Web Accessibility

For Beginners

• Content Editors course powerpoint (PDF)
  Powerpoint from Sac State's accessibility course for content editors. Learn more about this class at ATCS.
• Video - An introduction to screen readers
  Yahoo video where a screen reader user shows how he uses his technology to surf the web.
• Screencasts about working with text, navigation, tables, and images
  Professional development from the CSU Chancellor's Office 
• Accessible Technology Initiative @ Sac State
  Sac State's guide to the CSU Chancellor's Office initiative to make all information technology accessible to everyone.
• CSU Accessibile Technology Iniative, Web Priority

Learning More

• Using and choosing color
  Color is a big deal in web design. But persons with vision disabilities may not be able to perceive it.
• Designers/Developers course powerpoint (PDF)
  Presentation from the Sac State accessibility course fore designers and developers
• WCAG 2.0
  Section 508 is old, WCAG 2.0 is new. Learn more about the new standards, and how you can use them to enhance your site's accessibility.
• Webinar - Designed-in Accessibility
  CSU Chancellor's Office webinar about separating content, presentation, and behavior (and why it's awesome)

Getting Technical

• ARIA
  ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications. If you're using Javascript to create a desktop-like experience (with dialog boxes, datagrids, or complex menus), this article will get you started.
• Get JAWS
  Sac State has a site license for JAWS, a leading screen reader. Use it for testing your site (or to experience the web as a blind person might).
• Get NVDA
  NVDA is a new free browser for Windows. If you're not at Sac State, this is for you.
• Screen reader survey from WebAIM
  Perhaps the most complete survey of screenreader users out there. A great starting point if you need to know which of several techniques people prefer.

PDFs

• Webinar - PDF Accessibility for beginners
• Webinar - PDF Accessibility (advanced)
• Webinar - PDF Accessibility (meeting WCAG 2.0 standards)
• Webinar - PDF Forms
• CommonLook
  CommonLook is a plugin for Adobe Acrobat Pro (windows) to help users remediate their PDF files. Sac State employees can obtain a copy through their ITC.
• ATI Resources for PDF

Word

• Word accessiblity resources at Sac State
• ATI Resources for Word authoring

Videos and Captioning

• Captioning tool from WebAIM
  A free flash tool for captioning flash video files (.flv)
• Sac State Captioning Services
  Request captions for your video using this form.
• Automatic Sync, Inc.
  Automatic Sync is a third party vendor that will take your video and give you any format captions file you like. The CSU has a deal to provide this service at a reduced cost.

Testing for Accessibility

• Sac State Checklist
  The standard against which all Sac State websites are evaluated, complete with instructions on how to check each checkpoint. (subject to change, last updated 6/2009)
• CSU Chancellor's Office Checklist
  Advisory checklist based on Section 508
• WAVE (toolbar)
  Free evalutation tool that analyzes your page and puts graphics where it finds accessibility errors, warnings, and features. Great tool for getting a quicklook at a page.
• Firefox Web Developer Toolbar
  Basic toolbar for controlling Firefox features like turning on/off CSS, Javascript, and images.
• Web Accessibility Toolbar (IE)
  Toolbar for IE6+ that enables easy disabling of scripting and changing of text size (plus a lot of other neat stuff)
• Colour Contrast Analyser
  Desktop app (win/mac) for determining whether a background/foreground color combination has sufficient contrast.
• Firefox Accessibility Extension
  Firefox extension that runs a report that pops up as a dialog. Focused on functionality, not federal standards.
• Jim Thatcher's Favelets
  Bookmarklets for listing and inspecting tags on a page that might have accessibility barriers. Great for assisting with manual checks.

Blogs and websites that deal with accessibility

• 456 Berea Street
• Planet Accessibility
• Adobe Accessibility (blog)
• Jim Thatcher's personal site
• Glenda Watson Hyatt's personal site
• Juicy Studio
• The Paciello Group (blog)
• Web Standards Project
• Opera Web Standards Curriculum
• ATI Professional Development Website
  Tons of resources and links around the CSU system, as well as helpful guidesfrom the web