creating an accessible web presence for the lodging industry...Management from Jinan University, Guangzhou, China, and her master’s degree in Hospitality Information Management from

creating an accessible web presence for the

lodging industry

88129NEI01ENGEPP-3613

a technology primer

developed by the

american hotel & lodging association’s technology and e-business committee

funded by the

american hotel & lodging educational foundation

www.ahlef.comwww.ahla.com

© 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved. iii

This guide was written by James O. Abrams, Cihan Cobanoglu, Kathleen Wahlbin, Clay Gaynor, and Lina Xiong; produced by the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s (AH&LA) Technology and E-Business Committee; and funded with a grant from the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF).

Technology and E-Business CommitteeChair Cihan Cobanoglu, Ph.D., CHTP Associate Professor, University of South Florida Sarasota–Manatee

Vice Chair Kevin Smith General Manager, Cassa Hotels and Residences

AH&LA Officer Liaison David Kong President & CEO, Best Western International

AH&LA Staff Liaison Pam Inman, IOM, CAE EVP & COO, American Hotel & Lodging Association

AH&LA Staff Liaison Supra Dey SVP & CIO, American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute

MembersJames O. Abrams Member Legal Advisor California Hotel & Lodging AssociationStephen Barth President & Founder HospitalityLawyer.comKathleen (Pearl) Brewer, Ph.D. Professor/Director Graduate Studies University of Nevada Las VegasJeffrey Brown Chief Executive Officer Schahet Hotels Inc.Patton Conner Vice President, Information Resources Marriott InternationalDaniel Connolly, Ph.D. Associate Professor University of DenverTodd Davis Chief Technology Officer Choice Hotels International

Mike Dickersbach Vice President of IT Thayer Lodging GroupGregory A. Dugal ISHAE Representative Maine Innkeepers AssociationRich Ehlers Head of HSIA Engineering iBAHNBernard Ellis Managing Director—Americas IDeaS Revenue OptimizationWilliam Folkerts Owner Quality Inn & SuitesMark Haley, CHTP Partner The Prism PartnershipBill Liedholm, CHA, CHAE General Manager Hershey Lodge

iv © 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved.

Ann M. Maletzke Owner Spur of the Moment RanchAnuraag Mullick, CHA Managing Director Solar HospitalityMonika Nerger VP of Technology, The Americas Mandarin Oriental Hotel GroupKathy Orner Vice President Enterprise Services & Chief Information Security Officer Carlson Hotels WorldwideKirby D. Payne, CHA Co-President HVS Hotel Management

Danirose Ridl Area Director of Ecommerce & Marketing Denver Airport Hotel CenterJeffrey Senior Executive VP, Marketing & Sales Fairmont Raffles Hotels InternationalJules Sieburgh, CHTP O’Neal ConsultantsNaomi Stark President & CEO Stark Service Solutions

© 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved. v

Acknowledgements

American Hotel & Lodging Educational Fondation’s Research and Project Funding Committee

Editorial Reviewers

Rich Ehlers, iBAHNWilliam Folkerts, Quality Inn & Suites

Pam Inman, American Hotel & Lodging AssociationJules Sieburgh, O’Neal Consultants

Kevin Smith, Cassa Hotels and Residences

Disclaimer

This guide is intended only as a general guide concerning the creation of an accessible Web presence, and it does not purport to be, nor should it be used as, a complete description or definitive definition of Web accessibility problems or solutions, or any other standards, regulations, or legislation. While this primer is designed to provide accurate and authoritative infor-mation in regard to the subject matter covered, it is published with the understanding that the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF), the publisher of this document, is not engaged in providing legal, accounting, technology, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, one should seek out the services of a competent professional person or firm.

Nothing contained in this publication shall constitute a standard, an endorsement, or a recommendation by the authors, the AH&LEF, or the AH&LA. The authors, AH&LEF, and AH&LA disclaim any liability for any use of this publication, or with respect to the use of any information, procedure, methods, forms, or suggestion contained herein, or reliance thereon by any member of the hospitality industry or by anyone.

© 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved. vii

table of contents

ABOuT THE AuTHORS ................................................................ ix

1. OvERvIEW ..................................................................................... 1

2. DISABILITy REDEFINED........................................................... 32.1 IntroductIon ............................................................................... 32.2 dIsabIlItIes and the Web ............................................................. 42.3 assIstIve technologIes ............................................................... 6

3. THE CASE FOR ACCESSIBILITy ............................................. 83.1 IntroductIon ............................................................................... 83.2 the laW ....................................................................................... 83.3 neW Markets, neW opportunItIes .......................................... 123.4 added benefIts of an accessIble Web sIte ............................. 12

4. JuDGING ACCESSIBILITy ...................................................... 154.1 IntroductIon ............................................................................. 154.2 Web accessIbIlIty toolbars and favelets .............................. 164.3 addItIonal accessIbIlIty testIng tIps ...................................... 17

5. BuILDING AN ACCESSIBLE DIGITAL PRESENCE ......... 185.1 IntroductIon ............................................................................. 185.2 socIal MedIa ............................................................................. 185.3 MobIle devIces .......................................................................... 205.4 sectIon 508 and Wcag: a coMparIson ................................ 215.5 best practIces: eleMents of an accessIble Web sIte ............. 25

6. MARKETING TO PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES .............. 36

7. APPENDIx: SECTION 508-1194.22 WEB-BASED INTERNET INFORMATION AND APPLICATIONS .......................... 39

8. WEB CONTENT ACCESSIBILITy GuIDELINES 2.0 ......... 41

9. REFERENCES ............................................................................... 42

© 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved. ix

about the authorsproject funding Managers

James O. AbramsJames O. Abrams is an adjunct professor in the Hospitality Industry Management Program, School of Business and Manage-ment, at the University of San Francisco and is counsel to the law firm of Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Marmaro, LLP. Addi-tionally, he works with Hotels that Help, a program of the Kohala Foundation, which is a charitable organization.

Mr. Abrams retired as the president and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA) in 2008 after having served 18 years. Prior to CH&LA, he practiced law, specializing in lodging and hospitality law and in representing and advising trade associations and other non-profit entities. He has spent many years working actively on issues related to dis-abled individuals and produced the award-winning “We Welcome Service Animals” program, a national campaign to teach people in the hospitality industry and law enforcement how to improve service to disabled guests who depend on service animals for assistance. He graduated with a Bach-elor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Oregon and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

Cihan Cobanoglu, Ph.D., CHTPDr. Cihan Cobanoglu is an associate pro-fessor of Hospitality Information Tech-nology and coordinator of the graduate program in the School of Hotel and Res-taurant Management at the University of South Florida Sarasota–Manatee. He also serves as editor of the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology and the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Administration.

He is a co-author of four textbooks and two conference proceedings and the founder of HospitalityITCompliance.com. His research involves the use and impact of technology in the hospitality industry and his work has been featured in national and international media outlets and published in scholarly journals as well as industry publications. Dr. Cobanoglu is a member of and serves in a variety of positions for organizations such as the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Hospitality Financial & Tech-nology Professionals, and the International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education.

x © 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved.

other authors

Kathleen WahlbinKathleen Wahlbin, Senior Vice President of Virilion, leads the account management team and develops innovative online strategies that solve problems, create opportunities, and add value for Virilion clients. She has deep knowledge of accessibility and usability issues and solutions, and is passionate about creating a world where online communications and technology are simple and universally accessible to all people regardless of ability.

