This presentation was given at a Library Technology Exchange Forum on Accessability on May 16, 2006. Based on the work of Sarah Horton, this presentation describes the challenge of serving users with special needs, and some of the methods for doing so. Microsoft Powerpoint presentation, 50 slides

1. Universal Accessability
Paul Houle
Library Systems
CU Library
Based on a presentation by Sarah Horton
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2. What is universal accessability?
 An extension of usability
 Make systems usable for everyone
 First: be flexible to people’s needs
 Second: provide alternative access
 Gives best user experience
 At least cost
Designing Accessible WebsitesDEFINITIONS
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3. 
Access by accommodation…
Designing Accessible WebsitesDEFINITIONS

4. 
… versus design
Designing Accessible WebsitesDEFINITIONS

5. Prevalance of Disabilities
• US Census: 1 in 5 Americans report disability
• 9% of incoming freshman have a disability
that affects computer use
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE
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6. Disabilities and Adaptations
• Blindness (screen readers, ALT text)
• Low vision (scalable text)
• Color blindness (use colors carefully)
• Deafness (captions)
• Motor problems (access keys)
• Cognitive deficits (general usability)
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE
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7. •Time to complete task varies:
• 2.4 times between 25% and 75% percentile
• 15 times between fastest and slowest
Jacob Nielsen’s Alertbox 5/15/2006

8. “Technologically Challenged”
• Text web browsers
• Old equipment
• Small screens (PDA, cell phone)
• Large screens (16:9, HDTV)
• Web robots
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE
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9. 
www.nln.ac.uk
Some sites offer “accessible” or “text-only” versions…
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE

10. 
www.nln.ac.uk
…but alternate versions are often accessible but not
equivalent
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE

11. 
www.oldnavy.com
Some sites put the onus on users…
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE

12. 
www.jkrowling.com
…by requiring them to adapt their environment
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE

13. 
www.newyorker.com
Fixed-width columns, mix of text and graphic text
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

14. 
www.newyorker.com
The main text scales but the column width remains the
same…
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

15. 
www.newyorker.com
…and the image-based navigation does not scale
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

16. 
Fixed designs hold together at a certain text size…
www.academicimpressions.com/
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

17. 
…but break apart when the text is enlarged
www.academicimpressions.com/
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

18. 
www.newyorker.com
Fixed-width pages use only a portion of a large display…
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

19. 
www.newyorker.com
…and do not reflow for viewing on small screens
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

20. Cascading Style Sheets
• Can display document parts out of order (put
navigation at the end for screen readers)
• Users can customize (Opera)
• Support flexible layouts
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE
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21. 
www.wikipedia.org
Flexible pages adapt to modifications, such as…
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

22. 
www.wikipedia.org
…enlarged type…
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

23. 
www.wikipedia.org
…larger page widths
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

24. 
www.wikipedia.org
…smaller page widths
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

25. 
www.wikipedia.org
…customized for small screens
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

26. 
www.wikipedia.org
…and formatting turned off…
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

27. 
www.wikipedia.org
…and with custom formatting
FLEXIBLE DESIGN

28. Be careful about
• Frames
• Pop-up windows
• Javascript
• AJAX
• Flash
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE
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29. Accessable Flash
• Good: text in Flash is really text
• Good: Flash supports video with captions
• Good: Flash supports access keys (use
them!)
• Bad: many sites have broken flash detection
• Bad: many platforms will never support flash
(text mode browsers)
Designing Accessible WebsitesEQUITABLE USE
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30. Fallbacks offer alternate modes of
access
 Primarily text-based because text can be seen
and heard
 Some provisions for alternates built into
technology
 Otherwise, alternates can be integrated into
interface
FALLBACKS
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31. 
www.apple.com
Image-based content that is not accessible to non-visual
users…
FALLBACKS

32. 
www.apple.com
…can be supplied via alternate text (alt-text)
FALLBACKS

33. 
www.apple.com
Though for equitable use…
FALLBACKS

34. 
www.apple.com
…the alt-text must be equivalent
FALLBACKS

35. 
Equivalent text for text graphics is essential…
www.creativecommons.org
FALLBACKS

36. 
…but alt-text describing reinforcing graphics is not helpful
www.creativecommons.org
FALLBACKS

37. 
www.warnerbros.com
Flash-based content can be presented with a fallback…
FALLBACKS

38. 
www.warnerbros.com
…though it often isn’t
FALLBACKS

39. 
solarsystem.nasa.gov
On some sites, the Flash fallback…
FALLBACKS

40. 
solarsystem.nasa.gov
…is a suggestion to install Flash, here offered with an
additional fallback link…
FALLBACKS

41. 
solarsystem.nasa.gov
…to a text version
FALLBACKS

42. 
www.kidshealth.org
The most successful Flash fallback…
FALLBACKS

43. 
www.kidshealth.org
…is invisible to the user
FALLBACKS

44. 
Another way to provide fallbacks is to offer alternates in the
interface
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/
FALLBACKS

45. 
Providing alternate formats accommodates technology
preferences and constraints
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/
FALLBACKS

46. 
Audio-based content that is not accessible to users who
cannot hear…
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/
FALLBACKS

47. 
…can be supplied via captions
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/
FALLBACKS

48. 
…can be supplied via captions
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/
FALLBACKS

49. 
…as well as a transcript
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sciencenow/
FALLBACKS

50. Guidelines
 Universal design
Principles of Universal Design
Center for Universal Design
North Carolina State University
 Usability
Jakob Neilson, useit.com
Steve Krug, Don’t Make Me Think
 Universal usability
Sarah Horton, Access by Design
Designing Accessible WebsitesGUIDELINES
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