Web Accessibility Resources

Navigate

This is not intended to be a comprehensive list, but rather a few key resources to get you started. Many of the resources listed below have thorough and well-maintained lists of links.

Key Web Site Resources

Time is a rare commodity, so we've highlighted a few key sites that you don't want to miss.

TRACE: Designing More Usable Web Sites: A great list of resources from the University of Wisconsin. This is actually part of a larger resource, Designing a More Usable World, well worth your time.
University of Washington's DoIT: The DO-IT Program (Disabilities, Opportunities, InterNetworking and Technology) has won national awards for their activities in promoting the use of electronic and information technology to maximize the independence, productivity and participation of people with disabilities. Their one-page list of links on Accessible Web Page Design is a comprehensive one-click-away directory, with brief annotations.
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI): WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through five primary areas of work: technology, guidelines, tools, education and outreach, and research and development. The WAI is perhaps the most comprehensive and useful resource for web accessibility. Their site includes guidelines, techniques, training curricula, slide presentations, user agent updates, etc.
WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind: Introduction, laws, guidelines, tools, research, articles, products and services, how-tos, and other resources. Be sure to try the low vision simulator and the screen reader simulator.

Accessibility Evaluation and Repair Tools

WAVE: Helps identify how assistive technology like screen readers will read a page. Enter in the URL or add a button to the link bar in your browser. If Bobby can be likened to a spell checker, this is a grammar checker. In practice, you may find this to be a far more useful tool than Bobby.
Bobby: Bobby is a tool for web page authors that identify changes to their pages so users with disabilities can more easily use their Web pages. You can enter a URL to check or download and install Bobby. Bobby checks against either the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 or U.S. Section 508 Guidelines.
Cynthia Says: Cynthia is a web content accessibility validation solution, it is designed to identify errors in design related to Section 508 standards and the WCAG guidelines.
A-Prompt: A-Prompt (Accessibility Prompt) is a software tool designed to improve the usability of HTML documents by evaluating Web pages for accessibility barriers and then providing developers with a fast and easy way to make the necessary repairs.
Checky: The Checky Plug-in for Mozilla-based browsers is a front end to many different free and commercial online validaton and analysis services. Service interfaces available for HTML, XHTML, CSS, RDF, RSS, XML, WAI, Section 508, P3P, various viewer, valets and purifiers.
WATS.ca: Testing Tools for Developing Accessible Web Sites: A selection of well-annotated resources.
Lynx Viewer: View your page as it would appear in Lynx, a text-only browser.
Colorblind Web Page Filter: Provide a URL, choose a color filter, and this service displays the page as a person with the selected color vision deficiency might see it.

Code Validators

W3C HTML Validator: Validate code online or download the source code and install locally.
W3C CSS Validator: Validate code online or download the source code and install locally.
Web Design Group HTML Validator.: An alternative to the W3C validator.
HTML Tidy: Cleans up (X)HTML and CSS; offers accessibility advice for non-graphical browsers. Open source for Windows, Mac, Unix, etc. Use alone or as a plugin to a number of text/(X)HTML editors.

Online Courseware Accessibility

Blackboard Accessibility: Blackboard's own pages about creating accessible courses using the Blackboard IMS.
WebCT Accessibility: WebCT's own page about how to develop accessible WebCT content, including links to strategies for accessible course design.
IMS Global Learning Consortium Accessibility

Regretfully, we do not yet have good resources for Desire2Learn accessibility. Please email sam.buchanan@so.mnscu.edu if you have any to suggest.

Other Web Site Resources

Accessify.com: News, tools, and other web accessibility resources.
access.adobe.com: A resource designed to help people with disabilities work more effectively with Adobe® software, and help content creators use Adobe software to produce content that is accessible to as many people as possible.
The Access Board - a federal agency committed to accessible design: Contains information about the Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards (Sec 508) and the Telecommunications Act Accessibility

Alternative Web Browsing: The WAI's list of alternative browsing resources (e.g. screen readers).
Apple - Accessibility: Special needs solutions for vision, hearing, physical/motor, literacy & learning, language & communication.

CAST: CAST is a not-for-profit education research and development organization that uses technology to make education more flexible and accessible for all students, especially those with disabilities.
Colorblind Web Page Filter: Apply color filters to a web page of your choice.
Color Vision Checker: This tool helps you simulate the appearance of a site's colors for people with different color visions.

Color Vision Simulator: Vischeck's color vision model allows you to simulate how the world looks to people with various sorts of color deficiency.

Curriculum Transformation and Disability: Curriculum Transformation and Disability (CTAD), a collaboration of the University of Minnesota's General College and Disability Services, was designed to help postsecondary faculty make their classes more accessible to all students, including students with disabilities.
Dive Into Accessibility - 30 days to a more accessible web site: For one month in early 2002, Mark Pilgrim published a web accessibility tip every day on his weblog — complete with rationale and real-world advice. These are now assembled on a web site of their own. Good stuff.
Doing Forms Justice: A good overview of designing accessible forms using XHTML and CSS.
Guild of Accessible Web Designers
International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet
Macromedia's accessibility resources.: Tools, guidelines, and tutorials for accessibility features in Macromedia products.
MAGpie: A free tool for creating captions on video. From the National Center for Accessible Media.
Microsoft's Accessibility Resources: Microsoft tools for accessibility.

Section508.gov: The official Federal Web site dedicated to Section 508. Note: Scant attention is paid here to accessibility concerns beyond Section 508.
State of Illinois Web Accessibility Guidelines: These may be the clearest guidelines for accessibility that we've seen, addressing both WCAG Priority 1 checkpoints and Section 508. Our accessibility guidelines are based in large part on these.
University of Minnesota Duluth Web Design References: Accessibility
Usability First - Accessibility


Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer

Tutorials

W3C Web Accessibility Initiative Tutorial: Take the tutorial online or download the curriculum in ZIP format.

WebAIM Techniques and Concepts: A number of tutorials and online training sessions, including application-specific guides (e.g. for Dreamweaver, FrontPage, Acrobat PDF).

Minnesota Resources

Minnesota Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Guidelines: Minnesota's current guidelines. Honestly, these need work. For some reason the final version looks suspiciously like an early draft rather than reflecting necessary changes that were made in subsequent drafts.
STAR - A System of Technology to Achieve Results: A lot of the web accessibility activities in Minnesota state government seem to involve this office. They helped draft the Minnesota Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Guidelines.
University of Minnesota Computer Accommodations Program
UMD Web Design Resources: Accessibility
Minnesota State Webmasters Group