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The World Wide Web Consortium created the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
Members of the WAI
developed the internationally recognized Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 1.0. These guidelines provide three levels of website
accessibility. Conforming to all Priority 1 checkpoints is considered
the minimum. Adhering to checkpoints in Priorities 2 and 3 does an
even better job of ensuring a website's content can be used by as wide of an
audience as possible. Learn more by visiting the
Web Accessibility Initiative's site.
The chart below is from the Web Accessibility Initiative's
page that organizes accessibility checkpoints by priority. Yes, No or N/A (not
applicable) is marked alongside of each checkpoint depending on whether or not the
Suski Web Design website (with the exception of the Tutorials section, which
is under revision) is in conformance. Further
explanations are provided that relate directly to the Suski Web Design's site.
For more information on website accessibility or to report any
accessibility errors, please send email to
Mary Suski or use the
message form.
Helpful Tip: This is a long page. At any time you can jump to the top of
a page and the main navigation bar by
entering the Alt
and the letter n keys at the same time if you're using Internet
Explorer or Netscape in Windows. Macintosh users can
enter Ctrl and the letter n keys. In the Opera
browser, enter the Shift, Esc and letter n keys together.
Visit Site Usage Tips for more.
Priority One
| In General (Priority 1) |
SWD Site |
| 1.1 Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element (e.g.,
via "alt", "longdesc", or in element content). This includes:
images, graphical representations of text (including symbols), image
map regions, animations (e.g., animated GIFs), applets and
programmatic objects,
ascii
art, frames, scripts, images used as list bullets, spacers, graphical
buttons, sounds (played with or without user interaction), stand-alone
audio files, audio tracks of video, and video. |
Yes |
| 2.1 Ensure that all information conveyed with color is also
available without color, for example from context or markup. |
Yes |
| 4.1 Clearly identify changes in the natural language of a
document's text and any text equivalents (e.g., captions). |
N/A |
| 6.1 Organize documents so they may be read without style sheets.
For example, when an HTML document is rendered without associated
style sheets, it must still be possible to read the document. |
Yes |
| 6.2 Ensure that equivalents for dynamic content are updated when
the dynamic content changes. |
Yes |
| 7.1 Until user agents allow users to control flickering, avoid
causing the screen to flicker. (Further explanation: Fast
moving graphics and text, especially those that flash at "strobe
light" speed, not only distract from the
content on the page, but are also an accessibility concern. People
with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia or photo
epilepsy can be negatively affected by this type of activity on a web
page.) |
Yes |
| 14.1 Use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a
site's content. |
Yes |
| And if you use images and image maps (Priority 1) |
|
| 1.2 Provide redundant text links for each active region of a
server-side image map. |
N/A |
| 9.1 Provide client-side image maps instead of server-side image
maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available
geometric shape. |
N/A |
| And if you use tables (Priority 1) |
|
| 5.1 For data tables, identify row and column headers. |
Yes |
| 5.2 For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or
column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.
|
Yes |
| And if you use frames (Priority 1) |
|
| 12.1 Title each frame to facilitate frame identification and
navigation. |
N/A |
| And if you use applets and scripts (Priority 1) |
|
| 6.3 Ensure that pages are usable when scripts, applets, or other
programmatic objects are turned off or not supported. If this is not
possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible
page.
(Further explanation: A good example of this is done with the
virtual tour. If the
visitor does not have Java enabled, there remain choices for
equivalent information in text and audio formats.) |
Yes |
| And if you use multimedia (Priority 1) |
|
| 1.3 Until user agents can automatically read aloud the text
equivalent of a visual track, provide an auditory description of the
important information of the visual track of a multimedia
presentation. |
N/A |
| 1.4 For any time-based multimedia presentation (e.g., a movie or
animation), synchronize equivalent alternatives (e.g., captions or
auditory descriptions of the visual track) with the presentation. |
N/A |
| And if all else fails (Priority 1) |
|
| 11.4 If, after best efforts, you cannot create an accessible page,
provide a link to an alternative page that uses W3C technologies, is
accessible, has equivalent information (or functionality), and is
updated as often as the inaccessible (original) page. |
Yes |
Priority 2 checkpoints
| In General (Priority 2) |
SWD Site |
| 2.2 Ensure that foreground and background color combinations
provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having color
deficits or when viewed on a black and white screen. [Priority 2 for
images, Priority 3 for text]. |
Yes |
| 3.1 When an appropriate markup language exists, use markup rather
than images to convey information. |
Yes |
| 3.2 Create documents that validate to published formal grammars.
