The art of the accessibility statement

Internet Reference Services Quarterly

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 2005, Pages 47-62

  Providenti, Michael ^a  

^a NORTHERN KENTUCKY UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Accessibility; Section 508; Standards; Web Content Accessibility Guidelines; Web design; Wireless; World Wide Web; XHTML

Indexed keywords

EID: 33747678688     PISSN: 10875301     EISSN: 15404749     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1300/J136v10n01_04     Document Type: Article

References (38)

1. Michael Burks, "Emerging Technologies," in Constructing Accessible Web Sites (Glasshaus: Birmingham, UK, 2002): 324. Burks cites North Carolina State University's Center for Universal Design. Available: 〈http://www.design.ncsu.edu:8120/cud/univ_design/ud.htm〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
2. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG): Guideline 3.2. Available: 〈http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
3. Brian Kelly, "Web Focus: Let's Get Serious About HTML Standards," Ariadne 33 (September 2002). Available: 〈http://www. ariadne.ac.uk/issue33/web-focus/〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
4. Jeffrey Zeldman, Designing with Web Standards (New Riders: Indianapolis, 2003): 151.
5. Steve Noble, "Web Access and the Law: A Public Policy Framework" Library Hi Tech 20, no. 4 (2002): 403.
6. Also, Andrea Foster, "Colleges Focus on Making Web Sites Work for People with Disabilities," The Chronicle of Higher Education (Jan. 26, 2001), Available: 〈http://chronicle.com/free/2001/01/2001012601t.htm〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
7. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (ATBCB), "Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards." Available: 〈http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
8. Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards. http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/508standards.htm. Ibid.
9. Section 508. 36 CFR Part 1194. Available: 〈http://www.access-board. gov/sec508/508standards.htm〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
10. Consider Tim Spindler's study, "The Accessibility of Web Pages for Mid-Sized College and University Libraries," Reference and User Services Quarterly 42, no. 2 (Winter 2002): 149-154, which showed 56 percent of 188 sites in the study had problems with a lack of alternative text for images. This represents only one aspect of Section 508 non-compliance.
11. Axel Schmetzke's "Web Accessibility at University Libraries and Library Schools," Library Hi Tech 19, no. 1 (2001): 35-49, reported 59 percent Priority 1 approval for his sample which, while more promising, is still a lower standard than Section 508.
12. ATBCB.
13. Joe Clark, "Certification and Testing," in Building Accessible Websites (New Riders: 2003): 339.
14. W3C, WCAG.
15. Joe Clark's book is possibly the best on the topic and Mark Pilgrim's Web on-line book Dive into Accessibility, 〈http://diveintoaccessibility. org〉, is essential.
16. Jeffrey Zeldman's book has a chapter devoted to standards and accessibility and the online journal A List Apart, 〈http://www.alistapart. com〉, has published a series of articles on the topic of accessibility (and provides a link so you can easily find them all).
17. Library Hi Tech devoted two issues, guest edited by Axel Schmetzke, to accessibility: 20, no 2 (2002) and 20, no. 4 (2002). Schmetzke has also created a Web site devoted to surveys of Web accessibility which includes one of the most substantial reviews of Web accessibility materials in library literature available at 〈http://library.uwsp.edu/aschmetz/Accessible/websurveys. htm〉 Accessed: May 30, 2004.
18. Clark, 336-340.
19. U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Letter Docket No. 09-97-2002 (1997). Available: 〈http://www.rit.edu/~easi/law/csula. htm〉. Accessed May 30, 2004.
20. Zeldman, 204, uses the terms utopian and idealistic while Clark, 175, refers to a future utopia. Standards-compliant browsers, as identified by Stuart Robertson in "Access Keys: Unlocking Hidden Navigation," A List Apart, no. 158 (June, 16 2003), include Internet Explorer 5+ (Windows) 5+ (Mac), Mozilla (Windows + Linux), Netscape 6+ (Windows), Opera 7 (Windows + Linux). Available: 〈http://www.alistapart.com/stories/accesskeys/〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
21. Clark, 166-7. This is echoed as well in Jukka Korpela's "Improving accessibility with accesskey in HTML forms and links." Available: 〈http://www.es.tut.fi/~jkorpela/forms/accesskey.html〉 Accessed: May 30, 2004.
22. Clark, 166.
23. Korpela.
24. Ibid. While specific programs are not named, even numbers may cause conflicts with some programs.
25. See Mark Pilgrim's "Accessibility Statement," Dive into Accessibility." Available: 〈http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ accessibility_statement.html〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004;
26. "UK Government Accesskeys System," Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Available: 〈http://www.hmso.gov.uk/accesskeys.htm〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004;
27. "Accessibility Statement," University Relations, University of California, Berkeley. Available: 〈http://www.urel.berkeley.edu/site/ accessibility.html〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004;
28. DisabilityInfo.gov. Available: 〈http://www.disabilityinfo.gov/Main/ Accessibility〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004;
29. "Accessibility Statement for Academic Services," Princeton University. Available: 〈http://www.princeton.edu/as/accessibility. shtml〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004;
30. "Accessibility Statement," School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Indiana University. Available: 〈http://www.hper. indiana.edu/accessibility.shtml〉 Accessed: May 30, 2004;
31. and "Accessibility Statement," W. Frank Steely Library, Northern Kentucky University. Available: 〈http://library.nku.edu/web/ access.html〉 Accessed: May 30, 2004. A search engine should produce many more.
32. For Mozilla and Opera users, the following command in a style sheet will display the access key: [accesskey]:after {content: ""attr(accesskey) ""} or, as described by Stuart Robertson: a:after {content: "[" attr(accesskey) "] ";).
33. Zeldman, 169.
34. First seen on Mark Pilgrim's "Accessibility Statement."
35. Pilgrim, "Day 9: Providing additional navigation aids," Dive Into Accessibility. Available: 〈http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ day_9_providing_additional_navigation_aids.html〉 Accessed: May 30, 2004.
36. Paul Sowden, "Alternative Style: Working with Alternate Style Sheets," A List Apart, no. 126 (November 2, 2001). Available: 〈http://www.alistapart.com/stories/alternate/〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
37. W3C, Media Types. Available: 〈http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-CSS2/media. html〉. Accessed: May 30, 2004.
38. This sample is in debt to Mark Pilgrim's "Accessibility Statement" for Dive into Accessibility.