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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
Understanding how to create accessible websites is an essential skill these days . You may even be obliged by law to create websites that are usable by the widest audience, including people with a range of disabilities.This book looks at what accessibility is and the various reasons, such as legislative or legal, as to why you really need to understand accessibility and then create websites that can be used by everyone. This book therefore examines the diverse range of user requirements that need to be considered for humans to successfully use web technologies.If you have no experience of being around, or working with, people with disabilities then it can be very difficult to successfully design user interfaces that cover their needs. This book will show you how you can both understand some of the various needs of people with disabilities and the technology they use to interact with computers and the Web.
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Seitenzahl: 174
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2007
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Table of Contents
Joomla! Accessibility
Joshue O Connor
Joomla! Accessibility
Copyright © 2007 Packt Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.
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First published: October 2007
Production Reference: 1231007
Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.
32 Lincoln Road
Olton
Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.
ISBN 978-1-847194-08-4
www.packtpub.com
Cover Image by Vinayak Chittar (<[email protected]>)
Credits
Author
Joshue O Connor
Reviewers
Niko Kotiniemi
Joseph LeBlanc
Senior Acquisition Editor
David Barnes
Development Editor
Mithil Kulkarni
Technical Editor
Akshara Aware
Editorial Manager
Dipali Chittar
Project Manager
Abhijeet Deobhakta
Project Coordinator
Abhijeet Deobhakta
Indexer
Monica Ajmera
Proofreader
Damian Carvill
Production Coordinator
Aparna Bhagat
Cover Designer
Aparna Bhagat
About the Author
Joshue O Connor is a Senior Accessibility Consultant with CFIT (Centre For Inclusive Technology).
CFIT is a part of the NCBI (National Council For The Blind of Ireland) and is a non‑profit organisation that provides expert advice and services to public and private sector organizations. These services include user testing, accessibility auditing, and consultancy.
Joshue has a creative background in Graphic Design, which lead to Web Development and New Media Training. After several years in the shark infested waters of the private sector, through IT training, he got to work with people with a wide range of physical and cognitive disabilities.
This was an invaluable hands-on experience that brought him into contact with a diverse range of assistive technology users, who found technology a positive and enabling force in their lives. A natural gravitation towards web accessibility thus blossomed.
Joshue is skilled in the design and development of accessible websites and has a deep understanding of the diversity of user requirements. He is a member of the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS), the Web Standards Project ILG (WaSP ILG), the Irish Design For All E-Accessibility Network (Irl-Dean), the IIA User Experience Working Group (UEWG), EUAIN, and the HTML 5 Working group.
This is his first book, contributions to obscure academic papers notwithstanding.
In his spare time he hangs out with his plants, studies computer science, plays traditional Irish music badly, and runs a small record label at www.techrecord.net.
I would like to dedicate the book to my father Michael J O Connor.
I would like to thank:
Jared Smith (WebAIM), Gez Lemon (Juicy Studio), Mike Cherim (Green Beast), Mark Magennis (CFIT), Paul Traynor (NCBI), Stuart Lawler (NCBI), Laura Carlson (University of Minnesota Duluth), Vlad Alexander (XStandard), Steve Faulkner (WAT-C), Patrick H. Lauke (Splintered.co.uk).
About the Reviewers
Niko Kotiniemi has a background the service sector, Union and Unemployment Fund related work as well as the travel sector. In 2004 he turned his lifelong computer hobby to into a living, starting with custom web projects and open-source CMS systems. Since the very beginning of his computer related career he has worked with Mambo and later with Joomla!. In 2006, at the age of 30 he decided to obtain the academic qualifications and entered Software Engineering studies at the Helsinki Polytechnic Stadia, Information Technology department.
During the course of his studies he is constantly working on different web-projects to both finance his studies as well as out of professional interest. Most of his free time is spent with family and in studying new trends and technologies and ways in which they can be integrated to real-life situations such as those faced by private entrepreneurs and small companies. Currently his main technological interests lie in Joomla!, wiki's, all of the Google labs products, Ajax, Gadgets/Widgets, databases and specialized websites for niche groups.
You can reach him through his personal website http://www.kotiniemi.fi or through e-mail: <[email protected]>
Joseph L. LeBlanc started with computers at a very young age. His independent education gave him the flexibility to experiment and learn computer science. Joseph holds a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems from Oral Roberts University.
Joseph is currently a freelance Joomla! extension developer. He released a popular component tutorial in May 2004, then later authored the book, Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development: Creating Modules, Components, and Plugins with PHP. Work samples and open-source extensions are available at www.jlleblanc.com. In addition to freelancing, he is a board member of the DC PHP Conference. He has also worked as a programmer for a web communications firm in Washington, DC.
Preface
Joomla! is one of the best open-source Content Management Systems available. Joomla! can be used to create accessible feature rich websites, Joomla! also has one of the most accessible back-end interfaces. This means that Joomla! can be used as a development tool by users of Assistive Technology (AT).
If you have no experience of interacting with people with disabilities then it can be very difficult to successfully design user interfaces that cover their needs. The book aims to help you understand and appreciate these needs and guides you through some of the technologies used to interact with computers and the web.
The book looks at why accessibility should be on your radar, from accessibility as a component of best practice, to legislative or legal requirements. The book aims to help you understand accessibility and create websites that can be used by everyone, and how Joomla! can help you to achieve this.
