Web Accessibility Checklist

How do I make my web site accessible?

1. Validate Your (x)HTML and CSS
2. Design Your Site With Accessibility in Mind
3. Use Web Accessibility Development Tools
4. Test Your Site's Accessibility

1) Validate Your (x)HTML and CSS

Assistive technology relies on valid (x)html, so make sure you start with clean html.

• W3C's (x)HTML Validator
• W3C's CSS Validator

2) Design Your Site with Accessibility in Mind

As Dr. John Slatin always says, "Good design, is accessible design." Make sure as you begin your design process at least one person on your design team understands the principles and techniques of making a web site accessible. Consider accessibility and usability from the very beginning of your project. Designing for a defined audience and with known parameters leads to quality results. And while retro-fitting accessibility into a web site is always possible, it isn't the recommend course of action.

Consider all of the official categories of disability in your design

• Cognitive Learning
• Auditory
• Visual (including blind, low vision, and color blind)
• Motor/Physical
• Speech

Here is an example of an accessibility design and testing plan for the 2002 UT Austin web redesign.

1. For each type of disability, consider possible barriers to be avoided in your site design. We knew our top level site redesign wouldn't rely on audio or speech, so we were not creating in barriers in those categories.
2. Interview people with disabilities about likes/dislikes concerns/suggestions on current UT Austin Web Site and Redesign. Share feedback with Redesign Team.
3. Test initial design concepts. Find examples of web sites in production that already use techniques required for proposed design.
   • Run example sites thru WAVE.
   • Testing using a screenreader and a screen magnifier.
   • Test with monitor set to greyscale to insure color blind accessibility.
   • Attempt to navigate site by keyboard alone (no mouse).
   • Attempt to navigate the site using the mouse and your non-dominant hand.
   • Share Feedback with Redesign Team.
4. Review initial designs (and technical issues) with people with disabilities. Share feedback with Redesign Team.
5. Test beta version of design using 508 Guidelines, WAVE, Screenreader, Screen Magnifier, Greyscale, Keyboard and Mouse. Make technical adjustments.
6. Conduct usability testing (including 2-3 people with disabilities). Share feedback with Redesign Team.
7. Deploy Accessible Redesigned Site that meets 508 Guidelines.

3) Use Accessibility Web Development Tools

HTML Editors

• Dreamweaver Accessibility
• Frontpage Accessibility
• Expression Web Accessibility

Rich Media

• Adobe Acrobat (PDF) Accessibility
• Adobe Flash Accessibility
• National Center for Accessible Media including MAGpie
• Sychronized Accessible Media Interchange (SAMI)
• Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL)

4) Test Your Site's Accessibility

Choose any of the following tools/techniques to test the accessibility of your site.

Testing Tools - automatically check for 508 compliance, as much as possible. Help you know what manual checks need to be done.

• WAVE - free online accessibility testing tool and reading order of page
• Accessibility Toolbar for Internet Explorer - a must have!
• Web Developer Extension for Mozilla Based Browsers - another must have!

Hands on Accessibility Testing

• Accessibility & Usability Testing at Accessibility Insititute - Developers can join ITAL researchers to observe while subjects with and without disabilities use your Web resources or other educational application.

Assistive Technology - An important part of accessibility testing is attempting to use your own site with assistive technology. Download a demo version and see if you can navigate your website.

• JAWS for Windows by Freedom Scientific

Need Help? Contact UT's Accessibility Institute for an Accessiblity Consultation.