Prior to joining Virilion, Ms. Wahlbin was the CEO of RampWEB, a con-sultancy that worked to turn accessibility requirements into communica-tions opportunities. She is very involved in the accessibility community, participates in W3C Accessibility Working Groups, and is a member of the Telecommunications and Electronic and Information Technology Advisory Committee Interactive Work Space. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics and Computers from Trent University in Canada.

Clay GaynorClay Gaynor, Associate Editor of Virilion, uses his experience in both print and online media to provide Virilion’s clients with the clear, concise content needed to cut through the clutter of today’s digital landscape. He writes, blogs and tweets for several of Virilion’s largest clients.

Prior to Virilion, Mr. Gaynor worked as the Associate Editor at Washington Life Magazine, a luxury lifestyle publication in the nation’s capital, where he managed freelance columnists and guided feature pieces from inception to publication. He earned a degree in Print Journalism from James Madison University’s School of Media Arts & Design.

Lina xiongLina Xiong is currently a Ph.D. student in Tourism and Hospitality Manage-ment at Temple University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Tourism Management from Jinan University, Guangzhou, China, and her master’s degree in Hospitality Information Management from the University of Delaware. She completed her master’s thesis in investigating the Web acces-sibility problems of U.S.-based hotel and restaurant Websites. Her current research interest is in Web 2.0 applications such as social networking and customer-generated contents in hotel marketing.

© 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved. 1

1. overviewLike every industry, the hotel and lodging sector has been fundamentally changed by the Internet. Guests and potential guests increasingly turn to the Web to research properties, check room rates, make reservations, and share their experiences. As such, it’s become ever more important to have a dynamic, user-friendly, and attractive online presence.

But as we move forward in the digital age, it’s imperative that your digital presence be accessible to all users, including those living with disabilities. A disability is not simply blindness, deafness, paralysis, etc. While those conditions certainly qualify as disabilities, the reality is that many impair-ments—from arthritis to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to color blindness—prevent people from fully engaging with the Web.

As you’ll read in this document, ensuring an accessible Web site is every bit as important as ensuring accessible physical facilities. And it’s not only the right thing to do—it’s also the law.

Of course, an accessible Web presence can also be great for business. The population of people with disabilities is a large one, and as the enormous Baby Boomer generation ages, the number of people worldwide with disabilities will increase significantly. By ensuring that your property boasts an accessible Web site, you’ll be poised to secure the business of this population.

As you’ll learn, users with different disabilities have different needs. For example, a user with visual impairments interacting with your Web site through an assistive technology such as a screen reader will perceive site content far differently than a user who has a hearing impairment. As a lodg-ing operator, the trick is to look at every aspect of your site and ensure that all content is usable and understandable no matter how it is presented—and that it integrates seamlessly with other platforms like social media networks and mobile devices.

While this may sound like a daunting task, we assure you that when armed with the right knowledge it is a relatively painless process that you and your Web designers can easily implement. And that’s the purpose of this primer: to provide you with a solid base upon which to build your organization’s accessibility strategy. Here are just a few of the questions we’ll address:

• What is a disability? How many Americans live with one?• How do users with disabilities interact with the Web?• How can my organization build an accessible Web site?• Why is an accessible digital presence critical to the success of my

lodging business and how will it put “heads in beds”?• What is the law when it comes to making sure that people with

disabilities can access online information?

2 © 2010—American Hotel & Lodging Association. All rights reserved.

• How can I be sure my organization is compliant with accessibility laws and standards?

Now that you have a better idea of where we’re heading, let’s take a closer look at digital accessibility and how you can meet all of your users’ needs while increasing business, boosting customer loyalty, and complying with the law.


2. disability redefined

2.1 IntroductionThe Internet has changed how the lodging industry does business. Services that once required in-person visits or phone calls—from inquiring about availability to booking accommodations—can now be conducted online with just a keyboard and mouse. But for consumers living with disabilities, navigating the digital world—and interacting with your business online—isn’t always that simple.

According to an American Community Survey report,1 41.3 million Ameri-cans reported a disability in 2006—and those disabilities often have a nega-tive impact on one’s ability to smoothly navigate the Web.

Of course, none of this means people with disabilities refrain from using the Internet—the reality is they are adopting the same new technologies as every other consumer. The difference is that those living with disabilities must often find alternative ways to use these technologies, which are not always designed with accessibility in mind.

But despite these difficulties, the World Wide Web has created many new and exciting opportunities for people with disabilities, some as simple as reading a newspaper. Consider this: prior to the availability of Braille publications, the only way a person with a visual impairment could access a newspaper was to have it read to him or her by someone else. Later, Braille publications provided the visually impaired independent access to the news, but their availability was inherently delayed while text was converted. Online newspapers and other resources changed that. Using an assistive technology called a “screen reader” (which is a software program installed on the user’s computer that presents visual graphics and text shown on the monitor as speech, which allows the user to hear the content), a person with a visual impairment can now access breaking news at the same time as everyone else.

Newspapers are just the tip of the iceberg. The Web offers the possibility of unprecedented access to information to many people with disabilities, as once-prohibitive barriers to print, audio, and visual media can be much more easily overcome with Web technologies than through traditional communications methods.

And don’t forget, Web accessibility also benefits people without disabilities. A key principle of accessibility is the design of flexible Web sites and soft-ware that meet different user needs, preferences, and situations—allowing people to use technology in less-than-ideal circumstances. Whether it’s a slow Internet connection, a temporary impairment such as a broken arm, or a low literacy level, an accessible Web benefits all Internet users.


In light of all of this, one would expect that all businesses, and especially those in the hospitality industry, would already have taken steps to ensure their Web sites and other components of their digital presence are acces-sible to people with disabilities. Surprisingly, that is not the case; the level of accessibility of hospitality Web sites in the United States is actually very low. In fact, sixty hotel Web sites analyzed in a recent study failed most accessibility tests! Every lodging operator should assume that his or her Web site designer will not be at all familiar with this issue and, therefore, that accessibility features will not automatically be integrated into the site. As such, this is something the lodging operator needs to inquire about and insist upon.

With that in mind, let’s explore how disabilities have an impact on Internet use and take a closer look at the technologies and strategies that allow all users to enjoy successful and fulfilling interaction with online content and do business with your lodging establishment.

2.2 Disabilities and the WebAs previously stated, many impairments prevent people from fully engag-ing with the Web. According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a disability is anything that limits one or more major life activities—and in today’s world, using the Internet is certainly one of those activities. The following is a list of impairments that can have a negative impact on a user’s ability to successfully interact with online content. Making sure your organization’s Web site is accessible to anyone living with any of these disabilities should be a key priority.

• Visual disabilities, including: ○ Blindness ○ Low vision ○ Color blindness

What Is a Disability?

According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, an individual with a disability is a person who:

1. Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.

2. Has a record of such an impairment. 3. Is regarded as having such an impairment.

Reference: ADA, TAM I-2.2, TAM II-2.1000, TAM III-2.1000


• Hearing impairments, including: ○ Deafness ○ Hard of hearing

• Physical disabilities, including: ○ Motor disabilities ○ Repetitive stress injuries

• Speech disabilities

• Cognitive and neurological disabilities, including: ○ Dyslexia and dyscalculia ○ Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder ○ Intellectual disabilities○ Memory impairments ○ Mental health disabilities ○ Seizure disorders

• Multiple disabilities

• Aging-related conditions, including:○ Arthritis○ Vision loss○ Hearing loss○ Lack of mobility○ Cognitive impairment

Ensuring that a Web site is accessible may seem like a tall task, but it’s one that is worth undertaking. People who are older or disabled already account for 57 percent of all Internet users—and, as previously noted, the number of users living with disabilities will only increase as the Baby Boomers age.