(Further explanation: The only markup that does not validate
are a few necessary "hacks" to keep with the site's goal of
a consistent visual presentation across older versions of popular web browsers.) |
Yes |
| 3.3 Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
(Style sheets were used for fonts and backgrounds (CSS 1). The
site uses a simple table layout, versus a style sheet layout (CSS 2), because
of inconsistencies in support of styled layouts across web browsers.) |
Yes for
CSS
1No for
CSS
2 |
| 3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language
attribute values and style sheet property values. (Further
explanation: Following this rule has many benefits! It
allows text to be resized to improve readability. This "liquid"
layout means the site is easily adjusts from small to large screen
resolutions. The benefit here is that side-to-side scrolling is
minimized or eliminated with small screen resolutions. Sites
designed with a fixed width layout that looked good on older screens
can look tiny on some newer screens. Using relative values, rather
than fixed values, for layout makes a site more compatible with new
technologies, whether the technologies are improved screens or PDA's
capable of opening web content.) |
Yes |
| 3.5 Use header elements to convey document structure and use them
according to specification. |
Yes |
| 3.6 Mark up lists and list items properly. |
Yes |
| 3.7 Mark up quotations. Do not use quotation markup for formatting
effects such as indentation. |
Yes |
| 6.5 Ensure that dynamic content is accessible or provide an
alternative presentation or page. |
Yes |
| 7.2 Until user agents allow users to control blinking, avoid
causing content to blink (i.e., change presentation at a regular rate,
such as turning on and off). |
Yes |
| 7.4 Until user agents provide the ability to stop the refresh, do
not create periodically auto-refreshing pages. |
Yes |
| 7.5 Until user agents provide the ability to stop auto-redirect,
do not use markup to redirect pages automatically. Instead, configure
the server to perform redirects. |
Yes |
| 10.1 Until user agents allow users to turn off spawned windows, do
not cause pop-ups or other windows to appear and do not change the
current window without informing the user. |
Yes |
| 11.1 Use W3C technologies when they are available and appropriate
for a task and use the latest versions when supported. |
Yes |
| 11.2 Avoid deprecated features of W3C technologies.
(Further explanation: Deprecated features include markup such as
<font> and <center> tags. These types of tags are not used in
this site. The benefit is that web pages load fast, are easily
updated, and are compatible with emerging browsers.) |
Yes |
| 12.3 Divide large blocks of information into more manageable
groups where natural and appropriate. |
Yes |
| 13.1 Clearly identify the target of each link. |
Yes |
| 13.2 Provide metadata to add semantic information to pages and
sites. |
Yes |
| 13.3 Provide information about the general layout of a site (e.g.,
a site map or table of contents). (Further explanation: A link
to the site map is on every page.) |
Yes |
| 13.4 Use navigation mechanisms in a consistent manner. |
Yes |
| And if you use tables (Priority 2) |
|
| 5.3 Do not use tables for layout unless the table makes sense when
linearized. Otherwise, if the table does not make sense, provide an
alternative equivalent (which may be a linearized version). |
Yes |
| 5.4 If a table is used for layout, do not use any structural
markup for the purpose of visual formatting. |
Yes |
| And if you use frames (Priority 2) |
|
| 12.2 Describe the purpose of frames and how frames relate to each
other if it is not obvious by frame titles alone. |
N/A |
| And if you use forms (Priority 2) |
|
| 10.2 Until user agents support explicit associations between
labels and form controls, for all form controls with implicitly
associated labels, ensure that the label is properly positioned. |
Yes |
| 12.4 Associate labels explicitly with their controls. |
Yes |
| And if you use applets and scripts (Priority 2) |
|
| 6.4 For scripts and applets, ensure that event handlers are input
device-independent. |
Yes |
| 7.3 Until user agents allow users to freeze moving content, avoid
