know and understand these ‘Web-based’ languages, at least to a basic level. Users
also need to understand the concept of usability. It is perfectly possible to create a

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Web site that is technically correct yet it is still inaccessible. The AFA project
addresses these issues.
I will begin by considering whether academic institutions are legally bound to provide
or create accessible Web sites. I will then define what an accessible Web site actually
is. As we shall see, the definition is extremely wide reaching and inclusive.
I will then consider the incidence of disability worldwide, including the UK, and
specifically within HE. I will then identify and examine the problems faced by four
generalised categories of disabled people as they ‘surf’ the World Wide Web. It is
only by understanding these ‘barriers to access’ that accessible Web sites can be
created.
Learning theories and styles are then considered followed by a discussion of existing
Web resources. From that, two User Needs Analysis’ (UNA’s) are constructed
followed by a discussion of Web site design methodology. A comparison of Web site
authoring programs follows before the actual implementation of the AFA project is
detailed.
An evolutionary prototype was constructed and, following positive feedback, a fully
functional course developed. I conclude with a number of observations and
recommendations.

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The final project can be seen online at the following URL’s.
Initial ‘Bad’ Web site
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/afa/bad/
Retrofitted ‘Good’ Web site
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/afa/good
Training Course (Word - 519KB)
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/afa/afa.doc
Training Course (RTF - 8.28 MB)
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/afa/afa.rtf
Training Course (PDF - 556 KB)
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/afa/afa.pdf
All Files (ZIP - 2.69 MB)
http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ldu/resources/accessibility/afa/afa.zip

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2.0 Disability Legislation
This section will outline the disability legislation applicable to the UK as understood
by the author at the time of writing (April 2003) and provides a justification for
developing the AFA project.
The number of students with, and declaring that they have, a disability is equivalent to
the number of students in a large university (see Appendix A). The passing of the
Special Educational Needs and Disability Act 2001 (SENDA) [1] has conferred upon
these students’ new rights, rights which pervade every area of academic life.
SENDA came into force on September 1st 2002 and introduced the right for disabled
students not to be discriminated against in education, training, and any other services
provided wholly or mainly for students, or those enrolled on courses.
SENDA places educational institutions in the same position as other service
providers; breaches of the SENDA legislation can result in civil proceedings and
potentially high awards against governing bodies.
SENDA requires that educational institutions consider the provision they make for
disabled students and prospective students generally. The duties cover all aspects of
student life including academic activities and wider services such as accommodation
and leisure facilities, examinations and assessments, library and learning resources,
and Web sites.

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2.1 Disability Discrimination Act 1995
The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) [2] was passed in 1995 to introduce new
measures aimed at ending the discrimination faced by many disabled people.
Education was exempted from the DDA at that time although the exemption was
expected to be removed in 2004. In fact the introduction of SENDA removed the
exemption in 2002.
Part II of the DDA makes discriminatory treatment illegal in relation to employment;
part III of the Act makes discriminatory treatment illegal in relation to access to
goods, facilities and services, and the selling, letting or managing of land or premises.
For employers these measures came into force on December 2nd 1996, for service
providers (e.g. businesses and organisations) the measures were introduced over a
period of time.
Since December 1996 it has been unlawful to treat disabled people less favourably
than other people for a reason related to their disability. Since October 1999 service
providers have had to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people, such as
providing extra help or making changes to the way they provide their services. From
2004 they may have to make reasonable adjustments to the physical features of their
premises to overcome physical barriers to access.
In addition, the DDA requires schools, colleges and universities to provide
information for disabled people and allows the Government to set minimum standards
to assist disabled people to use public transport easily. Many people, both with and
without disabilities, are affected by the Act.
The DDA gives new rights to people who have or have had a disability which makes
it difficult for them to carry out normal day-to-day activities. The disability could be

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physical, sensory, or mental and must also be substantial and have a long-term effect
(the disability must last or be expected to last for 12 months). Conditions which have
a slight effect on day-to-day activities, but are expected to become substantial, are
covered. Severe disfigurement is also classed as a disability.
Employers and people who provide goods and services to the public will have to take
reasonable measures to make sure that they are not discriminating against disabled
people. Some people will have to take measures both as an employer and as someone
who provides goods and services to the public.
People who sell or let property will have to ensure that they do not unreasonably
discriminate against disabled people.
It will be against the law for an employer to treat a disabled person less favourably
than someone else because of their disability, unless there is good reason. This applies
to all employment matters (including recruitment, training, promotion and dismissal).
In order to help a disabled person to do the job, employers will have to look at what
changes they could make to the workplace or to the way the work is done, and make
any changes which are reasonable. Employers will be able to take into account how
much the changes would cost, and how much they would help, when considering what
is reasonable.
In the same way, it will be against the law for trade associations, trade unions and
professional bodies to treat a disabled person less favourably than someone else.
Employers will still be able to recruit or promote the best person for the job and they
will not be expected to make any changes which would break health and safety laws.
The employment part of the DDA does not apply to employers who employ fewer
than 20 people. However, they are encouraged to follow good practice guidelines.

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It also does not apply to operational staff employed in the armed forces, the police, the
prison service, the fire service, or to anyone employed on board ships, hovercrafts or
aeroplanes.
The Act will affect anyone who provides goods, facilities or services to members of
the public, whether paid for or free. This could range from buying bread in a
supermarket, using the facilities in a launderette, or borrowing a book from a public
library. Private clubs are not included.
It will be against the law to refuse to serve someone who is disabled. Likewise, it will
be against the law to offer a disabled person a service which is not as good as the
service being offered to other people. It will also be against the law to provide a
service to a disabled person on different terms to those offered to other people.
If the health or safety of the disabled person, or other people, would be in danger, it
would not be against the law to refuse to provide the service to a disabled person or to
provide it on different terms.
Other exceptions would arise if a disabled customer was not capable of understanding
the terms of a contract or if providing the service, or the same standard of service,
would deny service to other customers.
It will be against the law for someone to run a service, or provide goods or facilities,
in a way which makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to
use the service or goods. It will not be against the law, however, if the way the
service is run is fundamental to the business.
People will have to provide equipment or other helpful items which will make it
easier for disabled people to use their service, if it is reasonable to do so. People will
have to remove physical obstructions (for example, widening entrance doors) or
provide other ways of letting disabled people use their services.

