IT Accessibility Committee May 2007 Newsletter

### Edited by Joel Obuchowski

NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING

Thursday, May 10
Forum Office, 411 State Street
2:30pm - 4:00pm

At our next meeting, we have many things to discuss, such as:

Organizing a mid-late summer training session on MAGpie
Working with our new wiki
EO#3 session wrap-up
And much more.

Webcasting Best Practices Session a Success

On May 4, the IT Accessibility Committee joined with the Webmasters Guild to co-sponsor "Best Practices in Webcasting." The session featured a presentation by Lou Latham from the Gartner Group, who has extensive experience in webcasting. Lou emphasized the importance of pre-planning and establishing requirements early in that process. Afterwards, a panel consisting of Sara Hill from NY Network, Lou Latham, Jennifer Sagalyn from WGBH/NCAM, and John Hughes from Empire State College responded to questions from the audience. Attendees gave the session high marks, and a survey is circulating to solicit opinions from those who registered for the session on what other information The Forum can provide to assist agencies with implementing Governor Spitzer's Executive Order 3.

UPCOMING EVENTS

WMHT Broadcasts "THROUGH DEAF EYES" on May 20

"Through Deaf Eyes" is a two-hour HDTV documentary that explores 200 years of Deaf life in America. The film includes interviews with prominent members of the Deaf community, including actress Marlee Matlin and Gallaudet University president emeritus I. King Jordan.

Interwoven throughout the film are six short documentaries produced by Deaf media artists and filmmakers. Poignant, sometimes humorous, these commissioned stories bring a personalized sense of Deaf life in America to the film. Through first person accounts and the film as a whole, THROUGH DEAF EYES tells the story of conflicts, prejudice and affirmation that ultimately reaches the heart of what it means to be human.

The PBS web site also contains more information on Deaf life and culture, along with a resource page, video clips, and a feedback form. The program will air locally on the PBS affiliate, WMHT. Check the WMHT schedule at http://www.wmht.org/tv/schedules.php (External Link) for the exact time.

FEATURE ARTICLE

Standard 3: Document Structure

When a contractor sets out to build a house, he uses the architect's blueprint to make sure his crews build the structure that the architect designed. There are different versions of the blueprints, for example, for the electricians, the plumbers, the carpenters, and the landscapers. But all are based on that original blueprint.

The web is much like that house. As long as you let browsers and other user agents know which blueprint you are working with, it's more likely that what you intend will be what your visitors experience. Behind this concept is the principle of the standard. The W3C is the de facto standard setting body for the web, and they set these standards in the form of specifications. There is at least one specification document for each flavor of HTML, XHTML, CSS, and XML, often there is more than one (for example, a 'loose' version, a 'transitional' version, and a 'strict' version in the case of HTML 4.01).

3.1. Web pages will be created using the most current web document specifications (e.g., HTML, XML, XHTML).

With certain exceptions, you would not create a page today using a specification earlier than HTML 4. However, there are variations between HTML 4.0 and HTML 4.1, and between HTML and XHTML. Specifying which version of the specification you are using will help the browser - and consequently the screen reader - render your page faithfully.

3.2. All web pages will include a valid document type declaration (DTD).

You can improve accessibility by ensuring browsers and screen readers know how to correctly interpret your code. The best way of providing this information is to include a Document Type Definition at the very top of your document:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd">

This tells the browser that you are using the W3C's implementation of HTML 4.01, that the native language of your document will be English, and you have provided the URL to the version of HTML you will be using. You need to include one of these at the top of each document.
3.3. The use of deprecated elements or attributes is not allowed (e.g., the usage of FONT, BOLD & ITALICS are deprecated).

One of the problems facing early web developers was the lack of mechanisms for formatting text without bloating your pages with redundant formatting codes. The W3C proposed the use of 'cascading style sheets,' or CSS, to remove purely presentational markup from pages. This strategy had the added benefit of allowing "code once, use anywhere" benefits for presentational markup. With one style sheet, accessed by all the site's pages, you could ensure uniform formatting and you could change a font-color or some other attribute of an element and the change would cascade throughout the site.

In an effort to steer developers toward cascading style sheets, the W3C deprecated most of the elements and attributes within HTML that were solely presentational in nature. It is reasonable to assume that within the foreseeable future, browser manufacturers may begin to omit support for elements and attributes that are no longer an official part of the specification.

