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Web Accessibility Resources

With so much to learn about web accessibility, where is the best place to begin? The following resources are good starting points to learn how to ensure your page is accessible.

Web Accessibility Specialist

Need more help? Contact Dave Katten at katten@csus.edu.

For Beginners

  • What is Accessibility?
    An article about what accessibility is, and isn't.
  • 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.
  • How to write ALT text (coming soon)
    Ever wonder what makes good ALTernate text for images? This can help.
  • Making accessible data tables (coming soon)
    If you have a data table (where each cell is related to the others in its column and row), this is an important article for you.
  • Giving a web page structure (coming soon)
    A big part of accessibility is about giving your pages proper structure using headings, lists, and paragraphs.
  • How to title your pages (coming soon)
    Each web page should have a unique title. But what should it include?
  • Creating links
    Almost all web pages have links to other pages. This article covers how to do them right.
  • Section 508 - What is it? (coming soon)
    Brief introduction to the federal guidelines that govern all Sac State (and related) sites
  • 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

  • Excessive Accessibility (coming soon)
    Is there such a thing as too much accessibility? YES.
  • Designing without tables (coming soon)
    While layout tables aren't necessarily an accessibility barrier, you're better off without them. Here's why (and how).
  • Using and choosing color (coming soon)
    Color is a big deal in web design. But persons with vision disabilities may not be able to perceive it.
  • Using the Sac State Template
    Instructions for getting the most out of the template from Web Services
  • 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

  • Javascript - what not to do (a brief introduction) (coming soon)
    Javascript is everywhere on the web today. This is a short list of "don't"s (which is by no means complete)
  • Using Javascript to enhance access (coming soon)
    Javascript used to be a four letter word when it came to accessibility. But you can use its powers for good instead of evil!
  • Menus (coming soon)
    Flyouts, click-downs, pull-downs, megas; what to look for when making your next menu
  • Flash (coming soon)
    Rich media experiences are all over the web, but how accessible are they? Resources for making your next flash project accessible
  • Slideshows (coming soon)
    Image slideshows are everywhere, and present unique challenges. Includes links to accessible slideshows and what to look for.
  • 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

Word

Videos and Captioning

  • Introduction to captions (coming soon)
    What they are, how to get them, and whether you need to (hint: yes, you do).
  • 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.
  • Webinar - the ABCs of Captioning (coming soon)
    CSU Chancellor's Office-sponsored webinar on the best ways to tackle captioning

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.
  • Sac State autocheck reports
    Generated nightly by AccMonitor. If you'd like your site to be monitored, contact web@csus.edu.
  • 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.
  • Testing for low vision on Windows (coming soon)
    Issues that arise for low vision users are often different than for blind users. Be sure to test for these users too!
  • How to use JAWS to test for accessibility (coming soon)
    What to look for when using a screenreader to test accessibility.

Blogs and websites that deal with accessibility

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