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Service providers will not be able to charge a disabled person more to meet the cost of
making it easier for them to use their service.
It will be against the law for anyone who sells or lets land or property (and their
agents) to unreasonably discriminate against disabled people. A landlord who rents 6
or fewer rooms in his home would not be affected. People selling or renting
properties do not have to make adjustments to the property to make it accessible.
The Government will be able to set minimum standards for new public transport
vehicles (taxis, buses, coaches, trains and trams) so that disabled people, including
people who use a wheelchair, can use them. For example, disabled people who use
wheelchairs will eventually be able to hire taxis in the street or at a taxi rank.
The DDA ensures recognition of the needs of disabled people wishing to study and
the provision of better information for parents, pupils and students. Schools will have
to explain their arrangements for the admission of disabled pupils, how they will help
these pupils gain access, and what they will do to ensure they are treated fairly.
FE & HE institutions funded by the Further and Higher Education Funding Councils
will have to publish disability statements containing information about facilities for
disabled people. Local Education Authorities will have to provide information on
their further education facilities for disabled people.
As can be seen, the implications of the DDA are far reaching and pervasive.
2.2 Special Educational Needs & Disability Act 2001
SENDA became law on 11th
May 2001. As a result, discrimination against disabled
students in the provision of education, training and other related services became
unlawful. The legislation applies to England, Wales and Scotland but not Northern
Ireland and covers both FE and HE educational institutions.

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SENDA is an amendment to the 1995 DDA and is, in effect, DDA Part IV. SENDA
only protects people who are defined as disabled according to that legislation. The
definition of disability is based on an individual’s ability to carry out ‘normal day-to-
day’ activities.
(An interesting aside concerns the sitting of examinations. A typical examination
might involve writing four essays in three hours. This is NOT considered to be a
normal day-to-day activity and is therefore not covered under SENDA.)
The law affects all education and training provided by HE and FE institutions and also
includes admissions to courses, exclusions, and the provision of other student
services. ‘Student services’ is an all inclusive term, and includes services of any
description provided wholly or mainly for students or those enrolled on courses. This
includes not only education, but residential accommodation, leisure facilities, catering
and library facilities, careers and welfare services, and services already covered by
Part III of the existing DDA.
It is now unlawful for institutions or other education providers to treat a disabled
person ‘less favourably’ than they treat, or would treat, non-disabled people for a
reason which relates to the person’s disability. For example, it would be unlawful for
an institution to turn a disabled person away from a course, or mark them down in an
assessment, because they had dyslexia or were deaf.
Part of not discriminating is making ‘adjustments’. If a disabled person is at a
‘substantial disadvantage’, the education provider is required to take such steps as are
reasonable to prevent that disadvantage. This might include changes to policies and
practices, course requirements, work placements or physical features of a building. It
may also be necessary to provide interpreters or other support workers, deliver
courses in alternative ways, or provide course materials in other formats.

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The duty to make reasonable adjustments is a duty to disabled people generally, not
just particular individuals. This ‘anticipatory’ aspect effectively means that providers
must consider what sort of adjustments may be necessary for disabled people in the
future and, where appropriate, make adjustments in advance. There is a responsibility
on education providers to find out whether individuals have disability-related needs.
SENDA legislation came into force on 1st September 2002 with two important
exceptions; reasonable adjustments involving the provision of auxiliary aids and
services (such as interpreters etc) come into force on 1st September 2003; the
requirement to make physical adjustments to buildings comes into force on the 1st
September 2005.
2.2.1 DRC Code of Practice
Having established that HE & FE institution Web sites are covered under DDA and
SENDA legislation I will now consider how this works in practice.
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) [3] is an independent body, established by
Act of Parliament to eliminate discrimination against disabled people and promote
equality of opportunity.
On 26 February 2002, the DRC published a new, revised Code of Practice on the
rights of access to goods, facilities, services and premises for disabled people.[4] This
statutory Code, agreed by Parliament, provides detailed advice on the way the law
should work. It also provides practical examples and tips.
‘The Code's primary function is to provide guidance for both service
providers and disabled people and whilst not an authoritative statement of
the law, there is a requirement that the court consider any part of the Code
which seems relevant.’ [5]

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The May 2002 Guidelines for UK Government Web sites [6] refers to the Code four
times.
With regard to providing services Paragraph 2.14 of the Code lists numerous services
which are covered. In paragraph 2.17 a Web related example is given, clearly
establishing that Web sites are classed as a service and therefore covered under the
DDA.
‘An airline company provides a flight reservation and booking service to the
public on its Web site. This is a provision of a service and is subject to the
Act.’
Accessible Web sites are clearly stated as examples of reasonable adjustments in
Paragraph 5.23, provision for people with a hearing disability, and paragraph 5.26,
provision for people with a visual impairment.
2.3 Human Rights Act 1998
The Human Rights Act came into force on 2nd
October 2000 [7], bringing some of the
European Convention on Human Rights into UK law. The rights are binding on public
bodies.
Article 2 of the First Protocol of the Convention provides a right ‘not to be denied
access to education’. European case law has defined the right to education as
including a right to the ‘full benefit of that education’.
Article 14 of the Convention provides a right not to be discriminated against in the
enjoyment of Convention rights on 'any ground such as sex, race, colour, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, association with a
national minority, property, birth or ‘other status'.

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Disability is not specifically mentioned but is probably covered by the phrase 'other
status'.
2.4 European Union Law
The European Union (EU) recently passed EU Law Parliament Resolution
(2002)0325 regarding the Accessibility of Public Web Sites. This was adopted on
13th June 2002. [8]
In note 31 of the resolution the EU has stressed that, for Web sites to be accessible, it
is essential that they are ‘WCAG AA’ compliant. In other words priority 2 of the Web
Accessibility Initiative (WAI) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)
guidelines must be fully implemented. A full discussion of the WCAG guidelines can
be found in Section #.#.
EU legislation is legally binding on UK courts and therefore should be taken as the
legal definition of Web Accessibility.
2.5 Sydney Olympic Games Legal Case
At the time of writing there have been very few legal cases relating to accessible Web
sites. The majority of potential cases tend to be settled out of court because the
defendants wish to avoid negative publicity. AOL, Barnes & Noble, and Claire’s
Stores [9] have already settled potential cases out of court without admitting liability.
The University of Kentucky has a list of University related disability legal cases, [10]
most of which have ended with the Universities agreeing to put things right –
‘voluntary resolution’.

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There has been one key legal action which was brought under the Commonwealth
Disability Discrimination Act 1992, namely Bruce Lindsay Maguire v Sydney
Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) [11]
This case is not legally binding on UK courts but it is likely to be regarded as highly
persuasive. It is common for the UK courts to consider cases in other courts when
dealing with ‘new technology’ issues.
Bruce Maguire was born blind and uses a refreshable Braille display. He complained
that the Sydney Olympic Games Web site was not accessible to him as a blind person.
In particular, alternative text was not provided on all of the site images and
imagemaps. Furthermore Maguire could not access the Index of Sports or the Results
Tables.
The Human Rights & Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) delivered a
landmark ruling on 24th
August 2000 when they found that SOCOG were in breach of
Australia's DDA. SOCOG ignored the ruling and were fined A$20,000.
The HREOC dismissed defence arguments presented by SOCOG and IBM (who built
the site). The defendants argued that it would be excessively expensive to retrofit the
site to remove accessibility barriers and (over) estimated retrofit costs to be in the
region of A$2.2 million. This defence was rejected by the HREOC.
SOCOG did not actively cooperate with the HREOC. The defendants withheld site
information from Maguire arguing that ‘it was commercially sensitive’ although this
argument was rejected by the HREOC. Moreover, the defendants did not return
telephone calls or reply to correspondence. They also refused to provide a list of
witnesses as directed by the HREOC.

