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University of Washington

Resources on Accessible Web Design

We encourage developers of web pages to consider the full spectrum of visitors to their sites. Listed below are some resources that may be helpful in creating pages that are accessible to everyone, including those who have disabilities. The list was created and is maintained by DO-IT Technology Specialist Terrill Thompson, with input from web developers across the University of Washington (UW). Additional information on web and IT accessibility at the UW is available on the UW Accessible IT site.

Web and IT Accessibility Tutorials

Informative Websites and Blogs

Web and IT Accessibility Resources from DO-IT

The DO-IT Center (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) at the UW has worked tirelessly since 1991 to to increase the participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs and careers. In doing so DO-IT has developed a number of resources related to IT accessibility, including the resources listed below.

Guidelines and Standards

Standards Validation and Accessibility Evaluation Tools

The tools listed in this section are all free and have been recommended by web developers at the UW who have experience developing accessible websites. A wide variety of additional products are available for purchase. To explore the full spectrum of products in this area (free or otherwise), use the Simple or Advanced Search feature on the W3C's Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools site.

Browser Toolbars, Add-ons, and Extensions

For Firefox

For Internet Explorer and Opera

Programming/Scripting/ARIA

Given the high level of interest in dynamic web programming among UW Web Developers, it is imperative that developers become familiar with accessibility standards, guidelines, and techniques, and apply them with developing web applications. Accessibility of dynamic web applications is dependent in large part on ARIA, the W3C's draft specification for Accessible Rich Internet Applications. The following resources are great starting points for learning more about ARIA, and serve as excellent references for anyone developing accessible applications.

Assistive Technologies

When testing web pages and IT products with assistive technologies, it is important to be aware that no two assistive technology (AT) products are alike. Developers are cautioned to use these tools only as an approximate gauge of accessibility. What seems to work perfectly in Product A may be inaccessible in Product B. Therefore, developers should resist the tendency to develop sites and applications that work with a particular AT product, and focus instead on developing sites that comply with standards.

Some assistive technology vendors provide demo versions of their products, some of which can be used indefinitely but time-out after a few minutes of operation. Product licenses vary as to whether using these demo versions is permissible for testing and development purposes. For information about available products and license restrictions, contact the Access Technology Lab.

Also, all major desktop operating systems are bundled with basic assistive technology utilities. For more information about these utilities in Windows and Mac OS X consult the accessibility sites at Microsoft, Apple.

In addition, the following free assistive technologies can be useful for testing web pages.

Multimedia Accessibility