Design Your Web Site for Accessibility

What can you do so that visitors to your Web site who cannot or choose not to view graphics or hear audio can still get your information? Making your Web site accessible is now easier because of the work of a project at the UW.

Universal Access Materials on the Web

Over the last year, the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) program and the University Libraries have sponsored a project called Universal Access: Electronic Resources in Libraries. Many of the materials developed by project librarian Beth Fraser to teach librarians and educators about accessible Web design were made available on the Web and now can help you as well.

Go to weber.u.washington.edu/~bamf/UA/index.html and click "Demonstration" and then "Accessible Web Design Guidelines." For each guideline presented, there are links to examples of sites that do or don't follow it. These include navigational schemes, background colors, using tables and graphics, and more. An extensive list of resources for accessible Web design is also included.

As you design Web pages for your course, remember that as faculty at a state institution you must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and other laws that call for all parts of educational programs to be accessible.

University of Washington Computing & Communications
Windows on Computing, No. 20, Autumn 1997
newsltr@cac.washington.edu