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SOCOG never seriously considered disability issues and attempted to ‘bully’ their
way out of their obligations under the law. This case highlights the fact that
compliance with Web accessibility legislation is not optional. FE and HE institutions
need to consider the implications of this landmark case.
2.6 Legal Summary
Disability legislation regarding Web accessibility has been passed in many countries
around the world [12]. The vast majority of these countries cite ‘WCAG AA’ as the
benchmark in their definition of Web accessibility, the one main exception being the
United States which has provided its’ own guidelines, namely Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 [13].
A discussion of Section 508 is not relevant because the AFA project is aimed at UK
universities. However, sites which comply with UK legislation would automatically
comply with American legislation; Section 508 criteria is not as rigorous as
elsewhere.
This section has clearly demonstrated that UK FE and HE institutions are legally
bound under SENDA legislation, in effect DDA Part IV, to create accessible Web
sites. The potential consequences for non-compliance can be seen in the Maguire v.
SOCOG legal case. If an organisation as big as SOCOG, in partnership with IBM,
can be prosecuted through the courts, UK universities must face the fact that they are
not above the law.
The aim of the AFA project is to prevent FE and HE institutions from falling foul of
disability legislation.

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3.0 What is an Accessible Web Site?
In order to train Web developers to design and create accessible Web sites it would be
useful to define what an accessible Web site actually is. This will provide a number of
useful guidelines and constraints.
There are numerous definitions of Web accessibility including the above mentioned
‘WCAG AA’ legal recommendation. The Open Training and Education Network
(OTEN), the largest provider of distance education and training in Australia with
more than 35 000 students enrolled in 660 fully accredited subjects and modules, [14]
defines an accessible Web site as one in which ‘all users can easily enter and navigate
the site, access all of the information and use all the interactive features provided.’ [15]
(Emphasis mine)
Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act 1973 states that a Web site is accessible
when ‘individuals with disabilities can access and use them as effectively as people
who don’t have disabilities’.[16]
The Making Connections Unit (MCU), based in Glasgow Caledonian University,
consider four definitions although they actually recommend number 4. [17] An
Accessible Web site is one that will be: -
1. accessible to everyone
2. accessible to the intended audience - though perhaps not accessible to
other groups
3. accessible to disabled people
4. accessible to machines first, and people second
The definition with perhaps the most authority was written by Chuck Letourneau
[18], the man who co-chaired the working group that developed the W3C's Web
Content Accessibility Guideline Recommendation 1.0 [19], the de facto international

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standard for the design of accessible Web sites [20], and also co-authored the online
training Curriculum for the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 [21].
Letourneau describes Web accessibility thus: - ‘anyone using any kind of Web
browsing technology must be able to visit any site and get a full and complete
understanding of the information contained there, as well as have the full and
complete ability to interact with the site.’ [22] (Emphasis mine)
3.1 Definitions
3.1.1 ‘Anyone’
‘Anyone’ means every person regardless of their sex, race, nationality or ability -
from people having the full range of visual, aural, physical and cognitive skills and
abilities to those who are limited in any, or all, of them.
3.1.2 ‘Any Web Browsing Technology’
There are more than 100 different Web browsers, many of which have numerous
versions [23]. This figure includes text-only browsers such as Lynx [24], speech
browsers such as the IBM Homepage Reader [25] and the Cast E-Reader [26], as well as
the more popular browsers such as Internet Explorer [27], Netscape [28] and Opera [29].
Web pages can also be viewed by various other devices including screen readers such
as Dolphin Supernova [30], Personal Digital Assistants (PDA’s), Java and WAP
(Wireless Application Protocol) phones, Web and interactive TV and there is even an
Internet fridge [31]. An excellent source of information on dozens of accessibility
related products is the TECHDIS Accessibility Database [32].

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To comply with our accessible Web site definition, pages should be viewable on all of
these devices.
3.1.3 ‘Any Site’
‘Any site’ means literally any and all sites.
Some Web developers may argue that their site has been created for a specific group
of people and therefore it is not necessary for their site to comply with our Web
accessibility definition. This argument fails on three counts, not counting any legal
ramifications. Firstly, any member of the intended audience may become disabled at
a future time, secondly, disabled users wishing to join this selected group are
prevented from doing so, and thirdly, users who may be interested in the subject
matter are prevented from accessing the information.
3.1.4 ‘Full and Complete Understanding’
There are approximately 6,800 spoken languages with a further 41,000 distinct
dialects. [33] Unfortunately the content of the vast majority of Web sites is written in
just one language. In the case of UCLAN that language is obviously English.
For many students English is not their first language yet, to comply with our
definition, all Web pages must be fully and completely understandable to them.
Some sites now use automatic language translation programs. For example, Google
now offer their search engine Web site in 53 languages and users can set their user
interface preference in one of 88 different languages. Google also offer a Web page
translation service in 12 languages. [34] Unfortunately the resulting translations are not
totally accurate and can confuse students.

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Even assuming a visitor is viewing a page written in their native language there is no
guarantee that full understanding will follow. Academics tend to write using lots of
jargon. The words may be English, but the concepts are difficult to follow. The
author needs to ensure that the content is as understandable as possible.
3.1.5 ‘Full and Complete Ability to Interact’
Many Web pages include elements which the user is expected to interact with. In an
educational setting this could include elements such as an online quiz, an application
form or a drag and drop exercise. In order to comply with our accessible Web site
definition, all users should be able to fully complete these activities.
For example, a drag and drop exercise may involve the user dragging various items
from one side of the computer screen and placing them in selected locations in
another part of the screen. This assumes that the user can actually see the screen and
can use a mouse. In order to comply with disability legislation the exercise must be
created so that a visually or physically disabled user can complete it using alternative
methods.
3.2 Definition Summary
Letourneau’s definition of Web accessibility is the one chosen as the working
definition in the ‘Access for All’ project.
‘anyone using any kind of Web browsing technology must be able to visit
any site and get a full and complete understanding of the information
contained there, as well as have the full and complete ability to interact with
the site.’

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The following groups of people would benefit from having access to accessible Web
sites which comply with this definition. [35]
1. People who may not be able to see, hear, or move.
2. People who may not be able to process some types of information easily,
or at all.
3. People who have difficulty reading or understanding text.
4. People who do not have, or are not able to use, a keyboard or mouse.
5. People who have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet
connection.
6. People who do not speak or understand the language in which the
document is written.
7. People who are in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are busy (e.g.
driving to work, working in a noisy / loud environment).
8. People who have an old version of a browser, a different browser entirely,
a voice browser, or a different operating system.
9. People who do not have access to audio speakers.
4.0 Compliance of Existing University Web Sites
4.1 University of Central Lancashire
UCLAN is assumed to be a typical UK University. It is also assumed that the
accessibility / inaccessibility of the UCLAN Web site will be fairly representative of
the vast majority of FE and HE institutions.