You Know Someone with a Disability

While you may not know anyone who is blind or confined to a wheelchair, you probably do know someone who uses bifocals or suffers from arthritis. These four impairments have one thing in common: they each present an obstacle to using the Internet. That’s why it’s important to ensure your Web site is accessible to all users, regardless of any difficulties they face.


So whether it is arthritic hands that make using a mouse difficult or blind-ness that precludes use of the latest digital interface, your Web site must be accessible to people with disabilities—and here are the three biggest reasons why:

1. It’s the law. 2. People with disabilities represent a huge and largely untapped

market. 3. As a good corporate citizen, it’s the right thing to do.

We’ll talk about all of these reasons in depth in the next chapter, but first let’s take a look at some of the assistive technologies that help make the digital world a navigable one for users with disabilities.

2.3 Assistive TechnologiesAn accessible Web is one where online content is available to all individu-als regardless of any disabilities they experience. Today there are many hardware and software products available to users with disabilities to install on their computers that enable successful interaction with online content. The key is to make sure your Web site is compatible with all of these technologies. The following is a closer look at some of the most-used assistive technologies along with the disabilities they address.

• Screen reader—Visual impairments. Screen readers are software pro-grams that present online text seen on Web sites as speech, allow-ing users to hear content rather than read it. Two popular screen reading programs are GW Micro’s Window-Eyes and Freedom Scientific’s JAWS.2

• Speech recognition—Motor impairments, temporary impairments, aging-related impairments, repetitive stress injuries. Speech recognition soft-ware—such as Dragon NaturallySpeaking3—allows users with a variety of impairments to interact with the Web using voice-driven navigation. The program translates the user’s speech into electronic commands that allow him or her to navigate the Web interactively.

• Touch screen—Motor impairments, temporary impairments, aging-related impairments, repetitive stress injuries. A touch screen is a device placed on the computer monitor that allows direct selection of on-screen applications or activation of the computer by simply touching the screen. This allows users with motor impairments to avoid as much keyboard and mouse coordination as possible.

• Screen magnifiers—Visual impairments. Screen magnifiers like GW Micro’s ZoomText4 are software applications that allow users with visual impairments to enlarge online content displayed on a computer monitor.


• Captioning—Hearing impairments or obstacles. Users with hearing impairments require visible text for audio and video applications. Multimedia applications such as Quicktime, RealPlayer, and Win-dows Media Player are all caption-capable, although there is no standardized mechanism for captioning across these technologies. In addition, tools such as MAGPie5 –developed by the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media—and Hi-Caption can be used to create captions for media players. Captioning also allows users without sound capabilities or users in high-noise environments to successfully interact with audio content.

• MouseKeys—Motor impairments, temporary impairments. Motor impairments—such as arthritis or repetitive stress injuries—can make the use of a mouse difficult or impossible. Microsoft MouseKeys6—as well as other similar Web-based applications—allows the user to employ the numeric keypad to control the move-ment of the mouse pointer.

• Alternative keyboards and switches—Motor impairments, repetitive stress injuries. Alternative keyboards and switches are hardware or software devices—such as keyboards with large or small key spacing or sip-and-puff devices7 (which let mobility-impaired users interact with online content using a mouth-controlled apparatus)—that allow users to create standard keystrokes using alternative methods.

• Head pointer—Motor impairments. A head pointer8 is a wand—typi-cally made of a lightweight material such as aluminum—attached to a frame that is worn on the head. The wand allows users to press keys on a keyboard or use touch screen interfaces using only head motion.

• Braille and refreshable Braille—Visual impairments. Braille is a system of using raised dots on paper to form letters and words that users with visual impairments can read with their fingertips. A refresh-able Braille display9 is a device that produces Braille dot patterns by electronically raising or lowering pins to display information printed on a computer screen. In order to take advantage of the features of a refreshable Braille display, one must have a screen access software application installed on the computer.


3. the case for accessibility

3.1 IntroductionThere are many important reasons for lodging operators (and all other busi-nesses) to ensure that their Web sites are fully accessible to and usable by individuals with various types of disabilities: accessible Web sites enable hotels to reach this significant and growing market segment; they facilitate the booking of reservations; they increase guest satisfaction, which leads to increased return business and word-of-mouth referrals; and they are the “right thing to do.”

But many businesses don’t understand that the law actually requires them to make their Web sites accessible to individuals with disabilities. There is a common misperception that the Americans with Disabilities Act and similar state and local laws only deal with physical buildings and facilities, so-called “brick and mortar” establishments, and that non-building-related business operations—such as Web sites—are not covered by these laws. Nothing could be further from the truth—at least with respect to Web sites that have some sort of connection, or “nexus,” to physical places of business. State attorneys general actions, court cases, and U.S. Department of Justice enforcement actions and pronouncements all indicate that the law requires that hotels and other businesses must take steps to make their Web sites accessible—and we’ll explore several existing cases that illustrate why it’s so important to ensure your site is compliant.

3.2 The LawIn the online world, accessibility means that Web content is available to all individuals, regardless of any disabilities or environmental constraints they experience. In order for a Web site to be considered accessible, it must meet one or more sets of standards.

Before we go on, here’s a quick overview of the most frequently cited acces-sibility laws and standards:

• Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This federal law requires equal treatment of people with disabilities in public accommoda-tions online as well as offline. Note that a number of state laws have similar requirements.

• Section 508. This section of the federal Rehabilitation Act applies only to federal agencies. It requires that all U.S. federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities.10 Most state institutions have adopted similar “508” guidelines.

• Section 504. All government agencies (federal, state, and local), educational institutions, and federally funded projects must comply


with this part of the Rehabilitation Act. It prohibits both intentional and unintentional discrimination due to disability.

• W3C WCAG (World Wide Web Consortium Web Content Accessibility Guidelines). Governments in the European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, and elsewhere have enacted these guidelines as law in their countries.

It’s also important to take note of how lack of an accessible Web site can have a significant legal effect on your business. To get a better idea, let’s take a closer look at three notable accessibility cases. The first involves travel Web sites Priceline.com and Ramada.com, the second concerns big box retailer Target, and the third focuses on online travel company Hotels.com.

3.2.1 Priceline.com and Ramada.com

In 2003 and 2004, then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer conducted an investigation that found Priceline.com and Ramada.com did not meet ADA standards, as portions of each site were inaccessible to users who were blind or visually impaired. Both parties reached an agreement with the attorney general’s office that required implementation of a variety of accessibility measures and payment for the cost of the investigation. The following excerpts from a press release issued by Spitzer’s office on August 19, 2004, provide insight into the investigation and agreement:

The Web sites, Ramada.com and Priceline.com, have agreed to implement a variety of accessibility standards that will permit users of assistive technology, such as screen reader software, to more easily navigate these Web sites.

“Accessible Web sites are the wave of the future and the right thing to do. We applaud these companies for taking responsible and proper steps to make their Web sites accessible to the blind and visually impaired,” Spitzer said. “We urge all companies who have not done so to follow their lead.”

The Attorney General opined that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that private Web sites be accessible to blind and visually impaired Internet users. The ADA generally dictates that all “places of public accommodation” and all “goods, services, facilities, privileges, advan-tages, or accommodations” of places of public accommodation must be made accessible to disabled citizens, absent undue hardship. New York law provides similar civil rights protections.

