Accessibility Handbook: Making 508 Compliant Websites

by Katie Cunningham

Overview

Get practical guidelines for making your website accessible to people with disabilities. With this handbook, you’ll learn how to design or develop a site that conforms to Section 508 of the US Rehabilitation Act—and in the process you’ll discover how to provide a better user experience for everyone.

The Accessibility Handbook introduces you to several audiences that have difficulty using today’s complex websites, including people with blindness, hearing loss, physical disabilities, and cognitive disorders. Learn how to support assistive technologies, and understand which fonts, colors, page layouts, and other design elements work best—without having to exclude advanced functions, hire outside help, or significantly increase overhead.

Develop solutions that accommodate:

• Complete blindness. Create a logical document flow to support screen readers
• Low vision and color blindness. Optimize images and color schemes, and ensure your site enlarges gracefully
• Hearing impairment. Provide video captions and visual alerts for interactive features
• Physical disabilities. Make forms, popups, and navigation easier to use
• Cognitive disorders. Adapt fonts and text styles for dyslexic users, and design consistent, well-organized pages for people with ADHD

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781449322854
Publisher:	O'Reilly Media, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/11/2012
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Katie Cunningham is a Python and Django developer for Cox Media Group. While she had always had an interest in programming, it didn’t turn into a career until she started to work at NASA. There, she slowly transitioned from gathering requirements to developing full time, advocating the use of more open source in the government sector.



It was at NASA that she gained an interest in 508 compliance. At first, she was only interested in getting her applications through QA faster. Over time, however, she gained a passion for a web that was easy for everyone to use. Now in the private sector, she is championing compliance even for websites that don’t require it by law.

Table of Contents

Preface; How I Got into Accessibility; Why This Book?; What Does It Mean to Be “Accessible”?; Background of Section 508; Who Benefits from Accessibility?; Who Is This Book for?; Structure of This Book; About Code Samples; Conventions Used in This Book; Using Code Examples; Safari® Books Online; How to Contact Us; Acknowledgments; Chapter 1: Complete Blindness; 1.1 Definition; 1.2 Annoyances, in Brief; 1.3 Screen Readers; 1.4 Creating Accessible Sites; Chapter 2: Visual Accessibility—Other Types; 2.1 Low Vision; 2.2 Color Blindness; Chapter 3: Audio Accessibility; 3.1 Who Does It Cover?; 3.2 Annoyances in Brief; 3.3 Videos; 3.4 Interactive Features; 3.5 Live Chat; Chapter 4: Physical Accessibility; 4.1 Who Does It Cover?; 4.2 Annoyances in Brief; 4.3 Best Practices; 4.4 Testing; Chapter 5: Cognitive Disabilities; 5.1 Overview; 5.2 Dyslexia; 5.3 ADD and ADHD; Chapter 6: Selling Accessibility; 6.1 U.S. Government Requirement; 6.2 Non-U.S. Governments; 6.3 Exclusion Can Hurt Your Business; 6.4 An Accessible Site Is More Usable for Everyone; Chapter 7: Additional Resources; 7.1 General Accessibility Resources; 7.2 Testing; 7.3 Design; 7.4 Screen Readers; 7.5 Hearing Disabled; 7.6 Physically Disabled; 7.7 Cognitively Disabled;