WebAIM: Web Accessibility in Mind
Browsing habits of screen reader users
Screenreader Visibility
Fangs - the screen reader emulator- Standards Schmandards
This <a href="http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/">Mozilla Firefox</a> extension creates a textual representation of a web page similar to how the page would be read by a modern screen reader.
Seven Screen Reader Usability Tips
Web Design References: Accessibility
Suckerfish Dropdowns - Three Level Bones
[ws] Color Scheme Generator 2
Introduction to Web Accessibility
‘Building Accessible Websites’ (Joe Clark; 2006.01.29)
A List Apart: Articles: Testability Costs Too Much
The problem with testability is that even the most reasonable of success criteria can be non-testable—and if a success criterion is not considered testable, it isn’t included in <acronym title="Web Content Accessibility Guidelines"><span class="caps"><span class="caps">WCAG</span></span></acronym> 2.0. Whether the criterion is an otherwise useful technique that improves accessibility is now irrelevant to whether it gets included in <acronym title="Web Content Accessibility Guidelines"><span class="caps"><span class="caps">WCAG</span></span></acronym> 2.0.
WCAG Samurai Errata for WCAG 1.0
WebAIM: WebAIM Section 508 Checklist
Instructional Design and Accessibility: Cognitive Curb Cuts
Blindness | Critique Wall.com
Great examples of side by side images demonstrating what someone with red-green colorblindness sees, by someone who is colorblind. Always good to keep in mind for designing--this is why accessibility guidelines against using color as the only indicator exist.
pipwerks.com » Blog Archive » How I build my eLearning courses
An argument for designing e-learning using web standards for better quality, accessibility, portability, and maintenance.
<strong>Most eLearning tools do not promote the creation of effective courses, do not promote web standards, and do not promote accessibility; they merely make cookie-cutter course development easier for technically inexperienced course developers.</strong>
JAWS: Navigating Web Pages
Navigation keyboard commands for the JAWS screen reader
WebAIM: Blog - UN Ratifies Disability Treaty
UN's Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) will go into effect 5/3/08 in the countries that have ratified it (the US isn't one).
The most prominent is <a href="http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?id=269">Article 9 - “Accessibility”</a>, which places accessibility of information, communication, and technologies (ICT) at the same level as Articles on “The right to life”, “Equal recognition before the law”, “Access to justice”, and “Freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”. You can see that accessible ICT is being taken very seriously.
Blind users still struggle with 'maddening' computing obstacles
Computerworld article on the minimal progress made in assistive technology and accessible design. Vista is substantially less accessible than Windows 3.1, for example; there are actions in Vista which cannot be done with a keyboard.
<p id="first_paragraph">
Put your graphical user interface to this test: Adjust the contrast on your display until the screen is completely black. </p>
<p>Now, perform basic e-mail, word processing and Web-browsing tasks.</p>
<p>What? Having a problem?</p>
<p>Welcome to the world of the 1.3 million Americans who are blind.</p>
WebAIM: WebAIM Section 508 Checklist
Checklist with guidelines for each requirement of Section 508 standards for HTML and scripts. For each guideline, "pass" and "fail" tests are provided.
CSS Vertical Bar Graphs
How to create a vertical bar graph in html with just CSS and a table. Very cool technique. It appears that the data would all be accessible to a screenreader because it's basically a table.
A List Apart: Articles: Accessible Data Visualization with Web Standards
Accessible, interactive charts with CSS. All data is in unordered lists; the CSS formatting makes it a chart.
100 Killer Web Accessibility Resources: Blogs, Forums and Tutorials | WHDb
Annotated list of accessibility resources, including tools, tutorials, validation, and information about needs based on disability.
If you already lean toward the idea that accessible sites are good for humanity as well as for business, then this list will provide plenty of reference materials for you. If you don’t have a clue about the issues that surround Web site accessibility, then this list will help you to become well acquainted with the issues involved in this movement.
Dropdown low down — Tyssen Design
Comparison of accessibility of numerous dropdown menus using CSS and Javascript
A List Apart: Articles: Deafness and the User Experience
This article approaches accessibility for Deaf users as a cultural difference and not just a disability. If sign language is your first language, then English (or something else) is a second language. Written English doesn't automatically correspond to sign language. Rather than simply captioning or providing transcripts, this author proposes more sign language translations. Nice idea, but I'm not sure that's practical for most projects--it's hard enough to convince people to spend time and money on captions and transcripts (even though they obviously should).
WebAIM: Web Accessibility Gone Wild
Common web accessibility mistakes and what you should do instead.
W3C Web Standard Defines Accessibility for Next Generation Web
Press release on the new Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, with links to more information. "WCAG at a Glance" is a quick overview of the standards, but probably only helpful if you're already somewhat familiar with online accessibility.
<p>WCAG 2.0 explains how to make
content:</p>
<ul>
<li>Perceivable (for instance by addressing text alternatives for images,
captions for audio, adaptability of presentation, and color contrast);
</li>
<li>Operable (by addressing keyboard access, color contrast, timing of
input, seizure avoidance, and navigability); </li>
<li>Understandable (by addressing readability, predictability, and input
assistance); and </li>
<li>Robust (for instance by addressing compatibility with assistive
technologies).</li></ul>
Dynamic FAQ Page - A Lesson in Accessibility and Progressive Enhancement
Slick looking dynamic FAQ built with jQuery, where each question is in a box with a tag to click for the answer. The great thing about this technique is that it's still accessible to screenreaders because the content is still visible even without Javascript and CSS.
Vischeck: About Vischeck
Tool to show what web pages and images look like to someone who is color blind
WebAIM: Color Contrast Checker
Color contrast checker based on the WCAG 2.0 standards. Enter hex codes for colors for foreground and background. Not quick for checking lots of colors, but based on the actual ratios in the standards.