During investigations conducted in 2003 and earlier this year, the Attorney General found that portions of the Ramada.com and Priceline.com Web sites were not accessible to this type of assistive technology. Under the terms of the agreements, the companies will implement a range of accessibility standards authored by the Web Accessibility Initiative (“WAI”) of the World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”), an organization that recommends Internet standards. For instance, graphics and images must have comprehensible labels, tables must have appropriately placed


row and column headers, and edit fields (boxes where the Internet user inputs information) that must be labeled to indicate which information is requested. The companies must also implement a wide variety of other initiatives, based on guidelines authored by the W3C.

As this case shows, ensuring an accessible Web site is just as important as ensuring accessible physical facilities—and it illustrates the importance of compliance with the law.

3.2.2 Target.com

More recently, a federal district court judge debated the question of whether Target.com was required to be accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired under the ADA and California law.

In National Federation of the Blind v. Target Corporation, various plaintiffs filed a class action lawsuit against Target alleging that Target.com was not accessible to people with disabilities. The plaintiffs argued that the inacces-sible Web site constituted a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and specific California statutes; Target argued otherwise, citing a variety of reasons why it wasn’t in violation of national or California law. In October 2007, Federal District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel issued a preliminary ruling that the plaintiffs could proceed to trial over Target’s arguments that the Americans with Disabilities Act and California law did not require that its Web site be accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

Ultimately, Target settled the case before it went to trial. According to the agreement, Target paid approximately $6 million to the National Federa-tion of the Blind (NFB) to be distributed to the plaintiffs and $20,000 to the California Center for the Blind. The company also had to pay the plaintiff’s attorney fees and costs in excess of $3.7 million. In addition, the settlement calls for Target to:

• Bring Target.com into compliance with the Target Online Assis-tive Technology Guidelines (2MB Word Doc). The Web site will be certified by NFB as compliant with these guidelines, and NFB will monitor compliance over three years from initial certification.

• Pay NFB $90,000 for the above-mentioned certification and first year of monitoring, and then pay NFB $40,000 per year thereafter.

• Have its Web developers receive at least one day of accessibility training, to be provided by NFB at a cost of up to $15,000 per ses-sion.

• Respond to accessibility complaints from Web site users.As you can see, failure to provide an accessible Web site can be a costly mistake—and one that is easy to avoid. There are several ways to evaluate your Web site’s accessibility, and we’ll discuss each one in this document. Taking these simple steps will help you to avoid legal action and costly


settlements, as well as to open up your organization to a huge new market share.

3.2.3 Hotels.com

In June 2007, the case of Smith v. Hotels.com L.P. commenced in the Alameda County, California, Superior Court. The plaintiffs claimed that “Hotels.com’s Web site, www.hotels.com,11 does not allow mobility-impaired indi-viduals to search for accessible rooms or make a reservation guaranteeing that an accessible room would be available to them and therefore violates [specified provisions of California law].” The case was recently settled, and the following excerpts from the January 2009 press release announcing the settlement provide key insight into the case:

Under a settlement announced today, Hotels.com and Expedia.com, two of the world’s leading online travel companies, have agreed to add features to their online travel reservation systems so that millions of travelers with disabilities can use their online services to search for and reserve hotel rooms that have the accommodations they need.…

As part of the settlement, Hotels.com and Expedia.com will gather infor-mation about hotels’ accessibility features, and will then incorporate that information into their websites so that travelers can both search for hotels with rooms that offer the particular accommodations they need, and make special requests online to book those accessible rooms. Each special request will be given individual attention by a trained customer service representative, who will work with the customer to accommodate his or her needs. These new features will be rolled out later this year.

“For years, travelers with disabilities have been unable to take advantage of the convenience and low-cost options of booking hotel rooms online,” said plaintiff Bonnie Lewkowicz. “Now, for the first time, I will be able to reserve a hotel room online that meets my needs, just like anyone else.”

Lewkowicz and co-plaintiff Judith Smith are members of AXIS Dance Company, a not-for-profit company of professional dancers with and with-out disabilities based in Oakland, Calif. Ms. Smith and Ms. Lewkowicz both rely on wheelchairs for mobility.

“By adding Web site features to meet the needs of disabled consum-ers, Hotels.com and Expedia are showing that they are true leaders in the hospitality industry” added Victoria Ni, a staff attorney at Public Justice, a public interest law firm specializing in cutting-edge litigation nationwide. “We hope and believe that other online travel agencies will follow their lead.

In 2006, American online consumer travel sales generated $79 billion. For American travelers, the Internet is an indispensable resource for planning trips and booking lodgings and transportation. Adults with disabilities


spend over $10 billion annually on travel, and almost half of them consult the Internet to support their travel needs.…

“This settlement ushers in a new era in the online travel industry. A wheelchair user who reserves a hotel room online will no longer have to worry that she or he literally might not be able to enter the room after they arrive,” said Kevin Knestrick, an attorney with DRA, a non-profit law center based in Berkeley, Calif., that specializes in high-impact lawsuits on behalf of people with disabilities.…

Although this case does not discuss the issue of Web site accessibility per se, it acknowledges the need for individuals with disabilities to be able to function in the online, Web-based environment with respect to hotels, and it would appear inherent in this concept that individuals with disabilities be able to use the Web sites.

3.3 New Markets, New OpportunitiesBesides being legally compliant, an accessible online presence can have a huge positive impact on your organization’s bottom line, as the popula-tion with disabilities is a large and growing one. As previously noted, older people and people with disabilities now account for 57 percent of all Internet users.

And don’t forget, the buying power of these groups is enormous. Accord-ing to the U.S. Census Bureau, people with disabilities have an aggregate income that exceeds $1 trillion and $220 billion in discretionary spending power. Add to that the estimated $2 trillion of buying power held by Baby Boomers, and the business potential for your organization is huge.

Like every other consumer, people with disabilities will frequent busi-nesses—and the Web sites of those businesses—where they feel wanted. And as the number of people with disabilities grows, an accessible Web site will become an increasingly important part of what makes them feel welcome. Just as you work to make sure your guests are comfortable during their stay, you must work to ensure they are comfortable whenever they interact with your brand—including their online experience.

A Harris Group study of the hospitality industry found that disabled travel-ers in the U.S. spend more than $13 billion each year on travel.12 Needless to say, no hotel wants to lose this market potential by excluding users with disabilities from its Web site—especially as the Internet becomes an increas-ingly important part of interacting with potential guests.

3.4 Added Benefits of an Accessible Web SiteIn addition, accessibility measures can improve other aspects of your Web site, including making it easier to find and use, resulting in increased traffic


and increased effectiveness. And when your Web site is easier to use, your organization is likely to see financial gain. Here’s why:

• Accessible sites can be used by a greater number of people, expanding potential market share. As obvious as it sounds, it bears repeating: an accessible Web site can expand your audience, giving more poten-tial customers access to your brand online. In addition to allowing people with disabilities to take full advantage of the Web, an acces-sible online presence means older people, people using outdated technologies, or just someone with a broken arm can successfully navigate your site.

• Accessible sites increase findability through enhanced search engine optimization (SEO).Many accessibility measures make it easier for people to find your site by increasing SEO. For example, creating alternative text for images and other media makes that content available to search engines. The majority of search engines don’t see the page but can interpret your site’s code, which is why site structure and code need to meet accessibility guidelines.

