Learn: By taking this training, you’ve already begun the first step of creating accessible content. Continue your learning by completing this training, using our “further resources” and doing your own research. Seek and listen to feedback about your site’s accessibility, and be sure to consider your audience and the challenges they might face when accessing your website.
Plan: In the Take Action section, we will ask you to make a plan on how you will ensure that your site is accessible. Use this plan to help you consider accessibility at all stages of web content creation.
Review: Once you’ve learned how to create accessible content, review the content that is already on your website. Keep note of where content needs to be improved and incorporate making those changes into your plan. The last module in this training provides a comprehensive website checklist for identifying areas of improvement.
What are the rules and guidelines surrounding web accessibility?
The standards for web accessibility are currently governed by the 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). Within these guidelines, which cover a broader scope of accessibility standards, the AODA upholds the standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level AA.
If you work in Ontario, you have most likely taken the standard AODA training. For the most part, the standard training does not focus specifically on web accessibility. In our training, here, we will briefly examine the principles of the WCAG, which focus on web accessibility.
Web accessibility is concerned with both code and content. We have ensured that all sites in the carleton.ca domain meet the AODA code requirements. However, it is up to you to ensure that your content is accessible.
WCAG principles
WCAG is organized around four principles:
Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways that they can perceive.
Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, speech, or simpler language.
Provide alternatives for time-based media.
Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.
Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable.
Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
Provide users enough time to read and use content.
Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.
Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.
Make text content readable and understandable.
Make web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
Help users avoid and correct mistakes.
Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies.
Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.
In cases where you can’t make the website or web content accessible, the information it contains must be made available upon request.
The WCAG provides guidelines on accessibility. Throughout further modules in this training, we will address design best practices that help fulfill these accessibility goals.
Welcome back to module 1 of our accessibility training. This video focuses on your approach to making content accessible, as well as a brief overview of regulations and guidelines that must be met concerning web accessibility.
To help you formulate an approach to making your content accessible, we’ve divided the process into three steps:
The good news is that, by taking this training, you’ve already begun the first step. To create accessible content, understanding accessibility challenges and how to design web content to accommodate them is necessary. The rest of this training will take you through these topics, but don’t end your learning there! We’ve included further resources in the last unit of every module which you can explore. We also encourage you to do your own research, including seeking and incorporating feedback about your site’s accessibility, especially from actual site users and those in your target audience.
Making accessible content includes both education and action. Once you have the skillset to make your content accessible, it’s time to create a comprehensive approach to your content. By planning your approach, you can ensure that you aren’t missing anything, as well as get your whole team on the same page and incorporate accessibility at all stages of web content creation. Creating an accessibility plan is our take action activity in the next section.
While your plan should incorporate accessible design into the creation of new content, you should also review content that currently lives on your website. While looking through your website, keep note of where content needs to be changed and incorporate those changes into your accessibility plan. The last module of this training also has a comprehensive checklist of changes that should be made to make a site more accessible.
By placing the rules and guidelines at the very end of this module, hopefully we’ve shown how fulfilling accessibility requirements is much more important than simply complying with a set of rules. However, it is worthwhile to also understand the rules and guidelines surrounding web accessibility, as they both set expectations and provide a set of goals.
The 2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, or AODA, sets the current standard for accessibility guidelines within Ontario.
While the AODA covers a broader scope of accessibility concerns, it upholds the standards of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 level AA.
Web accessibility is concerned with both the code and the content of a website. We’ve ensured that the code on all of our sites is accessible. However, as a website editor, you are responsible for ensuring that the content you create is accessible. Here, we will discuss the four WCAG principles as a means to structure creating accessible content. The principles are as follows:
Perceivable: your content must be presented in a way that users can perceive. For example, this could be providing text alternatives to non-text content. This text can then be changed on the part of the user and their assistive technology into something that they can perceive, such as larger print, speech, or different fonts.
Operable: user interface and navigation must be operable. For example, all functionality should be operable by keyboard. Some users might not be able to use a mouse or trackpad, making the ability to navigate by keyboard vital.
Understandable: information and the user interface must be understandable. For example, text content should be clear and web pages should operate in predictable ways.
Finally, Robust: content must be robust enough to be compatible with various assistive technologies. For example, content needs to be accessible by a wide range of hardware and software, such as screen-readers, screen-magnifiers, alternative keyboard and mouse options, voice recognition software, and more.
The following modules will explore further how to create accessible content that is in compliance with these guidelines. As you explore them, consider the next steps in your accessibility plan: when you learn a new design tip or skill, how will you apply this to your site-building?