Introduction and background

New webpages must be accessible to anyone, including people who rely on screen readers or other devices for using webpages. This plan summarizes the progress of converting webpages created by the webmaster at http://www.engr.wisc.edu. The priority conversion target is the homepage and pages that are linked from the homepage. The project summary charts the plan for other pages.

Project summary

1. DATES. The original version of the policy stated that each webpage should have a creation date and last modified date. The current version dropped this requirement, but the COE pages have retained this convention for usability. The COE website also uses a last reviewed date for pages that are reviewed but not modified, as a helpful guide for page visitors.

2. CONTACT FOR ALTERNATIVE CONTENT. Each website must contain an accessible link or a person to contact if people have trouble accessing content within the site. The COE site contains a link to the webmaster and a link to the content creator. An email "mailto" link is used to send requests to a person who could provide an alternative format for information.

3. FONT STYLES. Font styles are no longer used. Instead, fonts are formatted by using cascading style sheets. Pages are tested without cascading style sheets to maintain accessibility.

4. IMAGES. Alternative text is available for all images by using the alt option to the img tag. Text headings and naviation links are preferred over images and follow a clear sequence of heading levels, from h1 to h7. Cascading style sheets include custom formats for these tags. Images are prepared for use at the same size they appear, without relying on width and height tags, which are used only to allocate memory for image download rather than for image scaling. Steps for sizing images are available at http://www.engr.wisc.edu/server/help/PrepInstPhotos.pdf

5. COLOR. Some people cannot discriminate color easily. Colors are accompanied by an alternative, such as an asterisk for color labels, when necessary.

6. TABLES. Tables include a summary. Table headings are distinguised from other cells with th tags. Tables use the id and headers options prescribed for accessible tables. Table width is specified as a percentage instead of fixed pixels.

7. PDFs. Every effort is made to create accessible PDF files that cite the document language, include alternate text for images, and use correct reading order to take advantage of the View > Read Out Loud option in Acrobat Reader. For technical illustrations, long descriptions are placed in the original file before it is converted to PDF. Use the Tools > Accessibility Checker in Adobe Acrobat to test PDFs for accessibility. Consult the resources for repair strategies or see the PDF repair methods used for the COE website. Most department curriculum checklists are available as PDF and text-only descriptions.

8. SCRIPTS. Scripts to display content or create interfaces provide a standard noscript option. Image rollovers are often created with JavaScript. These are acceptable if they are used only for graphical design purposes and don't deliver content that cannot be obtained in another way. Note: Scripts are referred to as "behaviors" in Dreamweaver.

9. PLUGINS. Page footers use a text link entitled "Accessibility" and link it to http://www.engr.wisc.edu/accessibility.html. That page has information about accessibility and links to sites that offer plugins.

10. FORMS. Legend and label tags help identify the fill-in fields. Consult http://helpdesk.wisc.edu/accessibility/guideline/508guidelines.html or http://www.webaim.org/techniques/tables/. for helpful techniques.

11. NAVIGATION BARS. Navigation bars use a "Skip To Content" link.

    Example 1: <h1><a href="#SkipToContent"><img src="images/spacer1.gif" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt=" "></a></h1>
    .
    .
    .
    

    <A NAME="SkipToContent">My content starts here.</A>

    Example 2: <div id="accessibility" style="position:absolute; width:1px; height:1px; z-index:1; display:none;"><a href="#SkipToContent">Skip navigation</a></div>
    .
    .
    .
    

    <a name="SkipToContent">My content starts here.</a>

Client-side imagemaps are used instead of server-side imagemaps, which are rarely used nowadays anyway.

12. FRAMES. Frames are rarely used. They must include the <noframes> option and manage frame "targets."

13. BLINK TAGS AND FLICKER. Images or presentations that cause the screen to flicker, which can produce seizures in people with photosensitive epilepsy, are not used. Consult the accessibility resources for frequency specifications that apply to flicker.

14. VIDEO. University of Wisconsin System universities and colleges can use a no-fee license to HiCaption software for captioning Windows Media Player files. Visit http://www.cew.wisc.edu/accessibility/hisoftware/. See http://www.engr.wisc.edu/accessibility/closedcaptioning.html for tips.

15. QUIZZES OR TESTS. Quizzes and tests must list time limits as an aid to accessibility.

Priority conversion targets

index.html (homepage).
Accessibility information page (accessibility.html)
Engineering Student Services pages (http://studentservices.engr.wisc.edu). Last reviewed by a DoIT Accessibility Specialist 22-Apr-2003. TO DO: Repair or remove scripts.

• h1.html - OK. Visual check 12/18/2002
• newsletters.html - OK. Visual check 12/18/2002
• nae.html
• strategic_plan.html
• ar
• cards
• eday
• events
• headlines — added "Date created" to all legacy Weblines, 1995-2001, 12-17-2002.
• history
• index.html
• researchreview
• exhibits
• nae
• quiz
• wen

Accessibility resources

INTRODUCTORY

http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/ltde/access/ewers.htm
Introduction to the Screen Reader video

http://helpdesk.wisc.edu/accessibility/checklist.php
DoIT Web Accessibility Checklist

REFERENCES

Web Accessibility 101: Policy, Standards, and Design Techniques
This free on-line course by the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology (DoIT) is an excellent introduction to accessibility compliance for UW-Madison websites.

http://www.wisc.edu/wiscinfo/policy/wwwap.html
UW-Madison Policy Governing World Wide Web Accessibility

http://www.section508.gov/final_text.html
508 E & IT Requirements

http://www.trace.wisc.edu/
UW-Madison Trace Research and Development Center

http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/
W3C WCAG Guidelines

W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
A World Wide Web Consortium document that focuses on creating accessible websites.

http://www.doit.wisc.edu/accessibility/resources.asp
Visit this section of the UW-Madison DoIT website for more resources.

http://helpdesk.wisc.edu/accessibility/guideline/508guidelines.html
Practical examples are included in this excellent reference on the UW-Madison DoIT website.

http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/
Synchronized captioning for videos, requirement (b) of U.S. Section 508 can be met by working with this application from the UW-Madison Trace Research and Development Center.

http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/browsereport.jsp
Bobby Browse Report Help Files — Bobby is a well-known web-based accessibility checker. The help files can be used as a guide to common webpage repairs.

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/solutionsacc.html
Adobe Acrobat accessibility page.

National Library Information Service (Australia), Web Accessibility Workshops: Online Resources, retrieved March 8, 2004.

http://www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/postsec.html
AccessCollege: Postsecondary Education and Students with Disabilities by the University of Washington for students, faculty, staff, and administrators

http://www.uwex.edu/disted/access.html
An excellent resource for accessibility and other web development topics by Michele Jacques at UW-Extension.

http://accessnsdl.org/
National Science Foundation Digital Library Accessibility Resources

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Copyright 2006 The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System Date last modified: Thursday, 14-Sep-2006 15:35:43 CDT Date created: 07-Nov-2001 Content By: webmaster@engr.wisc.edu Thank you for visiting!