• Accessible sites can be used even when normal Web-viewing is impeded. Accessibility efforts can make navigating your site in less-than-ideal situations or with less-than-ideal equipment easier for all users, disabled or not. For example, in addition to providing users with hearing impairments access to audio content, captioned sites allow all users to take full advantage of audio in noisy places or if using a device without sound. Also, sites with proper color contrast are easier to use in brightly lit areas. Finally, conformance with W3C guidelines for HTML and CSS makes sites more likely to be avail-able on mobile devices, which more and more people are using to access the Web.

• Accessible sites are more usable for everyone. Accessibility efforts often make sites more usable to everyone by allowing all users to more easily meet their objectives when visiting your organization online. Plus, when your customers have a positive experience, they will be more inclined to explore your site, visit again, and tell their friends about it. Here are just a few ways to make your site more accessible and usable for everyone:○ Use clear and consistent design and navigation○ Use clear and simple language○ Use good color contrast○ Utilize simple tools, such as “alt tags” (discussed as follows)

to allow the accessibility features used by disabled individuals to function properly.

• Accessible sites generate goodwill. Plain and simple, your accessibility efforts are an opportunity to enhance your organization’s positive


image and reflect on your efforts to be a responsible corporate citizen. These efforts can improve financial performance, boost reputation, and positively impact sales and customer loyalty, among other benefits.

In short, ensuring that your organization’s Web presence is accessible is a win-win proposition. Not only will you be in compliance with legal standards, you’ll also open your organization up to a potentially large new revenue stream, reap additional benefits, and generate positive buzz around your brand.


4. Judging accessibility

4.1 IntroductionNow that you know why it’s so important to ensure that your organization’s Web site is accessible to all users, it’s time to discuss how to make sure it actually is. In short, there are two ways to test your site’s user accessibil-ity: via human evaluation or digital evaluation tools. The most successful approach is to use a combination of both. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this on your own—there are many experts who specialize in such evalua-tions. This is because no single tool—no matter how expensive it is—can judge every component that determines accessibility. While many Web sites claim Section 508 or WCAG conformance based on the evaluation of a tool, the truth is that at best the site passed the automatic accessibility features that can be judged electronically.

Of course, that doesn’t mean such tools aren’t useful. They can play a key role in determining if your site is not accessible by testing for missing acces-sibility requirements. But when it comes to alternative text, multimedia content, online forms, and many other features of today’s Web sites and online content, human evaluation is required to make a sound judgment on accessibility. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at several of the digital evaluation tools available today that can help determine Web site accessibility.

• Accessibility Management Platform13 (AMP)—SSB BART Group (price upon request). AMP is available as an on-demand, Web-based appli-cation that can be used on more than one hundred development platforms to help identify Section 508 and ADA compliance issues, as it can detect more than two million types of compliance viola-tions. AMP provides organizations access to a suite of resources that can aid in judging accessibility, including InFocus, the group’s solution for monitoring and implementing accessibility issues and enhancements for Web sites and Web applications.

• The LIFT Machine14—UsableNet (starts at $999). LIFT Machine is a server-based application that allows you to test for compliance with Section 508 and W3C (WCAG) accessibility guidelines as well as other usability principles. According to UsableNet, this tool auto-matically scans internal and external Web sites for more than 140 quality, accessibility, and usability issues. LIFT Machine is capable of generating a variety of reports, including high-level executive reports and detailed tech assessments for content developers.

• Ramp Ascend15—Deque ($1999). Ramp Ascend is capable of add-ing SMIL captioning to multimedia, ensures Web animations are accessible, and provides comprehensive table remediation. It can be


used to test both Section 508 and WCAG conformance and includes plug-ins for various third-party software programs.

• WebKing16—Parasoft (price upon request). WebKing allows users to record user click paths by following them in a browser, then it automatically configures and executes functional/regression tests that verify paths and page contents. The tool’s static analysis also identifies client-side code that does not comply with Section 508 accessibility rules.

• Rational Policy Tester17—IBM. IBM’s “Accessibility Edition” of its Rational Policy Tester monitors more than 170 accessibility checks. According to IBM, this tool “helps determine the site’s level of compliance with government standards and displays results in user-friendly dashboards and reports.” It should be noted that IBM acquired Watchfire, a Web accessibility tool pioneer.

These tools can be very helpful in identifying inaccessible portions of your Web site, but UsableNet probably puts it best in its description of the LIFT Machine: The only way to ensure that a Web site is accessible is through deliberate development, testing, and evaluation informed by human judgment.

With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at the human judgment process and some additional tools that can make it easier.

4.2 Web Accessibility Toolbars and FaveletsThe development of Web accessibility toolbars18 has been a revelation in the field of assistive technology, as they provide a convenient way to check for a variety of accessibility features on individual Web pages.

These toolbars consist of a series of buttons displayed above your main browser window, with each button providing an accessibility testing func-tion. There are buttons to test for color contrast, buttons to remove images for alternative text inspection, and buttons to disable Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), among other useful functions—each one designed to help make accessibility compliance testing easier and faster. There are a variety of toolbars available, each designed to work within a specific Internet browser (versions exist for Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Opera). Simply download the one that works with the browser of your choice and get started testing.

To make things even easier, accessibility expert Jim Thatcher developed a series of favelets19 that work in conjunction with these toolbars. These favelets (digital bookmarks that contain code that can tell you important information about the accessibility of your page) are ready for download and provide simple JavaScript pop-up alerts that describe what accessibil-ity errors are present on a Web page and what functions need to be further examined. For example, the “Form Labels favelet” will not only tell you how many form errors the page contains, but will also alert you to how many form labels require evaluation.


Ultimately, these tools will show you the underlying code and then let you make the human judgment on whether or not it is appropriate. Image functions, for example, will show the images and the alternative, or alt, text (i.e., the text which describes the content of the image) so one can judge the appropriateness of it.

4.3 Additional Accessibility Testing TipsIn addition to accessibility toolbars and favelets, there are a number of other simple ways to judge accessibility.

For starters, try and navigate your Web site using only the keyboard. As we discussed earlier, many users live with disabilities that prevent them from using a mouse, so it is critical that all content is available by using key commands. You can take this same approach with any number of assistive strategies—sometimes trying it for yourself is the only way to determine if it will work for someone else.

You can also try out assistive technologies and software to test your Web site’s accessibility. For example, use the screen reader JAWS to hear your Web site in spoken form and determine if it makes sense to those who cannot see each page’s visual elements. In fact, you can get a great idea of your site’s accessibility by using the fully functional demo version of JAWS20, which runs free for forty minutes. Other testing tools have similar arrangements, providing you and your organization a quick way to see where your site stands in regard to accessibility compliance.

As you can see, there are many different ways to help put your organiza-tion’s Web site on the path to accessibility. As we discussed in the introduc-tion, ensuring accessibility may seem like a daunting task. But tools like these—combined with necessary human judgment—will help make this task significantly easier.


5. building an accessible digital presence

5.1 IntroductionAn accessible Web site is a key part of building a Web presence that allows all Internet users to successfully interact with your brand online, but it’s not the only piece of the puzzle. Remember, your digital footprint extends to email, mobile device applications, and your presence on social media networks.

As you know, users are flocking to social media networks and are increas-ingly using mobile devices to access the Web. And for a savvy organiza-tion that is a great thing, as social media sites like Twitter and Facebook are proving to be effective and inexpensive marketing tools. On these new networks positive buzz spreads like wildfire, but with the good comes the bad—negative customer experiences spread at the same pace, including those of consumers with disabilities effectively locked out by technology.