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UCLAN is the sixth largest university in England with more than 26,000 students and
2000 staff. [36] Students can enrol on more than 550 courses with a further 3600
possible subject combinations - students can effectively design their own course.
UCLAN has 21 Partner Colleges and is also partnered with 120 institutions
worldwide. UCLAN currently has more than 2000 international students enrolled on
courses.
UCLAN has set a target of attracting 50,000 students by 2010. This doubling of
student numbers will necessitate a large increase in distance learning - the current
campus could not physically accommodate such an influx of students. Distance
learning, via the World Wide Web, will therefore be the main way of attracting new
students and is becoming a central part of the delivery of both on and off campus
learning programmes. Distance Learning programmes must be accessible to disabled
students.
4.2 UCLAN Web Site Audit
A brief audit of the UCLAN Web site in March 2003 identified more than 13000
corporate Web pages [37] as shown in Appendix B. These figures do not include
individual staff pages. A brief assessment of the site in September 2001, using
‘Bobby’ [38], highlighted the fact that more than 80% of the Web pages did not meet
the requirements of ‘WCAG A’, never mind the preferred ‘WCAG AA’ benchmark.
This situation has now largely been rectified and UCLAN aims to be fully ‘WCAG
AA’ compliant by September 2003.
This audit confirms Paciello’s assertion that the vast majority of Web pages were
technically illegal prior to SENDA. (See Section 5.1)

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5.0 Incidence of Disability
5.1 General Disability Statistics
It is very difficult to obtain accurate statistics regarding the incidence of disability.
According to Paciello [39]
there are approximately: -
1. 500 million disabled people worldwide
2. 8.5 million disabled people in UK
3. 52.6 million disabled people in USA
4. 37 million disabled people in EU
5. 4.2 million disabled people in Canada
6. 3.7 million disabled people in Australia
Temporary disabilities are NOT included in these statistics. Additionally, Paciello
estimates that between 95% and 99% of all Web sites are inaccessible.
5.2 Disabled Students in HE
According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency more than 30,000 students with
a disability started programmes of study in UK higher education institutions during
the 2000-01 academic year, representing over 4% of all new students. Of those
students with a disability, approximately 34% were dyslexic, 3% blind or partially
sighted, 7% deaf or hearing impaired, 5% were wheelchair users or had mobility
problems, 4% had mental health difficulties, 27% had an unseen disability, 6% had
multiple disabilities and 13% had some other disability. [40] These numbers probably
underestimate the total number of students who consider themselves to have a
disability, the numbers actually with a disability, and the numbers covered by
SENDA.

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The official Higher Education Student Disability Tables for 2000/2001 can be seen in
Appendix A.
6.0 Barriers to Access
Users with disabilities face many different problems when they try to access the
Internet. The AFA course needs to take account of these difficulties.
There are numerous types (and sub-types) of disability. For the purposes of the AFA
project these types have been separated into four generic groups. These groups, in no
particular order, include users with the following disabilities.
1. visual
2. aural
3. physical (motor)
4. cognitive
It is noted that certain individuals may suffer from multiple disabilities.
For each disability group I will consider the ‘barriers to access’ faced by that group
and the Assistive Technology (AT) available to them. AT enables users who are
affected by these various barriers to access the Web (provided the pages are coded
correctly).
6.1 Visual Barriers to Access
This category includes people with little or no vision, people with colour blindness,
people who use Screen Readers and people who use screen magnifiers.

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According to the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) [41] there are more than
350,000 people in the UK who are blind or partially sighted, that is 1 person in 60 of
the whole population. Moreover, 6 out of 10 visually impaired adults have another
illness or disability.
Many people assume that visually disabled means total blindness. In fact only 18% of
the visually impaired are totally blind. Likewise, people assume that the visually
disabled can read Braille and have a guide dog. According to the RNIB only 19,000
people can read Braille and only about 4,000 people have a guide dog.
Users with visual disabilities will, to varying degrees, have difficulty seeing the
computer screen. This can range from total blindness where the user cannot see
anything, to somebody who is near or far sighted and therefore able to read the text
with the aid of spectacles or perhaps a screen magnifier. Some dyslexics have
problems with certain colour combinations, as do people with colour blindness.
There is a range of AT designed to help people who have trouble seeing the screen
including:
• Screen readers
o Dolphin Supernova
o Jaws
• Web browsers
o Cast E-Reader
o IBM Homepage Reader
• Refreshable Braille displays
• Voice recognition software
• Screen magnification software

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In effect all of these AT solutions perform the same function; namely they convert on-
screen text into a format which can be understood by the disabled person.
Web developers can also code special ‘skip navigation’ links which provide a means
for visually disabled users to avoid the main navigation controls of a Web page and
jump straight to the main content of the page. This means that the visually disabled
user does not have to listen to the screen reader reading out the navigation links on
every page.
6.2 Aural Barriers to Access
This category includes people who have been deaf from birth, deafened people, and
those who have partial hearing. A deafened person is someone who was born with
hearing but then developed a hearing impairment later in life, perhaps as a result of an
illness or an accident.
According to the Royal National Institute of the Deaf (RNID) [42] 8.7 million people in
the UK have a hearing impairment, that is 1 in 7 of the whole population. This
number is rising as the number of people aged over 60 increases. About 698,000 of
these are severely or profoundly deaf, a high proportion of which have other
disabilities as well. There are an estimated 123,000 deafened people in the UK aged
16 and over.
4.7 million people, 1 person in 10, suffer from tinnitus [43] and 55% of all people over
60 years of age are deaf or hard of hearing. 25,000 children in the UK under the age
of 15 are permanently deaf or hard of hearing. There are also 23,000 deafblind people
in the UK. In the UK there are approximately 50,000 British Sign Language (BSL)
users. [44]

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The barriers to access faced by users with hearing difficulties depends, to a certain
extent, on whether the user has been deaf from birth or deafened later in life. It is
important from a Web developer’s perspective to differentiate between the two
groups.
Users who are deaf from birth communicate using BSL. BSL is a language in its own
right and has different grammar and structure to English. BSL users must learn
English in the same way that others may learn French or German. Web developers
cannot assume that BSL users can read and understand the content of their Web
pages.
There is an assumption that users who become deaf later in life can read and
understand English. It may be true in some cases but many of these users
communicate using Sign Supported English (SSE); a combination of BSL and
English.
Users with hearing difficulties require visual representation of auditory information
such as a transcript or captions. MAGpie [45] is a free piece of software enabling the
creation of captions and subtitles for, and integrating audio descriptions with, digital
multimedia such as video.
6.3 Physical Barriers to Access
This is a wide ranging category and includes people with a range of physical
disabilities including amputees, people who may have suffered a stroke, have spinal
cord injuries, lost the use of limbs or digits, and people with manual dexterity or
physical co-ordination problems.