What This Book Covers
Chapter 1 looks at the legal situation around the world and other drivers that put accessibility on the web developer's map. This chapter also looks at some definitions of accessibility and introduces the concepts of usability and universality. The chapter explores the need to understand your users, accommodate diversity and dealing with change as well as some of the benefits of accessibility.
Chapter 2 considers how both accessibility and usability make up a powerful combination for a holistic approach to web development and a positive user experience for everyone. The chapter looks at other practical ways of determining whether your sites are not only accessible but also usable, such as user testing. The chapter also looks at the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Chapter 3 looks at various types of disability as well as the variety of assistive technology that is available. You will also learn how to modify your browsing experience in order to try and gain a greater understanding of what it is like for people with disabilities when they go online.
Chapter 4 looks at using headings and other HTML elements to provide content structure. How this benefits users of assistive technology and other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits. This chapter examines how to provide simple text alternatives to images and using descriptive link text to assist accessibility, as well as creating accessible tables and how to edit the HTML by hand.
Chapter 5 examines the importance of preparation while designing your template and the advantages of using accessible templates. The chapter also explains the importance of good color contrast and making your text resizable for visually impaired users as well as the making your interface keyboard accessible.
Chapter 6 looks at getting the most out of XStandard. Throughout most of the book, TinyMCE is used.
Who is This Book for
This book is a guide to any Joomla! user who wants to make their sites more accessible. It does assume basic knowledge of working with Joomla!. You don't need to know anything about accessibility—the author tells you all that you need to know to make your Joomla! sites compliant with accessibility standards.
While some design skills and technical knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP will be very useful you will still benefit from reading this book if you wish to understand more about assistive technology and the needs of people with disabilities. The book is distilled from years of hands on experience that the author has as a web developer and also working with people with disabilities.
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Chapter 1. Why be Accessible?
To get started, we will first look at what accessibility is. We will look at the benefits of accessibility, as well as some of the drivers behind the scenes, such as legislations around the world.
You may already have an appreciation (and I hope that you do) that making your websites and interfaces accessible is the right thing to do. No one wants to be discriminatory, block users out of their sites, or frustrate them with bad design and poor code. Most websites that are guilty of this are probably not even aware of it. However, even though many of the websites around the world are still inaccessible—this is slowly changing. I hope that this introduction, and the following chapters, will help you become a little more informed of what it is that we are trying to do here and why.
Defining Accessibility
There are several definitions of accessibility. The International Standards Organization (ISO) defines accessibility as:
"The usability of a product, service, environment or facility by people with the widest range of capabilities (ISO TC 16071)."
If we apply this definition to the Web it refers to the design interfaces and applications that can be used by the widest possible audience; ensuring that there are no users who are left out when trying to use them. That's great, however, note that it doesn't specifically mention blind users or other people with disabilities at all, yet it talks about usability.
The W3C in its "Introduction to Web Accessibility", defines it as:
"Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging."
You can read further at: http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/accessibility.php
So some definitions specifically talk about people with disabilities and others don't. While I believe that access for everyone is a great ideal, I also think that the details are important, and I support the definition that specifically mentions people with disabilities. According to me the first definition, talks about universality, which is great, but I think that web accessibility is a specific part of that universal umbrella that mostly relates to people with disabilities. As you read further you will realize that people with disabilities have specific needs; and in order to meet these needs, you as an author or developer, need some solid techniques and understanding, so that they can use your website easily. This is where I hope this book will be useful.
Understanding Your Users
Whatever definition you prefer, the upshot is that it is important to understand your audience and their different needs. How can you do that? I have been very fortunate as I got some experience as a graphic designer/developer and IT trainer in the private sector before I got to work directly with people with disabilities and assistive technology (AT). So I experienced some really positive effects that simple technologies and good designs can have on people with disabilities.
I am currently working with blind and visually impaired people, but what informs my definition and experience of accessibility, as well as my understanding of the diversity of user requirements, does not stop there. Many people think that web accessibility is mostly about serving the needs of visually impaired users. However, this is not true. The truth is that by serving the needs of the blind and visually impaired users, you will actually improve the accessibility and usability of your website or software for everyone. Again, this can be seen as a happy by-product of good practice and development habits on your part.
Dealing with Change
In many ways accessibility encompasses our ability to deal with change and to cope with diversity. There are changes, such as failing sight and other physical and mental changes that we go through as we get older. Therefore our abilities to perform certain tasks and the equipment we need to do the every day tasks may also change. I may need glasses to read or at least play my music much louder (though that may be why I am going deaf!). Whatever it is we will invariably find that our own abilities change with time.
Understanding accessibility involves stretching our abilities to deal with these changes and user diversity. The success of your efforts, to quite a large degree, depends on how well you can accommodate diverse user requirements in your web projects.
Think Different
Apart from being a well known advertising slogan for some computer manufacturer, the above heading is also a good piece of advice and is helpful in understanding accessibility. Often, there are barriers for users in places that you may never dream of. You will also find that many solutions result from doing things the right way and not cutting corners in your work. The following are some examples, and while they are not all Web related, I hope they will get you thinking about how you could get around some accessibility issues from both the Web and the built environment.
These examples are from the NCBI CFIT website (www.cfit.ie):