That, of course, leads us to a key fact: accessibility often lags behind tech-nology—especially technology that relies on user-generated content. But like all Web technology, social media networks and mobile devices are becoming more accessible—and tools exist that allow users with disabilities to make them even more so.

The most important take away from this is that when it comes to engaging with your customers on social media networks or through mobile appli-cations, not all of these platforms are accessible. If you’re going to offer information on an inaccessible network, be sure it is also available in an accessible format elsewhere.

Finally, the same sets of accessibility standards that apply to your Web site—Section 508, WCAG—apply to mobile devices. Before we dive into the differences between each set of standards, let’s take a closer look at how users with disabilities are taking advantage of social media sites and mobile devices.

5.2 Social MediaSocial media networks—Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, just to name a few—have changed the way the world uses the Web. Gone are the days when an organization’s Web site defined its digital presence—today’s social media networks offer consumers new and innovative ways to interact with brands online, and they are taking advantage of it.

Consider this:


• The number of adult Internet users with a profile on a social net-working site more than quadrupled in just four years—from 8 percent in 2005 to 35 percent at the end of 2008.

• Almost 20 percent of online adults use a social networking site every day.

• 52 percent of social network users had “friended” or become a fan of at least one brand online.

• Social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular online activity, ahead of personal email, and account for one in every eleven minutes spent online.21

As we discussed ear-lier, people with dis-abilities are adopting these new technologies along with every other Internet user, making it ever more important to consider your orga-nization’s entire Web presence when evalu-ating accessibility. It’s important to remem-ber not to rely on any one medium that may not be accessible to all of your users. For example, don’t offer Facebook or email-only promotions, as this could exclude parts of your customer base. That’s not to say you shouldn’t use Facebook (or any other social media interface)—just be sure your organization is not excluding users with disabilities by doing so.

Here are a few examples of accessibility efforts made by social media net-works, as well as tools that can make these online communities easier to use for people with disabilities.

• Facebook. One problem of social media sites that has dogged users with visual impairments is the use of CAPTCHAS during the sign-up process. CAPTCHAS consist of random characters or words that users are asked to retype into an adjoining text field and are used for security, authentication, and anti-spam purposes. Unfortunately, they are difficult for people with low vision to decipher and present problems for screen reading programs, effectively locking visually impaired users out. To remedy this, Facebook has implemented an “audio CAPTCHA,” allowing users with sight impairments to take advantage of a verbal security check instead of the traditional visual one. In addition, Facebook has worked to make other aspects of the site accessible—including a “No Javascript” version of the gift shop, which includes alternative text for all images and remedies


problems with dynamic page updates encountered by screen readers. For more on Facebook’s accessibility efforts, check out the site’s “Accessibility and Assistive Technologies” page.22 Facebook continues to work with the American Foundation for the Blind23 to make its growing online community more accessible.

• YouTube. The key to ensuring an accessible presence on YouTube is to be sure that all of your organization’s videos are properly captioned. This may sound difficult or expensive, but in reality it’s not. Whenever you upload a video to YouTube, you have the option to upload a closed caption file along with it, and generating the closed caption file is a snap. Just use a tool like the Easy You-Tube Caption Creator,24 and all you need is a transcript to quickly create a closed-captioned file to upload along with your video. In addition, if your video does not have sound you should alert your viewers—just add in a simple caption explaining that the video has no audio so they won’t be confused.

• Twitter. Twitter poses difficulties for users with disabilities, espe-cially for those who do not—or cannot—use a mouse. Twitter’s mouse-over features and mouse-only enabled links pose problems for those that use a keyboard or other device to navigate the Web. Fortunately, there are third-party solutions like Accessible Twit-ter.25 This free service allows disabled users to sign in using their normal Twitter accounts but features a range of functions that make for a user-friendly interface, including keyboard-accessible links, large default text size and high color contrast, and audio cues that indicate when the character limit is approaching when entering a tweet.

5.3 Mobile DevicesAs we talked about earlier, an accessible Web site can have a positive impact on any user’s experience with your brand online, whether they live with a disability or not. And according to the folks at the Worldwide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative, designing Web sites with mobile devices in mind has a lot in common with designing accessible Web sites—which means an accessible site can also make surfing the Web easier for mobile users.

According to W3C’s Shawn Lawton Henry, people surfing the Web on a smart phone experience many of the same difficulties faced by users with disabilities.“Either you only see a small bit of the Web page at a time or the font is really small, those kinds of things,” Henry told IT Business Edge.26 “Those issues that everybody has when using a mobile device are very similar to what many people with disabilities have using just a desktop or laptop computer.”


To get a better idea of the overlap between accessible and mobile-friendly content, as well tips on how to make sure your organization’s Web site caters to both, take a look at W3C’s Mobile Web Application Best Practices.27

While mobile-friendly content may help make surfing the Web a less daunt-ing task for users with disabilities, more and more mobile device makers are including out-of-the-box accessibility features in their offerings. Take the latest version of Apple’s iPhone. The new 3G S model incorporates a variety of accessibility features into the phone, including Apple’s pro-prietary VoiceOver screen reader software and new ways for users with disabilities to interact with the phone using its touch screen interface. The best part is that there is no extra charge for these features—users living with a disability pay the same price as any other buyer. In addition, a user simply turns on these accessibility features during the initial setup of the phone, a process that is entirely accessible on any Mac or PC using a screen reader or magnifier.

This is not an endorsement of the iPhone—other devices offer accessibility features as well—but it is a great example of a manufacturer considering all of its potential customers when designing a mobile phone. With these features, Apple has created a phone that illustrates several of the added benefits of accessibility we discussed earlier—including ensuring usability for a greater number of people, thereby expanding potential market share. The company has also created goodwill among people with disabilities, showing consumers that all users are important, which could lead to return business from loyal customers.

The lesson that the hotel and lodging industry can take from the iPhone is this: by taking a few simple steps, your organization can make certain that customers—regardless of ability—have a positive experience when interacting with your brand online, no matter how they access it.

5.4 Section 508 and WCAG: A ComparisonAs we discussed earlier, several sets of Web accessibility standards exist. Today in the United States, the two about which your organization should be most concerned are Section 508 and WCAG 2.0.

Section 508 of the federal Rehabilitation Act requires that all U.S. federal agencies make their electronic and information technology accessible to people with disabilities, while WCAG guidelines have become the world standard, with governments in the European Union, United Kingdom, Aus-tralia and elsewhere enacting them as law in their countries. And as noted in section 3, the New York Attorney General’s office required compliance with certain tenets of these standards in its proceeding against Priceline.com and Ramada.com.

Here is a quick timeline charting the progression of each set of guidelines. As you can see, Section 508 guidelines have followed WCAG standards,


and the updated 508 guidelines will be based on WCAG 2.0., which is why businesses need to start evaluating Web accessibility using 2.0.

The primary difference between the two sets of standards is this: while WCAG guidelines have been updated to reflect current technology and the opportunities the Internet affords people with disabilities, Section 508 has not been updated since December of 2000. As such, many regulatory agencies in the United States now use WCAG as the guide to gauge whether or not a site is accessible.

Fortunately, most Section 508 standards that are applicable to today’s tech-nology are included in the WCAG guidelines—in other words, if your site is WCAG-compliant it will also meet Section 508 standards. For example, Section 508 guidelines state all images must have alt text, but WCAG goes further, specifying that alternative text must be appropriate and under-standable. This means that content is identifiable to users who can’t see the image itself, meaning the alt text must convey the same contextual and visual information.