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According to the United Medical and Dental Schools of Guy's and St Thomas'
Hospitals (UMDS) [46], Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) is thought to affect about
2% of the UK population at any one time, one in 100 people over the age of 65 have
Parkinson's disease, and eight in 100 over the age of 65 are affected by Alzheimer’s
disease.
Most Web sites are created assuming that the user can see the screen and use a mouse.
Many physically disabled users cannot use a mouse. Many Web sites include links
which are extremely small. Again many physically disabled users, even if they can
use a mouse, cannot hold the mouse pointer steady for a long enough period of time to
enable them to select the link.
There are a number of AT devices available to help users with physical disabilities
including Retinal scanning devices and Voice Recognition software such as Dragon
Naturally Speaking [47] . In addition the Windows operating system has a number of
built-in accessibility features such as ‘sticky keys’. Sticky Keys allow users to select
keyboard combinations one key at a time.
In addition Web developers can add special code to their Web pages to allow
physically disabled users to navigate their site. This special code allows physically
disabled users to navigate via their keyboard using special access keys. Access keys
enable users to quickly visit key links within a site.
6.4 Cognitive Barriers to Access
‘Cognitive disability’ is any disability that affects mental processes including mental
retardation, attention deficit disorder, brain damage, dementia and other psychiatric
and behavioural disorders. This category also includes people with learning
difficulties and dyslexia / dyscalculia. People with learning difficulties may have

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problems with literacy, information technology, and understanding information
generally. Dyslexia includes people who have problems reading, writing and spelling.
Dyscalculia describes people who have problems with mathematical calculations.
‘Mental load’ is also a factor; that is, the demands placed upon a person's cognitive
abilities when performing a task. This is a problem for all people, and especially for
users of AT. For persons with cognitive and/or behavioural disorders the problem is
magnified. Web designers should avoid using background images and music and
should use a consistent design layout. These measures will not only reduce mental
load for the cognitively disabled but will help all users to access their Web site.
There are over 200,000 people with severe learning disabilities in the UK and about 1
in 100 people suffer from dyslexia (boys are three times more likely to be affected
than girls).[48]
There is no specific AT available for people with cognitive disabilities although much
can be done to increase accessibility when designing the content of a Web site. For
example, users with learning difficulties may struggle to read long paragraphs or
certain fonts. This problem can be minimized by keeping paragraphs short and using
CSS. It is also difficult for some users with cognitive disabilities to read justified text
so text should be left justified. Flashing text should also be avoided as this can cause
certain people to have epileptic seizures.
The Plain English Campaign has produced a number of free guides [49] to help Web
developers produce accessible content for the cognitively disabled. Page content tips
include keeping the average sentence to between 15 and 20 words, using active rather
than passive verbs, using clear and helpful headings, and leaving plenty of
‘whitespace’ on the screen.

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6.5 Summary
The AFA project seeks to train Web developers to create Web sites which can cater
for the diverse needs of all users. Web developers must be aware of the various user
needs and the AT available to help such users.
It is relatively easy to create an accessible Web site for a user with a specific
disability. The problem is that Web sites must be accessible for all users, including
users with multiple disabilities.
It is also worth mentioning that this section has only covered user needs in a general
sense. Each user is an individual and may have very specific requirements. This
demonstrates how difficult it is to fully comply with the SENDA legislation.
7.0 Learning Theories, Styles & AFA Course Strategy
Students undertaking the AFA course must have a clear understanding of what it is
they are trying to learn. According to Tough [50] the most common motivation for
learning is that there is ‘an anticipated use or application for the skills learned’.
The original AFA course was delivered in an IT training lab, primarily in order to
evaluate the course and obtain feedback from participants. Future versions can easily
be incorporated into WebCT, the chosen virtual learning environment (VLE) at
UCLAN.
7.1 Learning Theories
There are numerous learning theories. The ‘Theory Into Practice Database’ lists
dozens of such theories. [51]

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7.1.1 Internet Based Learning
There are many benefits to Internet based learning [52]. It is flexible, students can learn
at times convenient to them and travel costs are substantially reduced. The student
can progress at his or her own speed and can complete the course material in any
order of their choosing.
However, not all students are suited for Internet-based education. Lack of motivation
can lead students to drop out, often because they feel isolated and lonely - they may
miss the personal interaction with other people. They may be worried about using
computer technology. The cost of computer equipment may also be a factor as will the
lack of technical support in the home.
The academic institution, and the course leader, may benefit from Internet-based
courses although there are problems as well.
Electronic information is cheap and easy to distribute; the cost of printing is
transferred to the student should they prefer printed materials. Accessible course
material can be viewed by students using a diverse range of computers and Internet
browsers. Material can be reused, re-packaged or archived.
Larger number of students can simultaneously take courses, a potential source of
revenue for the academic institution, and they are not limited by geographical
location. Electronic marking and evaluation is now possible substantially reducing the
course leaders’ workload.
On the other hand, many of the costs of setting up and developing online learning
courses are ’front loaded’; they need to be incurred before any income is generated.

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Many academic staff do not have the time, or incentive, to learn new technologies.
Problems with computer networks and unreliable equipment can prevent access to
course material.
Slow Internet connections can make some interactive multimedia applications too
slow for effective learning.
Internet-based technology allows students to learn according to their own learning
style. The use of images, multimedia, graphs, charts, audio, new programming
languages such as Mathematical Mark-Up Language (MML), Java applets etc. can be
combined to facilitate visual, aural, and kinesthetic learning styles.
NB. Visual learners learn by seeing, aural learners learn by hearing, kinesthetic
learners learn by touching and doing.
7.1.2 Open Learning
Maxwell has defined Open Learning as ‘a student centred approach to education
which removes all barriers to access while providing a high degree of learner
autonomy’. [53]
Internet-based learning supports the open learning concept by providing students with
the ability to connect to educational resources when it is convenient for them, and
allowing students to explore the educational resources in an order that suits their
needs. In an open learning environment the teacher acts as a tutor, facilitator, and
resource to assist in the student's learning process. [54]

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7.1.3 Situated Learning
Internet based learning encourages Situated Learning [55]. Situated Learning Theories
argue that learning is a function of the activity, context and culture in which it occurs.
This contrasts with much classroom learning activities which involve knowledge
which is abstract and out of context. Social interaction is a critical component of
situated learning because learning requires social interaction and collaboration. In the
AFA course users will actually build a real Website using real tools and real software.
Social interaction will occur naturally as students help each other. Ultimately users
will be able to rely on the help of the course leader.
7.1.4 Constructivism
The Constructivist Principles of Bruner [56] will also be embedded within the course.
A major theme in the theoretical framework of Bruner is that learning is an active
process in which learners construct new ideas or concepts based upon their current
and past knowledge. The learner selects and considers information from various
viewpoints, constructs hypotheses, and then makes decisions whilst relying on mental
models to do so. Constructivism allows users to experiment and learn without the fear
of failure. AFA users will be encouraged to employ constructivist principles
throughout the course.
7.2 Learning Styles
Students have different learning styles depending on their characteristics, strengths
and personality. Some students learn visually, others by hearing, still others
kinesthetically. The AFA project aims to take account of the different student needs
and approaches to learning. The goal is to ‘teach around the cycle’, that is, ensure

