Accessibility
In designing a web site consideration must be given to who may experience a 'barrier' to access. They may be in the following categories:
- People with disabilities
- Older people and new users
- People with low bandwidth and unsophisticated technology
People with disabilities may use assistive technologies to access the web. They include:
- Screen readers: software that reads the text aloud using a voice synthesizer
- Screen Magnifiers: enlarge text on the screen to enable people with limited vision to read online
- Voice recognition: allows the user to navigate web pages and other software applications using their voice
W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative
The World Wide Web Consortium has a commitment to promoting a high degree of accessibility to the Web for people with disabilities. Its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) has assigned priority levels based on the impact of each level on accessibility.
- Priority 1: A Web content developer must satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it impossible to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint is a basic requirement for some groups to be able to use Web documents.
- Priority 2: A Web content developer should satisfy this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will remove significant barriers to accessing Web documents.
- Priority 3: A Web content developer may address this checkpoint. Otherwise, one or more groups will find it somewhat difficult to access information in the document. Satisfying this checkpoint will improve access to Web documents.
The web design features or checkpoints for each priority level are documented by the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
Policy for UC
All UC webpages must satisfy at least Priority 1 checkpoints. (UC Online Management Committee 28/2/03)
Document formats
The Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission makes this statement about pdf files:
The Portable Document Format (PDF) file system developed by Adobe has become widely used for making documents available on web pages. Despite considerable work done by Adobe, PDF remains a relatively inaccessible format to people who are blind or vision-impaired. Software exists to provide some access to the text of some PDF documents, but for a PDF document to be accessible to this software, it must be prepared in accordance with the guidelines that Adobe have developed. Even when these guidelines are followed, the resulting document will only be accessible to those people who have the required software and the skills to use it. The Commission's view is that organisations who distribute content only in PDF format, and who do not also make this content available in another format such as RTF, HTML, or plain text, are liable for complaints under the DDA. Where an alternative file format is provided, care should be taken to ensure that it is the same version of the content as the PDF version, and that it is downloadable by the user as a single document, just as the PDF version is downloaded as a single file.
Policy for UC
If a document is placed on the web as a PDF file, it should be accompanied by an RTF or HTML equivalent. (UC Online Management Committee 28/2/03)