In December 2008, WCAG guidelines were changed to account for tech-nology advancements. Those changes were needed—standards that made sense in 1999 may not be relevant today, and WCAG 2.0 reflects those advancements. When judging the accessibility of your organization’s Web presence, WCAG 2.0 guidelines28 better reflect modern technology—they’re easier to use, can be applied to all Web technologies, and include a wealth of supporting documentation.

Of course, when making a comparison it helps to see the two sets of stan-dards side by side. Take a look at the chart below to see how WCAG 2.0 and Section 508 overlap and how WCAG has been updated to reflect new technologies and Web features that were not a factor when the last version of Section 508 was published in 2000.


Keywords Section 508 WCAG 2.0

Text Equivalent 1194.22 (a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content).

Principle: PerceivableGuideline 1.1 Text Alternatives (see success criteria 1.1.1 Non-text content): Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, Braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.

Guideline 1.3 Adaptable (see success criteria 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics): Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.

Synchronized multi-media

1194.22 (b) Equivalent alternatives for any multi-media presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.

Principle: PerceivableGuideline 1.2 Time-based Media (see success criteria 1.2.1 Audio-only and Video-only, 1.2.2 Captions (Prerecorded) and 1.2.3 Audio Description or Full Text Alternative): Provide alternatives for time-based media

Color 1194.22 (c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.

Principle: PerceivableGuideline 1.4 Distinguishable (see success criteria 1.4.1 Use of color): Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

Style Sheets 1194.22 (d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requiring an associated style sheet.

Principle: PerceivableGuideline 1.3 Adaptable (see success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships and 1.3.2 Meaningful Sequence): Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.

Server-Side Image Maps

1194.22 (e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.

Principle: OperableGuideline 2.1 Keyboard Accessible (see success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard): Make all functionality available from a keyboard.

Client Side Image Maps

1194.22 (f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.

Principle: OperableGuideline 2.1 Keyboard Accessible (see success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard): Make all functionality available from a keyboard.


Table Headers 1194.22 (g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.

Principle: PerceivableGuideline 1.3 Adaptable (see success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships): Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.

Complex Tables 1194.22 (h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.


Frames 1194.22 (i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.

Principle: OperableGuideline 2.4 Navigable (see success criteria 2.4.1 Bypass blocks): Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

Flicker 1194.22 (j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

Principle: OperableGuideline 2.3 Seizures (see success criteria 2.3.1 Three flash or below threshold): Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.

Text only last resort

1194.22 (k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.


Scripting 1194.22 (l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content, or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by assistive technology.

Principle: RobustGuideline 4.1 Compatible (see success criteria 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value): Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

Applets and plug-ins

1194.22 (m) When a web page requires that an applet, plug-in or other application be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l).

Principle: AllWeb technology should be accessibility supported.


Forms 1194.22 (n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed on-line, the form shall allow people using assistive technology to access the information, field elements, and functionality required for completion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

Principle: Perceivable, Operable, UnderstandableGuideline 1.3 Adaptable (see success criteria 1.3.1 Info and Relationships): Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.Guideline 2.1 Keyboard Accessible (see success criteria 2.1.1 Keyboard and 2.1.2 No keyboard traps): Make all functionality available from a keyboard.Guideline 3.2 Predictable (see success criteria 3.2.1 On focus and 3.2.2 On input): Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.Guideline 3.3 Input Assistance (see success criteria 3.3.1 Error suggestion and 3.3.2 Labels or instructions): Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

Skip Navigation 1194.22 (o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.

Principle: OperableGuideline 2.4 Navigable (see success criteria 2.4.1 Bypass blocks): Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

Timed Responses

1194.22 (p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.

Principle: OperableGuideline 2.2 Enough Time (see success criteria 2.2.1 Timing Adjustment and 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide): Provide users enough time to read and use content.

5.5 Best Practices: Elements of an Accessible Web Site

Now that you know a little more about how people with disabilities use the Web and understand the standards that define an accessible Web site, let’s take a closer look at some best practices based on those standards that will help ensure that your organization’s Web site is accessible to all users.

As we mentioned earlier, the most up-to-date set of guidelines is WCAG 2.0, so we’ll examine WCAG 2.0’s four principles of accessibility and the tenets of each. We’ll discuss each section, explain why it’s important and whom it benefits, and provide you with real-world examples of how it applies to today’s Web.

It helps that the principles form an easy-to-remember acronym: POUR. That’s Perceivable, Operable, understandable and Robust. Here are WCAG’s definitions of each:


Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be present-able to users in ways they can perceive. This means that users must be able to recognize the information being presented (it can’t be invisible to all of their senses).

Operable: User interface components and navigation must be operable. This means that users must be able to operate the interface (the interface cannot require interaction that a user cannot perform).

understandable: Information and the operation of user interface must be understandable. This means that users must be able to understand the information as well as the operation of the user interface (the content or operation cannot be beyond the user’s understanding).

Robust: Content must be robust enough that it can be interpreted reliably by a wide variety of user agents, including assistive technologies. This means that users must be able to access the content as technologies advance (as technologies and user agents evolve, the content should remain accessible).

Before we dive into the specifics of each principle, it’s important to note that these are not the full WCAG 2.0 guidelines, but a list of recommen-dations—as such, they cannot be used to verify accessibility compliance. But by following them you will help put your organization on the path to accessibility.

With that said, let’s dig into the WCAG 2.0 guidelines.

5.5.1 Perceivable

Guideline 1.1: Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, Braille, speech, symbols, or simpler language.

An image or other visual content is only useful to those who can see it. And as today’s Web sites become more and more image-heavy, they become increasingly difficult for people with disabilities to use. Think about it: a Web page covered in images, graphics, or other non-text elements that lack alternative text leaves large swaths of online real estate indecipherable and un-navigable by screen readers and other assistive technologies—leaving users that rely on these technologies in the dark.

The benefit to providing text alternatives for non-text content is obvious: it allows all users to better understand and use a Web page, regardless of their ability to see or understand the non-text elements. Alternative text benefits users who are blind or who may not be able to see images or deci-pher quickly rotating graphical elements, as well as cognitively impaired users that may have difficulty understanding complex graphical layouts. And don’t forget, images and graphics aren’t the only non-text elements in use today—audio and video fall under this guideline as well, and both require alternative text. That means captions or text presentations such as


transcripts are needed in order for users who are hearing impaired to suc-cessfully interact with such content.

Finally, remember that alternative text makes your non-text content search-able, increasing findability and allowing you to repurpose content in a variety of ways.

How To: Text Alternatives for Images

Creating text alternatives for images is a relatively easy process that requires just a simple accommodation from Web developers. That accommodation is to include an “alt attribute” on every “img” element. That alt attribute contains a text alternative for the image, and the value of that alt attribute is what is spoken by a screen reader in place of the image. In addition to images, every image map hot spot (area element) and every image button (input type=“image”) must include an alt attribute.

The alternative text for images should provide the right level of detail to users:

1. If the image is active (link, button, area), then the alt text must explain the function of the image, what the image does, and where the link goes.

Both of these are active images (links) and both include text. Because both images are active, the alt-text should be the function of the image—what the active object does. We recommend alt=”Find a Hotel” on the “Find a Hotel” button.

2. If the image is not an active link but it does convey information, the alt text must convey the same information so that those users who cannot see the image get the same content and experience. In most cases, the image should have alternative text equal to the text within the images.

