I had the opportunity to read the article 5 steps to an accessible classroom website. Finely stated within the first few sentences it read "websites should be accessible to those with visual, hearing, movement, cognitive and speech disabilities." I personally could not agree more...but by what means can we navigate to such an approach. Step one: *Organize for easier navigation. Making sure you use headers to structure your website only seems appropriate, as it allows readers to identify new sections. Headers are like your front...they allow a reader to gain a perspective of what is to be expected. It noted also when in choosing how to set up your webpage to keep in mind the font and color scheme as it should be made appropriate for all audience types. Step two: *Navigation without a mouse. This steps focus was based on that of using the keyboard for all navigation purposes. It was said that the tab key should be used in replacement of the mouse. I think this is a great prompt, as I myself personally have a lap top and use my keys as my navigational guide to roam. Using the keys instead of a mouse is also a beneficial approach to those with visual impairments allowing them to feel the brail with their sense of touch. Step three: *Text explanations for Images. "provide text for every item that is not in text format, such as images, audio, animation, buttons, java applets and image maps." Including text will help the reader understand what is to be expected and leaving them with little to question. Step four: *Using text that makes sense. Let face it...everybody wants to know what they are getting themselves into to. It was noted to avoid using simple text such as "click here" but to rather use text that will engage the browser to continue in a more descriptive way such as using the link for a title attribute. Step five: * web validators. "Web validators evaluate your website according to various categories of accessibility." When it comes time for website evaluation, this neat little tool will help generate accessibility and make reports to locate any accessibility problems. Using these five steps will help provide you with a better and more accessible webpage.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI too read this article and thought it brought up some great points. I like that you mentioned the "Click Here" problem. I think we can get caught up in making a complex web design that looks cool, but can easily forget about reaching all the people who will be reading our webpages; especially the parents of our students!
Hi Jessica, that seems like a very interesting article. Web design is a constantly changing field, and as educators we'd do well to stay up to speed on the best web practices for relaying information to students and parents. I can even think of some popular web sites that break some of those basic guidelines - for example, the new Gmail design has all these vague icons without text which makes it difficult to find the function you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned you were curious about how website designers can make their site accessible to those with disabilities. Here is a pretty interesting article I found on the subject: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9610.html Since I am going into special ed, making information available to people with a wide range of disabilities is definitely going to be a priority.