Accessibility

What Does 'Accessibility' Mean?

Accessibility means that anyone should be able to visit a website, fully comprehend the information it contains and have the ability to fully interact with it, using any kind of web browsing technology.

According to Tim Berners-Lee, director of the W.3.C (World Wide Web Consortium), the meaning of web accessibility is, "to put the internet and its services at the disposal of all individuals, whatever their hardware or software requirements, their network infrastructure, their native language, their cultural background, there geographic location, or their physical or mental aptitudes."

Policy and Legislation

Australian universities have a legal imperative under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to develop and maintain accessible webpages. Therefore it is necessary for University of Adelaide websites to comply with the accessibility standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Accessibility law states that:

• The University and maintainers of University webpages are obliged to make websites accessible on request
• There is a conciliation process for handling complaints, and
• Legal action can be taken only after conciliation fails.

Guidelines

Website maintainers should check the latest guidelines from the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative. Currently Version 2.0 of the Content Accessibility Guidelines are the standard.

There are twelve guidelines that comprise the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. These are:

1. Provide text alternatives for non-text content.
2. Provide captions and alternatives for audio and video content.
3. Make content adaptable; and make it available to assistive technologies.
4. Use sufficient contrast to make things easy to see and hear.
5. Make all functionality keyboard accessible.
6. Give users enough time to read and use content.
7. Do not use content that causes seizures.
8. Help users navigate and find content.
9. Make text readable and understandable.
10. Make content appear and operate in predictable ways.
11. Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
12. Maximise compatibility with current and future technologies.

When creating content in the University templates, please consider these W3C accessibility checkpoints:

1. Images: image descriptions should be used to describe the function of an image.
2. Multimedia: captioning and transcripts should be provided for audio, and descriptions should be available of video.
3. Hypertext links: the link text should make sense when read out of context, therefore avoid "click here".
4. Page organisation: maximise consistency of structure and use headings and lists for organisation.
5. Graphs or charts: summarise the content where appropriate.
6. Scripts plug-ins and applets: provide alternative content to allow for situations where active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
7. Tables: summarise content and ensure line by line reading is sensible.

Useful References

There are several good websites that give more information on accessibility than we can here. They exist outside the University of Adelaide and so we cannot guarantee their accuracy, however they are recommended reading. A selection of them follows:

• Web Accessibility in Mind: Articles
• Purdue University Accesibility Resources
• North Carolina State University: Principles of Universal Design
• MIT Web Accessibility Guidelines