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that the learning materials in the AFA project cater for the needs of each type of
learning style.
Felder [57] considers various learning style models and concludes that, whichever
model is chosen, the learning needs of each student can be met if the correct teaching
strategy is followed. I will consider three models.
7.2.1 The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
According to the MBTI model students may be:
1. extraverts who try things out or introverts who think things through;
2. sensors who are practical and focus on details and facts or intuitors who are
imaginative;
3. thinkers who are logical or feelers who tend to make intuitive decisions;
4. judgers who make and follow lists or perceivers who adapt to changing
circumstances.
These ‘types’ can be combined to form 16 different learning styles. For example, one
student may be an introverted sensor who feels and perceives; another may be an
extraverted intuitor who thinks and judges.
7.2.2 Kolb's Learning Style Model
This model classifies students as preferring to take information in via concrete
experience or abstract conceptualization, and then apply the information via active
experimentation or reflective observation. The four types of learners form a matrix as
follows.

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1. Type 1’s are concrete reflectives. Type 1’s want to know ‘why’ things are as
they are and want explanations of how course material relates to them.
2. Type 2’s are abstract reflectives. Type 2’s enjoy reflecting on clearly
presented, logical information.
3. Type 3’s are abstract actives. Type 3’s prefer a hands-on approach to
learning.
4. Type 4’s are concrete actives. Type 4’s prefer to apply information in new
ways to solve real problems.
7.2.3 Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model
This model takes a similar approach to the MBTI model and classifies students as
either:
1. sensing learners who prefer facts, or intuitive learners who are innovative;
2. visual learners who prefer diagrams and charts or verbal learners who prefer
textual explanations;
3. inductive learners who prefer specific content to be presented before general
background information or deductive learners who prefer background
information first and then specific information;
4. active learners who learn by trying things out, often in groups, or reflective
learners who learn by thinking things through and may prefer to work alone;
5. sequential learners who prefer to work through material in a linear fashion or
global learners who take a ‘big picture’ view.
These types can be combined as in the MBTI model.

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7.3 AFA Course Strategy
The AFA course material should be presented using the following strategy. This
strategy is based on the Felder-Silverman Learning Style Model.
Each accessibility problem should be described before providing coded examples.
The same material should be presented in various ways to meet the needs of intuitive
and sensing learners. For example, images, charts and other diagrams should be used
as well as textual explanations of accessibility problems.
When problems are numeric, for example when dealing with browser window sizes or
download speeds, a written example should be provided rather than just the theory.
Real-life or real world examples should be used rather than abstract models whenever
possible. Occasionally students should be challenged to find the solution to a problem
before the definitive answer is provided.
The course leader should encourage the students to think about alternative solutions or
new problems created by the solving of the original problem. Students should be
encouraged to question the course leader. The course leader should always be in a
position to justify his answers and should also be open to new solutions.
A number of group-work activities should also be incorporated into the course.
The AFA course will be constructed in such a way that the users can complete the
course in a linear fashion. However, the advantage of Internet based learning is the
concept of hyper-linking. Students can complete the course in a non-linear fashion
and indeed, depending on the WCAG compliance level they are aiming for may
choose to skip parts of the course.

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7.4 Summary
The AFA course is an ideal subject for an Internet based course. The diverse learning
styles of users can easily be accommodated via the Internet. The concept of open
learning using situated learning and constructivist principles is well suited to AFA.
To cater for all types of learners, the AFA course should explain the relevance of each
new accessibility topic, present the basic information and coding methods associated
with the topic in a variety of ways, provide opportunities for individual and group
practice in the methods, and then encourage users to explore the topic for themselves.
8.0 Accessible Web Site Resources
I have ascertained that FE and HE institutions have a legal obligation to produce
accessible online material and have defined precisely what an accessible Web site is.
I have also identified various groups of disabled users and the problems faced by
these groups when attempting to browse the Internet.
I will now consider what other learning resources are available to help Web
developers to create accessible Web sites.
There are literally thousands of Web sites with Web accessibility related information -
a search for ‘Web Accessibility’ on Google produced 425,000 results [58].
Unfortunately there are only a few books on the subject, perhaps because this subject
has only recently come into the public eye. Consequently, and perhaps surprisingly,
there are very few good Web accessibility resources which deal with the actual
creation of accessible Web sites. The majority of the sources are heavily slanted
towards compliance with Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act 1973.

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8.1 Books
Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities [59] was probably the first book on the
subject following the launch of the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The book
contains tips, tools, guidelines and HTML coding techniques to help make Web sites
accessible. The book also contains lots of useful accessibility related links from Web
sites all over the world.
Constructing Accessible Web Sites [60] has been written to enable Web developers to
create and retrofit accessible Websites quickly and easily. Whilst the objectives are
laudable the reality may not be quite so simple.
The book discusses the technologies and techniques that are used to access Websites
and many disability related legal guidelines, both in the US and around the world.
The main body of the book is concerned with making Web sites and their content
accessible. Sections include testing methods, development tools, and advanced coding
techniques. The book also contains a useful checklist for creating accessible Web
sites.
Maximum Accessibility [61] is another excellent book, similar to the above mentioned
books. One of the authors, John Slatin, writes from personal experience as he is
legally blind.
8.2 Web Sites
The ‘Curriculum for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0’ [62] compiled by the
W3C WAI, comprises 4 main sections known as ‘sets’.
1. An Introductory section - "The Introduction Set";
2. Guidelines for Web Content Accessibility - "The Guideline Set";

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3. Checkpoints for meeting the Guideline requirements - "The Checkpoint Set";
4. Examples for implementing the Checkpoints - "The Example Set".
This course comprehensively deals with each of the 14 WCAG guidelines and 65
checkpoints. However, the course is written in HTML rather than XHTML and
contains some poorly written code.
For example, the mark-up example for Checkpoint 5.1: the use of the ‘TH' element in
a TABLE uses the following code as an example. [63] The table contains several errors
and omissions. (The lines are numbered to aid my comments)
1. <TABLE border=1>
2. <CAPTION>Example of a simple data table created using HTML
markup. </CAPTION>
3. <TR>
4. <TD></TD>
5. <TH>Col. 1 header</TH>
6. <TH>Col. 2 header</TH>
7. </TR>
8. <TR>
9. <TH>Row 1 header</TH>
10. <TD>C1R1</TD>
11. <TD>C1R2</TD>
12. </TR>
13. <TR>
14. <TH>Row 2 header</TH>
15. <TD>C2R1</TD>
16. <TD>C2R2</TD>
17. </TR>
18. </TABLE>

