World Wide Web accessibility
Last updated 2 March 2010
New:
Please feel free to make suggestions for material to put on this page. You will also find links to useful resources on Australia's Internet Industry Association web accessibility page .
See also our ecommerce access resource page for links on accessibility of other electonic publishing, multimedia, telecommunications and ATMs and other transaction machines.
See also accessibility links from accessibility.com.au
New: Bruce Maguire demonstrates use of Braille display on Youtube
Standards and guidelines
Technical
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 released 12 December 2008
- World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.1
- Microsoft accessibility page
- IBM accessibiliy centre
- Adobe Inc accessibility page.
- Macromedia Flash accessibility: guidelines, techniques and toolkit for improving accessibility of Flash presentations . See now accessibility announcement on accessiblity features for media player and developer software
- Making educational software and websites accessible : guidelines including maths/science solutions from WGBH Boston (US access experts)
- Accessible Forms using WCAG 2.0
- Guidelines for accessible online forms (Mandoforms.com / RNIB UK)
Legal/policy
- World Wide Web access: Disability Discrimination Act Advisory Note from the Commission
- Government 2.0 submission
- Australian Government Information Management Office Web Publishing Guide
- Webwatch: accessibility issues on Australian Government sites
- New Zealand Government web standards wiki
- UK Disability Rights Commission/British Standards Institute guidance
- National Information and Library Service index of Australian web access policies and guidelines
- NOIE minimum website standards
- Australian National Audit Office Better Practice Guide accessibility chapter : prepared in conjunction with the Commission. The full Guide is available on the ANAO site
- NSW Government guidelines on provision of information and services using the internet
- Best practice guidelines for Australian legal web sites: Legal Information Standards Council
- U.K. guidelines for government websites including links to handbook and training resources
- Internet industry Accessible Web Action Plan : see Internet Industry Association press release and Commission press release
- "Wise web weaving: guidelines for web site development": Department of Education, Tasmania
Tools and techniques
Links from Media Access Australia
Building accessible sites
- U.K. Royal National Institute for the Blind web access centre
- Austin Accessibility Internet Rally training materials
- Disabled Accessibility , J.Nielsen
- Web accessibility: Joe Clark: online version; book also available
- "OptionKeys: Developing Accessible WebSites": resources and advice from TAFE NSW
- "Building an accessible web site", A.Kahn
- "Accessible web design: a definition", C. Letourneau
- UK accessible design page from C. Mardiros
- A web designer's guide to JAWS (screen reader program)
- Making forms more accessible: S.Faulkner, NILS Australia
Checking accessibility
- World Wide Web Consortium resource on Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility
- Cynthia Says online or downloadable accessibility checking program
- Accessibility testing tools: UK Royal National Institute for the Blind
- A-prompt web page accessibility tool
- Ask Alice accessibility checking service (free evaluation service by commercial web design provider)
- Hermish: UK accessibility tools
Workshops and training
Email us at disabdis@humanrights.gov.au to add details of other training events you are aware of.
- Workshops from Vision Australia on web accessibility and writing for the web
Legal issues
- Decision in Maguire v SOCOG : $20000 damages ordered under Australia's Disability Discrimination Act for site inaccessibility
- United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on "The Applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to Private Internet Sites" -- February 9, 2000 ; and additional testimony by Dr Gregg Vanderheiden
- "Web accessibility and the DDA (U.K.)", M.Sloan, Journal of Information Law and Technology
- See also the Commission's working paper reviewing accessibility of Australian Government sites in late 1999.
- Press release: DDA still covers internet despite US decision (23 October)
- Information technology and disability journal special issue
Other resources
- UK Disability Rights Commission accessibility survey and comments by Web Accessibility Initiative
- U.K. Disability Rights Commission demonstration of inaccessible web sites
- European Design for All E-Accessibility Network
- NOIE accessibility page
- "The Web Accessibility Initiative", M.Margolin
- Campaign for a non browser-specific World Wide Web
- Barrier free access to seniors computing clubs
- Web sites for rural Australia: designing for accessibility, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (Note: this is a PDF file but will convert to text or HTML using the tools at http://access.adobe.com/tools.html )
- Euroaccessibility consortium
- "Top ten mistakes in web design", "Top Ten Mistakes Revisited", "Top-10 New Mistakes of Web Design", J.Nielsen
- "To hell with WCAG 2": Joe Clark
- "Pokemons in the Amazon Jungle: Web Accessibility, Disability Discrimination, and the WOW Factor"
Presentation to Web Essentials 2004 Conference, September 30, 2004, Bruce Maguire, Policy Officer, Australian Human Rights Commission