dwain on thu 28 aug 08
i have put together some links to some tools to help you determine
where there are validation and accessibility errors. i use these
tools all the time and they help me keep my site in accordance with
standards and the law.
the tools and other links i present here are free. if you work with a
designer, you could suggest these tools to them also, but you can stay
on top of your web site by using these tools yourself. they are
pretty intuitive, at least for me they are, and give you a lot of good
feedback about your site.
firefox browser: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
firefox has many add-ons that can improve the security and
functionality of the browser. i suggest this for the html validator
add-on that follows.
html validator: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/249
this add-on give you an icon on the status bar that shows if the page
is valid or not, how many errors, what and where the errors are.
there is also an accessibility feature built in as well. a very
useful tool.
color contrast analyzer:
http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/contrast-analyser.html
not everybody has perfect color vision. this disability can make your
pages difficult for these folks to read you pages. you can check the
colors on your pages to make sure that color blind visitors can see
your pages.
adesigner: http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/adesigner/download
ibm has come up with a nice tool for accessibility. you can check
your pages against visual impairments like blindness and low vision.
there is a summary report at the bottom of the window to show you how
your page fairs and there is an detailed report tab to show you what
your errors are and what you need to check.
please read: http://www.readplease.com/english/downloads/
this is a free version of a screen reader. it is not as comprehensive
as jaws, the top of the line screen reader, and it is about $850 less
than a copy of jaws.
section 508 classes: http://www.section508.gov/
this is an online, go at your own pace class to teach you about
accessibility, what the 508 law is and such.
if you do use javascript, then you need to also provide a non-js
alternative for visitors who have javascript disabled, and they are
out there.
providing alt text with your image, as i have said before, gives the
visually impaired visitor an idea of your image. it also has an
impact on your seo performance as well. inside your ![]() tag you can
place for a detailed description of the piece. this long
description is on a different page and there is a link to that page
inside the attribute. screen readers can see it, but it is
invisible to other visitors. you can go here to look under the hood
to see how the document is structured:
http://www.studiokdd.com/pages/abstract-christian-art-new-testament.html
to look under the hood, if you are using internet explorer go to
view/source. if you are using firefox go to view/page source. if you
are using firefox with the html validator add-on, just double click
the green check mark in the status bar.
if you use flash, make sure that it is accessible. the problem with
flash in the past is that it was not accessible. there are ways to
make it so today.
using a "skip nav" link will allow the screen reader operator to
skip your navigation and go directly to your main content.
using css to separate your content from your presentation is another
way to make your web site accessible. imagine, if you will, that you
are using a screen reader and you have to listen to " font:5,
font-family: arial, etc." as you try to listen to the important
content on the page. it would be difficult to concentrate on the
important information that your are trying to dispense.
these are just a few of the ways to make your web site accessible.
i hope that i have made amends with this information. i hope that
those who are interested will try them and use them. it can save you
a lot of headaches down the road.
regards,
dwain
--
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little
temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin
Franklin
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