"Web Accessibility"
by Kimberly Byrd

Online Resources

There is a plethora of information regarding accessibility available to you online. The following lists only scratch the surface but will hopefully serve as a terrific starting point as you search to create accessible Web content. (Note: Each list is arranged alphabetically, and all resource links will spawn a new window when activated.)

Regulations and Recommendations
     These Web sites are either official government sites that explain legislation or sites that are dedicated to establishing Internet accessibility standards.

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Section 508: Electronic and Information Technology
• Section 508: The Road to Accessibility
• South Carolina Web Accessibility
• U.S. Department of Justice: ADA Standards for Accessible Design
• Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG)
• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Site Evaluation Software
     Although there is absolutely no substitute for manually checking each page of a Web site for accessibility, automated checking programs, such as those listed here, can instantly provide useful reports on the overall effectiveness of a site.

• Aprompt (free, downloadable software program for PC users)
• HiSoftware® AccVerify (View the product overview page for AccVerify.)
• HiSoftware® Cynthia Says™ Portal (free online single page testing service)
• Lynx (a text only web browser)
• Lynx Viewer (free online text-based browser Web page evaluation)
• Watchfire® Bobby™ 5.0 (View the pdf spec sheet for Bobby.)
• WebXACT (free online version of the Bobby software for single page testing)
• Vischek (color vision simulator)
• Visolve (assistive color deficiency software)

Tips, Topics, & Tutorials
     The following sites educate Web developers of all levels on accessibility issues.

• Access IT: National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (hosted by University of Washington)
• AWARE Center: Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education (resource page hosted by the HTML Writers Guild)
• Disabled Users of the Web (Jakob Nielsen's useit.com site)
• Dive Into Accessibility (a 30 day tutorial for creating a more accessible Web site)
• Usability.gov (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services electronic publication)
• Web Accessibility for Section 508 (Jim Thatcher's tutorial Web site)