Web Accessibility at the University of California

Technical Topics

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A series of articles on various technical topics as they relate to Web accessibility may be found at the magazine, A List Apart. Information about specific technical challenges is provided below.

AJAX (More information on WebAIM site)
JavaScript support in screen readers is incomplete, rendering most JavaScript-dependent applications unusable. Furthermore, the dynamic nature of data and interface changes made using AJAX are not registered by screen readers.

• A Sitepoint article, "AJAX and Screenreaders: When Can It Work?" offers examples and challenges.
• Max Kiesler discusses how to make AJAX applications accessible.
• Jeremy Keith writes "Hijax: Progressive Enhancement with AJAX."

PDFs (More information on WebAIM site)
Most PDFs are graphic images and so are not accessible to people who use screen readers. Developers can take steps, though, to create accessible PDFs.

Flash
Flash features can increase accessibility (for example, through scalability, presentation of audio content, and keyboard accessibility). But developers must employ techniques to avoid the same accessibility problems found with HTML. WebAIM has a good article on the subject, "Creating Accessible Macromedia Flash Content."

Maps
Developers of accessible sites need to ensure that maps are useful for visually impaired people. A List Apart offers an article on methods for creating accessible maps that separate the text-based map data from the visual design.

Testing (More information on WebAIM site)
The key to an accessible Web site is to test it with both software tools and people. Articles from WebAIM about Web site evaluation are available. Information about involving end users in site testing can be found at the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative site. Jim Thatcher also provides information on testing tools on his Web site. A number of free testing tools are available although most only analyze one page at a time, rather than spidering through an entire site. UC developers should set tools to analyze sites for the section 508 Subpart B - Technical Standards § 1194.22 standards but, if they wish, can also test for the W3C standards.

• WAVE: This online tool from WebAIM has a somewhat cryptic reporting method that utilizes colored symbols.
• WebXACT: This is an online service provided by Watchfire with fairly user friendly reporting.
• Ramp Personal Edition: Deque Systems provides this free, cross platform (Java) application that runs on your local computer and has user-friendly reporting.
• TAW: This application only tests for W3C standards, not section 508. It has an online checker, a Firefox plugin, and a Java based stand-alone application. The Java application has spidering capabilities and provides great detail into the page errors as well as a very nice correction suggestion system.