ITS provides assistance to faculty with respect to addressing the web accesibility issues in online courseware conversion.

More information, can be found in the following resources:
Web Accessibility Legal Resources
Accessibility Information & Technologies
Accessibility & Compliance Tools
HTML Testing & Validation
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Web Accessibility Legal Resources
(Clicking on the links below will open a new browser window. Close it to return to this page.)

Section 504 DOE Requirements for Accessible Software Design
<http://ocfo.ed.gov/coninfo/clibrary/software.htm>

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.
<http://www.section508.gov/docs/508law.html>

Discussion on applying the ADA to the Internet
<http://www.rit.edu/~easi/law/weblaw1.htm>

ADA Home Page
<http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm>

Accessibility & Compliance Tools
(Clicking on the links below will open a new browser window. Close it to return to this page.)

Bobby Accessibility Validator
<http://www.cast.org/bobby/>

Alternative Web Browsing
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/References/Browsing>

W3C Accessibility Evaluation Tools
<http://www.w3.org/WAI/ER/existingtools.html>

W3C HTML 4.0 Validator
<http://validator.w3.org>

Adobe Acrobat Accessibility Plug-ins 5.0
<http://access.adobe.com/downloads.html>

 

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

1. Provide text equivalents for visual information. Provide text equivalents for all images, applets and image maps.

2. Provide descriptions of important visual information. Provide descriptions of important information in graphics, scripts, applets, videos or animations if it is not fully described through text equivalents or in the document's content.

3. Provide text equivalents for audio information. Provide text transcripts, text descriptions, or captions of auditory events that occur in audio and video.

4. Don't rely on color alone. Ensure that text and graphics are perceivable and understandable when viewed without color.

5. Use markup and style sheets properly. Mark up documents with the proper structural elements. Control presentation with style sheets rather than with presentation element and attributes.

6. Supplement markup to aid interpretation of text. Provide supplemental information to facilitate pronunciation or interpretation of abbreviated or foreign text.

7. Create tables that transform gracefully. Ensure that tables have necessary markup to be properly restructured or presented by accessible browsers and other user agents.

8. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully. Ensure that pages are accessible when newer technologies are not supported or are turned off.

9. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes. Ensure that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating objects or pages may be paused or stopped.

10. Ensure that direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces. Ensure that the user interface follows principles of accessible design: device independent access to functionality, keyboard operability, self-voicing.

11. Design for device-independence. Use features that enable activation of page elements via input devices other than a pointing device (e.g. keyboard, voice, etc.)

12. Consider interim solutions. Use interim accessibility solutions so that assistive technologies and older browsers will operate correctly.

13. Use W3C technologies and guidelines. Use W3C technologies (according to specification) and follow accessibility guidelines. Where it is not possible to use a W3C technology, or doing so results in material that does not transform gracefully, provide an alternative version of the content that is accessible.

14. Supply context and orientation information. Supply content and orientation information to help users understand complex pages or elements.

15. Design clear navigation structures. Use clear navigation structures, navigation bars, etc. to increase the likelihood that a person will find what they are looking for at a site.

16. Design for consistency and simplicity. Use consistency and simplicity to promote comprehension.