Looking for info on screen access technology

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Looking for info on screen access technology

National Federation of the Blind v. Target

hal12b

1:13 pm on Sep 15, 2010 (gmt 0)

I recently read an article from 2006, but nonetheless rather relevant today about how the National Federation of the Blind sued Target because their web site was not accessible to people with disabilities using screen access technology.

Here it is -->
[dralegal.org...]

I'd like to audit all of my web sites and pages to make sure they are up to par and compliant. I realize this may create a ton of work, but it might outweigh a lawsuit. Where can I get more info? What does anybody know?

Thanks,
Hal

ergophobe

3:21 pm on Sep 15, 2010 (gmt 0)

Well, as a starting point, if you haven't already, you'll probably want to peruse the Web Accessibility Iniative pages at W3C.
[w3.org...]

That's sort of a portal for such thing. In particular, look at the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
[w3.org...]
which include some handy checklists and guides on how to become compliant.

That will also lead you to all sorts of tools that you can use
[w3.org...]
The classic one is Bobby (commercial) and WAVE is a nice online tool (free).

There are a variety of specific tools, like contrast analyzers (like this one [visionaustralia.org.au]) and so forth for specific tasks.

And of course, there's the FF Web Developer toolbar - surf with Javascript disabled - and trying to surf your site without a mouse (logical tabbing for forms and so forth).

hal12b

7:42 pm on Sep 15, 2010 (gmt 0)

Thank you. I will review.

phranque

9:02 am on Sep 16, 2010 (gmt 0)

you might want to try the Firefox Accessibility Extension.

one of the best tools for accessibility testing is Lynx, which is a text-only browser - no images, no javascript, no style, no mouse.
if your site is usable in lynx you're probably ok with screen readers, etc.
it won't hurt your SEO for that matter.

hal12b

3:06 pm on Sep 16, 2010 (gmt 0)

OK. Thank you too.