Before and After Considering Accessibility


Introduction:

This ADE will provide you with a quick introduction to computer accessibility. Since one common experience among all of us is the use of the Web, we will explore website accessibility for practical examples of technology access.

At the end of this ADE, you will have gained some awareness on the issue of accessibility and you should be able to explain why accessibility is important.

Note: This ADE is intended to be completed using Windows.


What to Do:

  1. To begin, please view an introduction to Web Accessibility

  2. Using your favorite browser, explore the "WAI Before and After Demo".

    Try each of the Before - the inaccessible website links (e.g. for the Home page, the News page, etc)

    1. first look at the Inaccessible page and see if you see any obvious accessibility problems
      1. the demonstration page is within a larger page that includes various controls
    2. click on Show Annotations (in the controls section), and go through each of the annotations that appear in square brackets
      1. mouse over the annotation to see it
      2. click on the annotation and look at information on the problem, then go Back to demo
      3. mouse over the object being annotated, to see if the object responds to being moused over
      4. click on the object to see what happens, then if you left the page you were on go back to it
    3. using the control section above the page, click on the Accessible version of the page
      1. mouse over the annotation to see it
      2. click on the annotation and look at information on the problem, then go Back to demo
      3. mouse over the object being annotated, to see if the object responds to being moused over
      4. click on the object to see what happens, then if you left the page you were on go back to it

    What to Hand-in:

    Answer the following questions:

    Visually, there are few differences between the "inaccessible" and "accessible" versions of the demonstration websites:

    1. For 5 different accessibility problems identified in the demo that could easily be avoided 
      1. identify the general problem
      2. identify what could be done to avoid each
      3. discuss whether or not you are likely to make this problem in the future (and why you think so)
    2. Discuss how designers might inadvertently disenfranchise people and what could be done about it
    3. Feedback
      1. What were your expectations of this ADE?
      2. Did this ADE meet your expectations? Provide a rating between 1 and 7, where 1 means not at all, 4 means somewhat, and 7 means absolutely. Please explain your choice.
      3. Did you feel that the video(s) for this ADE was appropriate? Why or why not? Provide a rating between 1 and 7, where 1 means not at all, 4 means somewhat, and 7 means absolutely. Please explain your choice.
      4. Do you have any suggestions for other possible videos?
      5. Did you feel that the questions above got you to think about the real and serious issues regarding this ADE? Provide a rating between 1 and 7, where 1 means not at all, 4 means somewhat, and 7 means absolutely. Please explain your choice.
      6. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this ADE, please include it here.