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The first error is found on line 1. The code border=1 is missing quotation marks – it
should read border=”1”. The second error is found on line 4. Line 4 contains an
empty table cell which can cause problems when viewed using Netscape browsers.
The table does not contain the <thead> or <tbody> tags. These tags aid non-visual
users by providing structural information about the table.
The table tags are all in UPPERCASE which means that the page will not validate in
XHTML – tags should be lowercase.
Technically speaking this page would work in most modern browsers – they are
forgiving of errors and generally present the page OK. However, many of the new
browsing technologies would have problems with this code.
Jim Thatcher, one of the authors of Constructing Accessible Web Sites, has produced
an online Web accessibility course entitled ‘Web Accessibility for Section 508’. [64]
As the course title suggests this resource is heavily slanted towards American
legislation. As previously mentioned, compliance with American legislation would
not meet the needs of SENDA. (See Section 2.6) This course explains the problems
faced by disable Web users and provides contains numerous HTML code examples
for developers to follow.
The JISC funded Techdis service has produced a learning resource entitled ‘Seven
precepts of Usability and Accessibility’ [65]. The seven precepts cover a range of
usability and accessibility issues and each is accompanied by a short description. Each
precept is linked to detailed information about the concepts and coded examples are
provided to show Web developers how to apply the concepts to their Web site.

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The seven precepts concern: -
1. Navigation and page layout
2. Visual presentation and customisation
3. Text descriptions for images
4. Accessible mark-up: forms, lists, scripts and tables
5. Use and presentation of written language
6. Accessible issues for other media types
7. Help, searches, errors and documentation
The precepts are NOT mapped to the WCAG guidelines and deal with accessibility
issues in isolation.
8.3 Summary
All of the six Web accessibility resources mentioned are excellent and deal with Web
accessibility in depth. However, they tend to deal with accessibility problems in
isolation taking a ‘example and guideline approach’.
It is my submission that the AFA project is unique in terms of creating accessible
Web sites. The primary aim of the AFA project is to provide a total Web accessibility
solution within the context of a single site rather than using examples from different
sources to highlight particular problems. No other learning resource fulfils this aim.
9.0 User Needs Analysis
It was decided to perform two user needs analysis (UNA). The AFA project consists
of two distinct parts. Part 1 is the actual training course; part 2 contains the ‘bad’
Web site and the retro-fitted accessible site. The training course and the retro-fitted
Web site require the users to be able to perform quite distinct tasks. A UNA is not

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required for the ‘bad’ Web site. The whole point of the bad site is that it is not
accessible to users and therefore the needs of the users are not material.
9.1 AFA Course Participants
9.1.1 User Groups
The primary user group consists of Web developers based in FE and HE institutions
as well as administrative staff with a responsibility for Web development.
Secondary user groups include managers or accountants based at the academic
institutions of the primary users who may wish to purchase the course, should it be
made available for sale. Other groups will consist of Web developers based in
commercial organisations.
9.1.2 Primary User
Age: 18+ years of age
Language: Basic English – English may not be the participant’s first language but it
is still the main (only) language used for teaching in British universities.
Education: Assumed that the participants have been educated up to age 16. Many
academic institutions insist that staff are educated to degree level but Web developers
are often employed for their skills rather than their academic qualifications. It is
assumed that participants can read, although the completed course could be read out
to the participant using AT.
Culture: We live in a multicultural society. Participants are likely to be from a wide
variety of cultures and backgrounds.

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Disability: Paradoxically, disability is not a factor because it is envisaged that the
course material will be available in various forms. Participants will be able to choose
from an online version, a printed version and an electronic version in various file
formats.
Computer Experience: The participants will not need any computer experience per
se to read the course material. In order to complete the course, it is assumed that
participants will be familiar with using a mouse and keyboard and have previous
experience of using computer software. It is also assumed that participants will have
a basic understanding of HTML including the use of tags and attributes.
Motivation: As previously mentioned in Section 7.0, the most common motivation
for learning is that there is ‘an anticipated use or application for the skills learned’.
Participants may also be motivated by the fact that they could potentially command
higher salaries due to their increased skill-set. Participants may also be concerned
with the potential implications of SENDA; in particular whether they are personally
liable should they build an inaccessible site. Completion of the course may well
provide peace of mind.
9.1.3 Environment
The course will primarily be designed to be delivered on the UCLAN network in the
Learning Development Unit (LDU) training suite. The LDU training suite consists of
twenty high specification computers and can become quite noisy at times. The
maximum duration of the course should be one day.
It is envisaged that participants may wish to complete the course in their own home
via distance learning. Distance learners can complete the course according to their
own time frame.

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9.1.4 Hardware
The minimum hardware requirements are based on the configuration of a typical
home computer user and the standard system requirements for Macromedia
Dreamweaver. [66] (see Section 11.4)
• Intel Pentium II processor or equivalent 300+ MHz
• 128 MB Ram
• 2GB Hard Drive
• 8 x CD Rom Drive
• Floppy Disc Drive
• 15” Colour Monitor capable of 800 x 600 resolution
• Windows 98 operating system or better
• Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer 4.0 or greater
• Colour Printer
• Keyboard and Mouse
9.1.5 User Tasks / Learning Objectives
1. Understand the problems faced by disabled people using the Internet, these are
known as ‘barriers to access’.
2. Understand how Web developers can code their Web pages to remove these
barriers to access. Specifically users will learn about:
1. Templates
2. Cascading Style Sheets
3. Document type definitions
4. Non-textual content
5. Tables

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6. Forms
7. Page structure
8. Meta data
9. Keyboard controls
10. Accessible content
11. Identifying the language of a document, or changes in the natural
language
12. The benefits of relative size units rather than absolute sizes
3. Have an understanding of usability issues.
4. Have an understanding of Web design issues.
5. Understand how Web pages can be validated to check for compliance with
disability legislation using automated software.
6. Perform a series of tests and checks to identify potential problems not
highlighted by automated checkers.
7. Have an understanding of the WAI and WCAG.
8. Learn how to use a WYSIWYG Web editor.
9.2 AFA Retro-fitted Web Site
According to our definition of an accessible Web site in Section 3.0, the retro-fitted
site must be accessible to ‘anyone using any kind of Web browsing technology...’
Our primary user group is therefore anyone and everyone. The primary user is
anyone regardless of age, language, education, culture, disability, computer
experience or motivation.

