(Excerpted from DAIS Newsletter, Volume II, No. 5)
The debut of the DAIS webpage has brought the issue of web accessibility "home" (pun intended!). After harping on the issue so much in the last several editions of the DAIS Newsletter, it was important to be sure that what we put in place would be something that could be used as a good example of how to make your website a user-friendly place for all, including those with disabilities. Thanks to the technical expertise of my webmaster, Charley Tiggs, I think the DAIS website fulfills that goal for now -- but I am learning that there is still work to be done!
For some websites that use lots of fancy graphics, frames, and tables (are you impressed with the way I am starting to master this computer lingo?), it is often appropriate to provide a "text only" version of the webpage. In other words, a single file provided in text format that will be readily accessible to those using adaptive equipment and that provides all the vital content of the website without the frills. Because the DAIS website is primarily text information to begin with, and because we carefully constructed the site without using potentially troublesome techniques, it was not necessary to provide a "text only" version. However, the very first thing you find at the top of the webpage is the universal symbol for internet access and an invitation to "click on the Access Ramp" to find out how best to explore the site. Visitors who accept the invitation are given a brief description of how the pages are arranged within the website (i.e., a minimum of graphics, a place at the bottom of each page to allow you to send email to DAIS, a button that returns you to the home page, and so on). There is also specific note of any potential problems in accessing the site using adaptive technology (e.g., there is note of the fact that the Boston University webpage that was moved to the DAIS site was constructed using frames but there is a "text only" version available to users through the cover page). Several people have commented that this kind of "road map" of what to expect makes navigating through the site much easier for folks using adaptive technology.
There are all sorts of accessibility features coded into the construction of the page; I don't understand much of the technical information, but fortunately Charley does! I just wanted to know whether, when all was said and done, the website (starting with the home page) was accessible to everyone. Enter the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) and Bobby.
CAST is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to expand opportunities for all people -- especially those with disabilities -- through the innovative uses of computer technology. "Bobby" is the name of the free online service of CAST that will analyze single web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities. You can reach Bobby at http://www.cast.org/bobby. There are several versions of Bobby currently available at this site (they are in the process of upgrading their standards)...You feed in the address you want checked (for the DAIS home page you need only enter www.janejarrow.com) and Bobby goes to that site and runs the page through a list of commonly accepted accessibility barriers. Bobby will tell you whether the page is or is not up to snuff in terms of accessible and then provides specific information about problems discovered by the Bobby check, going line-by-line and talking in "computerese." Those who know about HTML coding and how to create web pages will understand the information passed along. The rest of us can simply feed that information through to the people who do the webpage construction on our behalf. Bobby is best used as a tool.. If you run your webpage through a Bobby check and receive information about potential access problems, you can use that information to address those problems specifically and improve the access.
Bobby is not the "end all and be all" for webpage accessibility. The system itself is being upgraded to reflect more stringent access standards under development by a worldwide consortium on web access. The system checks for compatibility with various web browsers and its complaints about browser compatibility are often very simplistic -- it is shooting for the common denominator in all the systems in use and therefore does not like anything creative because it might be a problem for someone, sometime (e.g., it hates the decorative line divider used on the DAIS website to distinguish between topics). Moreover, Bobby is analyzing the coding and the readability of the information provided, but is not capable of analyzing the content of that information. For example, it objects to the descriptive title of the DAIS link that says, "Visit the kitchen and find out what's cooking at DAIS" because it believes it to be confusing, simply because it is long. In experimenting with Bobby on other web pages, it gave a very poor rating to access for one page that began by providing a link to a "text only" version. Bobby acknowledged that the top line was fully accessible, but complained about much of what was present below -- it did not have the capability of following that link to examine the access of the information formatted specifically to that purpose. Nevertheless, Bobby is a great place to start, to see if you need to explore or consider possible changes.
After having worked so hard to make the DAIS website accessible, we are now facing a whole new set of challenges. The hope is that the website will provide direct links to other internet resources that may be useful to visitors, from information on upcoming conferences to sample policies and procedures for DSS offices. On the DSSHE-L listserv, I asked folks who had web pages for their DSS offices to forward the url's for those sites so that we could establish links from the DAIS website. Of the first six addresses received, two of them took me to websites that were largely inaccessible to people using adaptive technology. I cannot control the access provided (or not!) by others, but I find myself in an ethical dilemma as to whether/how to direct people to such sites knowing they are not fully usable. Currently, we are trying to figure out how to make information and links available without compromising standards for accessibility. Stay tuned -- and start checking!
