Overview
Evaluate your web page from Assignment 1 for accessibility errors and fix any problems.
In particular, you will...
- Make sure your pages have valid HTML. (They already should from Assignment 1, so hopefully you get this for free! But make sure to validate your code again after you've made any changes you need to make as a result of the other tools.)
- Make sure your pages don't have any errors according to WAVE.
- Make sure your text has adequate color contrast with its background.
- Navigate around your page using only the tab and cursor keys (i.e. no mouse or trackpad). Make sure this works. (If you're using a Mac, there's a setting you may need to change first.)
- Run your page through the screen reader emulator at WebAnywhere.
Why do we do this?
The goals of this assignment are:
- To familiarize you with tools that help you evaluate web accessibility.
- To help you see the web from a different perspective: are there design decisions and coding habits that work for you, but exclude others?
- To give you a chance to iterate your code (since pretty much all code everyhere needs to be iterated).
- To give you practice in fixing accessibility errors, including identifying specific techniques that promote accessibility.
But why do we do this? Because the code you write, and your library's digital presence, should welcome everyone, not just the currently able-bodied.
Deliverables
- The URL of your web site.
- One to two pages reflecting on the results of the checks, what you learned, and any changes you made. Make sure to address keyboard navigation and the screen reader experience; feel free to address anything else of interest.
Some of these accessibility checkers will only work for pages on the internet, not files on your computer, so upload your Assignment 1 web site somewhere (your UW web space, or anywhere else you have access to). Run the checkers, change whatever you need to, and make sure to upload the improved version - that's the URL you'll be submitting.
Grading criteria
Your web site must...
- Validate for XHTML or HTML5, using validator.w3.org.
- Not have any errors in WAVE. (Alerts are okay.)
- Have sufficient contrast between text and background according to this Web Content Accessibility Guidelines checker. (If you have more than one text/background color pair, all should pass the checker.)
Your reflection must...
- Be well-written and well-organized.
- Draw on specific examples from your code and the tools we used...
- ...and tie them to larger ideas about accessibility.
- Include your thoughts on whether keyboard navigation and the screen reader worked for your site, and describe any changes you made as a result of these tests.