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The user should be able to access the course from any environment, the only computer
requirements are that the user has Internet access and some form of Web browser.
9.2.1 Users Tasks / Learning Objectives
Again, according to our definition of Web accessibility in Section 3.0 our user, that is
anyone and everyone, should be able to get a ‘…full and complete understanding of
the information contained there, as well as have the full and complete ability to
interact with the site.’
10.0 Web Site Project Management
As mentioned in Section 8.3 the AFA project is unique and does not fit in with
traditional software engineering models. However, traditional models are tried and
tested and provide useful guidelines which may be applied in a Web-based project
setting.
10.1 Waterfall
The Waterfall model is a highly structured approach to project development.
Conventional software engineering is based on the assumption of a more or less
sequential development process [67]. The developer plans a number of project
development stages which are completed in a linear fashion. Upon completion of one
stage, the designer moves on to the next stage without having the opportunity to return
to previous stages. This method assumes that the developer is able to specify the
whole project in its entirety before commencing.
The uniqueness of the AFA project precludes the use of the Waterfall method. There
are no other Web sites which can be used as a template for the AFA project.
Additionally, there is not a definitive way of creating an accessible Web site. The

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AFA project will evolve by a series of ‘trial and error’ prototypes which will be
refined following user testing and feedback.
10.2 System Assembly from Reusable Components
This method utilises the fact that many systems consist of a number of pre-existing
components which can be reused. This has the benefit of increasing productivity,
quality, reliability and, in the long-term, decreasing software development costs [68].
The principles outlined in this method can be implemented in the AFA project. The
main navigation and footer information could be included in a reusable template. The
developer can make the template fully accessible; pages based on the template will be
automatically accessible as well.
10.3 The Dynamic Systems Development Method
A fundamental assumption of DSDM is that nothing is built perfectly first time, but
that a usable and useful 80% of the proposed system can be produced in 20% of the
time it would take to produce the total system [69].
DSDM combines iterative prototyping and user participation. Unlike the Waterfall
method, DSDM allows previously completed sections to be changed in response to
user input. In terms of the AFA project, the users may not fully understand the
accessibility issues but they can provide useful feedback on the actual training
material.
10.4 Prototyping
A prototype is ‘a preliminary type, form, or instance of a system that serves as a
model for later stages or for the final, complete version of the system’ [70].

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There are basically two types of prototype used when developing Web-based projects
although the terminology can be confusing. One approach is to produce a ‘proof of
concept’ [71] throwaway prototype. This prototype is quickly constructed without the
developer needing to worry about coding problems, download times, image
optimisation and so on. A throwaway prototype is a non-functional mock-up that is
used to illustrate how a fully functional system will look or operate but which is not
intended to evolve into a fully working system.
The second option is to create a beta version of the final site including many of the
final design specifications, an ‘evolutionary prototype’. This prototype is intended to
form the basis of a fully functional working system and is a low quality version of the
final product.
10.5 Summary
Elements of each of the methods discussed, with the exception of the Waterfall
method, were used in the creation of the AFA project. Reusable components were
used in the creation of an evolutionary prototype, user feedback was then sought and a
further prototype built and tested. The final AFA version was then constructed.
11.0 Comparison of Web Authoring Tools
There are a numerous Web authoring tools for constructing Web sites. These range
from simple Text Editors such as Notepad [72] or BBEdit [73] to WYSIWYG editors
such as Macromedia Dreamweaver MX [74], Microsoft FrontPage 2002 [75] or Adobe
GoLive 6 [76].

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The final choice of software to create the AFA project is dependent on a number of
factors including the availability of the software on the UCLAN network, the
suitability of the software for the task in hand, and resources available in the event of
problems.
The text editors were quickly discounted for two main reasons. Firstly, many of the
prospective course participants would not be ‘fluent’ HTML coders; secondly the
time taken to hand-code a complete Web site would be prohibitive. Participants
should be able to complete the AFA course in one day.
A brief comparison of the three WYSIWYG Web authoring tools now follows. It is
interesting to note how the three software developers argue how their product is
superior to the others using selective feature comparisons and case studies. [77]
11.1 Macromedia Dreamweaver MX
Dreamweaver MX is one of the Macromedia Studio MX products. It is tightly
integrated with Fireworks, Flash and Freehand; each program uses the same panel
management system and user interface. The whole user interface is XML based and
therefore customisable.
Dreamweaver MX is the result of combining Dreamweaver and UltraDev. This means
that it is easy to create dynamic, database driven, Web sites using ASP, ASP.NET,
JSP, PHP or Cold Fusion. This ability is better than the same feature in GoLive 6,
where the application installs the dynamic application on the server itself.
Dreamweaver connects to the server faster than GoLive 6.
Dreamweaver now has a number of sample designs and pieces of reusable code called
snippets. This is in response to GoLive which has had these features for some time.

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Dreamweaver allows designers to create conditional nested design templates.
Incidentally, GoLive Web design templates are compatible with Dreamweaver,
The site definition wizard is OK for beginners but it is better to set up Web sites
manually.
Code Hints are an excellent new feature, especially for new HTML coders and those
developers who prefer to work in code view. Bradsoft TopStyle [78] can also be
integrated with Dreamweaver enabling designers to see the affects of CSS changes in
real time. Dreamweaver allows designers to easily code XHTML and includes an
automatic HTML to XHTML converter.
A major new feature is the built-in Web Accessibility checker. Accessibility code
prompts when inserting images, forms, frames and tables also aid developers.
In terms of help Dreamweaver is excellent. A number of reference libraries are
integrated within the product including HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Additional
support can be obtained via a newsgroup, [79] which has more than 395,000 messages,
and a plethora of online tutorials.
Dreamweaver can be extended using extensions. An extension is a piece of software
that can be added to Dreamweaver to enhance the application’s capabilities. There are
hundred’s of predominantly free extensions available. Developers can also write their
own extensions if necessary.
11.2 Microsoft FrontPage 2002
FrontPage 2002 uses the WYSIWYG simplicity of the word processor to creating
Web pages. Each new release becomes more and more like the other Microsoft Office
products.

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Its’ primary market is users who do not know much about HTML. Web developers
can create quite sophisticated sites without any HTML coding knowledge. For
example users can easily add discussion board or e-commerce functionality. In order
to take advantage of many of the features of FrontPage the Web server must support
FrontPage Server extensions.
New collaboration features make it easy for groups of people to work together on a
site.
FrontPage keeps track of the relationship of the files on your computer and those on
the server allowing easy site synchronisation. Usage Analysis Reports interrogate
server log information to create a variety of visitor reports using charts and graphs if
required.
FrontPage 2002 has several tools, similar to PowerPoint’s drawing tools, which can
generate shapes, word art, etc using Vector Markup Language (VML).
The Automatic Web Content adds dynamic content, such as news headlines from
MSN, to your site.
The main complaint about FrontPage is the actual proliferation of non-accessible
HTML code generated by the program. It is extremely difficult to edit, especially for
non-HTML coders, and will not validate properly.
Web developers with basic requirements who do not wish to learn HTML will find
FrontPage a useful program but it is not suitable for the AFA project.
11.3 Adobe GoLive
GoLive looks like other Adobe products making it easy to switch between
applications. In particular Adobe has integrated GoLive more closely with Photoshop
and Illustrator. The main editing windows float on the GoLive worktop, with palettes

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