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W3C/508 Compliance Standards
Web Accessibility Design
GO universal—make your sites available to all web users |
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| Make your sites accessible |
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The Web brings people closer than ever before, but for those with disabilities such as sight or hearing impairment, limited mobility, or attention deficit disorder, the Web can present more barriers than freedoms.
People with disabilities often struggle with the content, navigation, and even color schemes presented on Web sites. But the good news is that it doesn't have to be this way, and Web developers have many tools at their disposal to make their sites truly user-friendly.
In this three-lesson course, you'll learn about laws that govern website accessibility, the key checkpoints and code you can use to build an accessible site, and how to test for accessibility. You'll study accessibility standards set forth by groups within the World Wide Web consortium (W3C), and complete projects that give you a richer understanding of these standards. And you'll be surprised to see how creative and robust your designs can be while meeting even the strictest standards.
This course is developed by Molly E. Holzschlag—one of the Web's most influential and knowledgeable experts in the field of Web standards. The course will help guide you through the code, techniques—and hotly debated opinions—and prepare you for building sites that reach out to all users. |
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Tuition:  
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MORE INFO: faculty
| prerequisites | objectives | outline
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Faculty:
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Instructor:
Margaret Penney is a teacher, designer, writer and media artist ... get bio
Course Developer:
Molly E. Holzschlag is an industry-leading author, educator, and Web designer ... get bio |
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Prerequisites:
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| To take this course, you'll need: |
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Computer with Internet connection (56 Kbps modem or
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Web hosting account for posting site projects. |
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Web Design I or equivalent experience with Web page design and development (grasp of HTML, CSS, Javascript). |
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CSS Essentials or equivalent experience in coding CSS. |
| * If needed, the following course(s) can help you meet
the above requirements: |
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HTML Basics, Web Design I, CSS Essentials |
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Objectives:
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Students can expect to learn how to: |
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Learn how users with various disabilities access Web sites and view Web content. |
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Study and analyze how specific Web accessibility initiatives and legislation impact Web design and Web designers.
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Use proper (X)HTML document structure as a starting point for all accessible Web page designs. |
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Utilize specific code attributes and properties that give users alternatives to graphic and multimedia content. |
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Use color appropriately so that all Web site content and instructions are clear to users with color deficiencies. |
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Use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to control all layout and presentation. |
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Format layout or data tables appropriately for accessibility by screen readers and other special browsers. |
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Format and present content clearly with content chunking, headings, skip links, consistent design, and other techniques |
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Use online and downloadable services to test the accessibility of a site at various priority levels. |
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Utilize thorough testing and checkpoint techniques to correct accessibility hurdles on existing Web sites. |
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Outline:
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| LESSON
1 Accessibility Defined There's much more to making a site accessible than clear navigation and browser compatibility. True website accessibility means making a site available to users with various physical and cognitive disabilities. Lesson One explores the goals of the Web Accessibility movement, the initiatives of the W3C, and how U.S. and international law impacts accessibility. You will also learn about various impairments that can affect Web viewing and how they can be addressed. In the exercise, you'll research and present information about accessibility laws and topics that are most relevant to your Web design goals. |
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2 Addressing WCAG Initiative Priorities Making a site accessible isn't an arbitrary or opinion-based endeavor—Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) break accessibility into three major priority levels, each with a series of checkpoints. This lesson addresses the checkpoints of Levels 1 and 2 and how they should affect your code and design choices. You'll understand how each checkpoint benefits users with various needs. In the exercise, you'll create a Web site that is compliant with priority levels one and two. |
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3 Priority Level 3 and Accessibility Testing The first focus of this lesson is on priority level three—the most strict (and most debated) set of checkpoints. You'll then spend time learning to test your site designs for various levels of accessibility. Web site testing tools and services are covered, and you'll learn how a team or individual designer tackles accessibility testing. The final project will have you checking your own site using two free testing services and thoroughly analyzing the results. |
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