3.4. Web pages will be created using style sheets to achieve formatting and stylistic effects whenever possible. When style sheets are utilized the web pages must convey all relevant information in an accessible manner if the style sheet is disabled for any reason.

This sub-standard comes into play when developers do such things as present information in a background graphic, or provide navigation via styled lists. Whatever method you use to provide this information, you need to ensure that if you turn off style sheets in your browser, the information is still available.

3.5. All natural language usage will be clarified using the Lang attribute when the written language is not English.

Based on the DTD example used in Standard 3.2 above, it is understood that the natural language of the document is English (EN). It is therefore expected that all text in the document will be written English. If one of the persons you're writing about quotes a French philosopher in French, then the text in French should be enclosed in <lang=" "> elements and the language to be used should be provided.

RECENT NEWS

A List Apart Sponsors a Web Design Survey

As we found with our web design survey, people who contribute to the development and maintenance of a web site can come from all disciplines. In a bid to learn more about the divergent people involved in what's commonly called 'web design,' the developer site A List Apart has begun an annual Web Design Survey. Here's the introduction to the survey:

"Designers, developers, project managers. Writers and editors. Information architects and usability specialists. People who make websites have been at it for more than a dozen years, yet almost nothing is known, statistically, about our profession. Who are we? Where do we live? What are our titles, our skills, our educational backgrounds? Where and with whom do we work? What do we earn? What do we value?

"It's time we learned the answers to these and other questions about web design. And nobody is better qualified than the readers of A List Apart to provide the answers. Participate in our first annual survey to increase knowledge of web design and boost respect for the profession. Selected participants, chosen by random drawing, will win one free ticket to An Event Apart event held in the continental U.S.; an Apple 30GB video iPod, an Event Apart jump drive, or a funky A List Apart T-shirt."

You can find the survey at http://aneventapart.com/webdesignsurvey/survey.php?sid=2 (External Link). We'll keep an eye out for the results and let you know when they're available.

RESOURCES

Developing Accessible Content with Microsoft Expression from the WebAIM site (http://www.webaim.org (External Link))

Expression Web (EW) is the tool that has replaced FrontPage as Microsoft's web design tool. Although the interface is a little bit different than its predecessors, it should be familiar for Microsoft FrontPage and even Office users. Although it offers significant improvements in creating standards-compliant HTML and CSS, it can still be difficult to create accessible HTML using Expression Web "out of the box." This article will show you how to make your content as accessible as possible using MS Expression Web.

For the rest of the article, see: http://webaim.org/techniques/msew/ (External Link)

Just Ask: Integrating Accessibility Throughout Design

From the web site:

"Accessibility is designing products so that people with disabilities can use them. Accessibility makes user interfaces perceivable, operable, and understandable by people with a wide range of abilities, and people in a wide range of circumstances, environments, and conditions. Thus accessibility also benefits people without disabilities, and organizations that develop accessible products."

The entire book, based on the print version by the W3C/WAI's Shawn Lawton Henry, is available online free, thanks to Adobe, RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind), Mitsue-Links, and other sponsors. The online version starts at:

FROM THE W3C:

Generated Content for Paged Media: CSS3 Working Draft

2007-05-04: The CSS Working Group has released an updated Working Draft for Cascading Style Sheets Level 3 (CSS3). Generated Content for Paged Media describes features such as cross-references, footnotes, headers and footers often used in printed publications. CSS is the Web's most widely-implemented language for style, used to render structured documents like HTML and XML on screen, on paper and in speech. Visit the CSS home page. (http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-css3-gcpm-20070504/ (External Link))

Mobile Web Best Practices

As mobile devices become more popular, the W3C has developed some best practices to ensure that web applications and content keep pace.

http://www.w3.org/TR/mobile-bp/ (External Link)

They have also developed a testing protocol that will help you determine whether your content will successfully translate to the mobile platform. This document is now in a "Last Call Working Draft," but although it may not be final, it's a good place to start when thinking about what difficulties mobile users might have with your content.

http://www.w3.org/TR/2007/WD-mobileOK-basic10-tests-20070130/ (External Link)

Semantic Web Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Published

2007-04-24: The SWEO Interest Group is pleased to announce the first release of the Semantic Web Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). These answers to questions covering Semantic Web standards and their usage are an evolving document that will continue to be updated over time. A Wiki site where the community can contribute to the further evolution of the FAQ and an RSS 1.0 feed to track changes are available. Read about the Semantic Web. (http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/SW-FAQ (External Link))