W3C Web Accessibility Guidelines

            These guidelines were created by the World Wide Web Consortium to assist designers with the creation of web accessible sites.  These are not a list of techniques or tools to create accessible web pages.  This is just a means of getting started.  A complete list and tools for implementing them is available at www.w3.org/tr/wai-webcontent

• Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.

• Don't rely on color alone to convey a message.

• Use markup language and style sheets (formats for HTML), and do so properly.

• Clarify natural language usage.

• Create tables that transform gracefully

• Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes.

• Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces

• Design for device dependence

• Provide context and orientation information

• Provide clear navigation mechanisms

• Ensure that documents are clear and simple.

• Do not use absolute font sizes

There are also books and websites available that give you examples of how to create pages that meet these guidelines.

• Web Accessibility for People with Disabilities by Michael Paciello

• Building Accessible Websites by Joe Clark

• Cascading Style Sheets: Separating Content from Presentation by Owen Briggs, et al.

• Disability Simulations by WebAIM

  • Screen reader simulation www.webaim.org/simulations/screenreader

  • Impaired vision simulation www.webaim.org/simulations/lowvision

  • Cognitive Disabilities simulation www.webaim.org/simulations/cognitive.

• Windows 2000 Accessibility Tutorials - www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windows2000/default.aspx

• World Wide Access - Accessible Web Design - University of Washington www.washington.edu/doit/Brochures/PDF/universal.design.pdf

• WebAIM How-To Tutorials - by Web Accessibility in Mind, Utah State University www.webaim.org/howto

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