movement in pages. |
Yes |
| 8.1 Make programmatic elements such as scripts and applets
directly accessible or compatible with assistive technologies
[Priority 1 if functionality is important and not presented elsewhere,
otherwise Priority 2.] |
Yes |
| 9.2 Ensure that any element that has its own interface can be
operated in a device-independent manner. |
N/A |
| 9.3 For scripts, specify logical event handlers rather than
device-dependent event handlers. |
N/A |
Priority 3 checkpoints
| In General (Priority 3) |
SWD Site Site |
| 4.2 Specify the expansion of each abbreviation or acronym in a
document where it first occurs. |
Yes |
| 4.3 Identify the primary natural language of a document. |
Yes |
| 9.4 Create a logical tab order through links, form controls, and
objects. (The default tab order works fine on this site.
Overriding and specifying a certain tab order can cause problems in
some browsers.) |
Yes |
| 9.5 Provide keyboard shortcuts to important links (including those
in client-side image maps), form controls, and groups of form
controls. (Further explanation: Entering the ALT and n keys
together takes site visitors to the top of the current page, the
location of this site's main navigation. This accesskey combination
works in newer versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator.
HTML accesskey shortcuts can override the keyboard
shortcuts already present in browsers and operating systems. It
is because of this that the Suski Web Design site has only one designated
shortcut. Having one shortcut that goes to the site's navigation
bar located at the top of each page is easy to remember and can
quickly takes visitors to other pages within the website.) |
Yes |
| 10.5 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render
adjacent links distinctly, include non-link, printable characters
(surrounded by spaces) between adjacent links. (Further explanation:
This feature prevents links from sounding like run-on sentences in
text-to-speech browsers.) |
Yes |
| 11.3 Provide information so that users may receive documents
according to their preferences (e.g., language, content type, etc.)
(Further explanation: The Site Usage
Page gives tips on how visitors can customize the way they access pages of this
site. The virtual tours
feature text and audio versions in addition to the visual
presentations.) |
Yes |
| 13.5 Provide navigation bars to highlight and give access to the
navigation mechanism. |
Yes |
| 13.6 Group related links, identify the group (for user agents),
and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
(Further explanation: This feature is provided in the markup.) |
Yes |
| 13.7 If search functions are provided, enable different types of
searches for different skill levels and preferences. |
N/A |
| 13.8 Place distinguishing information at the beginning of
headings, paragraphs, lists, etc. |
Yes |
| 13.9 Provide information about document collections (i.e.,
documents comprising multiple pages.). |
Yes |
| 13.10 Provide a means to skip over multi-line ASCII art. |
N/A |
| 14.2 Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where
they will facilitate comprehension of the page. |
Yes |
| 14.3 Create a style of presentation that is consistent across
pages. |
Yes |
| And if you use images and image maps (Priority 3) |
|
| 1.5 Until user agents render text equivalents for client-side
image map links, provide redundant text links for each active region
of a client-side image map. |
N/A |
| And if you use tables (Priority 3) |
|
| 5.5 Provide summaries for tables. |
Yes |
|
5.6 Provide abbreviations for header labels. (Further
explanation: The few header labels used in this site were not long
enough to justify abbreviations.) |
N/A |
| 10.3 Until user agents (including assistive technologies) render
side-by-side text correctly, provide a linear text alternative (on the
current page or some other) for all tables that lay out text
in parallel, word-wrapped columns.
|
Yes |
| And if you use forms (Priority 3) |
|
| 10.4 Until user agents handle empty controls correctly, include
default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas. |
Yes |
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