3. If the image is redundant or conveys no information, then use alt=”” for the text alternative. Since these images are only used for visual eye candy, they are not important to the users who cannot see the images. But because every image must have an alt attribute according to the accessibility guidelines, it is an error to omit using alt=”” on these. In reality, today’s screen readers have advanced since the accessibility guidelines were defined, and if there is an


image without alternative text and it is not a link, the screen reader will ignore it.

Guideline 1.2: Provide alternatives for time-based media.

While this guideline may appear vague, it is actually quite simple. It merely states that audio, video, audio-video, and other such content be accessible. That includes a variety of measures to ensure that these forms can be under-stood by assistive technologies and are presented in a variety of formats, including captions for live and prerecorded materials, audio descriptions for video content, transcripts for audio and audio-visual content, and sign language for audio content.

A variety of users benefit from these measures:

• Captions allow users who are deaf to fully enjoy audio and audio-video content.

• Sign language allows users who are deaf to more fully understand audio content, as it provides insight into intonation and emotion that cannot be gleaned from captions.

• Audio tracks provide users who are blind with content descriptions for videos without sound.

Guideline 1.3: Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example, simpler layout) without losing information or structure

Today’s Web sites present content in ways that would have been impos-sible just a few short years ago. Unfortunately, many of these cutting-edge presentations have not been designed with accessibility in mind.

Content that cannot be deciphered by assistive technologies cannot be presented to a user in a format that is understandable, while confusing page elements or lack of continuity can make a site difficult for the cogni-tively impaired to understand and hard for those with dexterity issues to navigate. So whether it’s ensuring that the structure of a Web page makes sense when navigated by a user who is blind with a screen reader or that a cognitively or mobility-impaired user gets all needed information while navigating a simplified layout, having content that can be presented in a variety of formats means all of your customers can a have successful experi-ence when visiting your Web site.

When assessing your organization’s Web site in regard to this guideline, pay special attention to structure (i.e., the way the parts of a Web page are organized in relation to each other and the way a collection of Web pages is organized) and presentation (i.e., the rendering of content in a variety of formats that can be recognized by all users). As such, it is particularly important to ensure that the cascading style sheets (CSS) in use are struc-tured in such a way that information and relationships are preserved when the presentation format changes.


In addition, remember that visual cues, auditory cues, style sheets, data tables, content position, and form fields must also be accessible for users interacting with online content through assistive technologies. Take color cues, for example. We all know that red means stop and green means go, and Web sites often use such visual cues to convey information. But how do people who are colorblind get this information? Presenting text alternatives for such information is just as important as it is for images and video—fail-ing to do so could make navigating your site impossible for people using assistive technologies. The same advice applies to the other examples listed above—make sure ALL content can be interpreted no matter what format a user requires it to be presented in.

How To: Structural and Semantic Markup

Lists: When creating lists of related items use list elements appropriate for their purposes. These include “ol”, “ul” and “dl.” Use the “ol” element for a list that is ordered and the “ul” element for unordered lists. Use definition lists (“dl”) when terms must be grouped with their definitions. When markup is used that visually formats items as a list but does not indicate the list relationship, users may have difficulty in navigating the information. Style sheets can be used to change the presentation of the lists while preserving their integrity.

Headings: Use h1-h6 to identify headings. Using headings to simply change the appearance of text does not express content organization and may confuse users who use headings to recognize structure or depend on them for navigation. On the other hand, even though bold format “class=heading” can result in the visual display of a heading, assistive technologies will not recognize it.

Emphasized Text: Use strong or “em” tags to emphasize text. This is not yet widely supported by assistive technologies, but using appropriate seman-tic markup to indicate emphasis user agents can help make the structure recognizable to the user.

How To: Forms

Forms can present problems for Web users living with a variety of disabili-ties, including vision and mobility impairments, as well as for people with cognitive or learning disabilities. Someone who relies on a screen reader with audio or Braille output can easily get lost in a poorly designed form. For these devices to work, the technology needs to be able to associate a form label (request or prompt) with the correct form control, such as a text field or checkbox. Web page authors must ensure that “directions and cues” are available to screen reader users. The on-screen prompt must always be positioned near the text input field that tells a sighted user to type the appropriate information into the corresponding text input box.

To accomplish that, a Web page developer should:


• Associate labels explicitly with their controls using the label ele-ment when the on-screen text is adequate and nearby. Developers can do this by using the form label element with the appropriate parameter that matches the “id” element in the input element. Here’s an example of form fields with visual prompts accompanied by accessible form labels:

<label for=”email”>Email:</label><input type=”text” name=”fromDate” id=”email” value=”” />

• When on-screen text is not explicit or inadequately dispersed, use the title attribute on the input element.

In this form, the search text field does not have explicit on-page text for the label. In this case, use the title attribute shown below.

<form id=”search_site” method=”get” action=”/results”><input type=”text” name=”q” id=”search” title=”Search Term” size=”31” value=”” /><input type=”submit” name=”sa” id=”btn_search” alt=”Search” value=”Search” />

</form>

How To: Data Tables

Data tables present information such as search results, comparisons between room features, and property lists in a column and row format. That means the meaning of data in most cells of the table depends on heading informa-tion, which is usually in the first row and the first column of the table. You cannot know what the data mean unless you are aware of the contents of the corresponding heading cells.

Developers need to correctly mark up tables with the appropriate HTML code. This means either using a “th” element for heading cells and/or using the scope attribute on all heading cells: scope=“row” for row headers and scope=“col” for column headers.

For example, the following property listing from a hotel company uses a simple table to show the different properties, rating, link to map directions, and link to their reservation system.


The data table could be marked by:

<table> <tr> <th scope=”col”>Hotels</th> <th scope=”col”>Rating</th> <th scope=”col”>Directions</th> <th scope=”col”>Reservations</th> </tr> <tr> <th scope=”row”>Hotel 1</th> <td><img src=”4star.gif” alt=”4 star”/></td> <td><a href=”http://www.hotel1.com/map.html”><img src=”icon_map.gif” alt=”Hotel 1 Map” /></a></td> <td><a href=” http://www.hotel1.com/booknow.html”><img src=”icon_booknow.gif” alt=”Book Hotel 1 Now”></a></td> </tr>…</table>

Guideline 1.4: Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

While it is of utmost importance that content be available in a form that accommodates alternative formats, it is also important that your site’s default presentation be easy to understand and use for those with disabili-ties. While color, contrast, and text size immediately come to mind, audio content also falls under this guideline.

When it comes to color, users who have vision loss or colorblindness often have a difficult time distinguishing foreground material from background material. Think dark text on a dark background—difficult for anyone to distinguish, but especially those who have vision loss. Fortunately, the solution is simple: make sure any foreground content—whether it’s text, images, or graphics—sufficiently contrasts with the page background. WCAG guidelines recommend a minimum 4.5 to 1 contrast ratio29 in order to “account for the loss in contrast that results from moderately low visual acuity, congenital or acquired color deficiencies, or the loss of contrast sensitivity that typically accompanies aging.”

Contrast is equally important for audio, as users who have hearing loss often find it difficult to differentiate between foreground sounds—such as speech—and background sounds. To remedy this, offer content with no background noise or ensure background audio can be turned off. If that


is not possible, WCAG recommends that foreground audio be at least 20 decibels louder than background sounds30 (or that background sound is about four times quieter than foreground audio).

5.5.2 Operable

Guideline 2.1: Make all functionality available from a keyboard.

Many users with disabilities struggle to use a mouse to interact with the World Wide Web. Ensuring that all functionality is accessible through keyboard commands enables users living with a variety of disabilities to fully engage with your brand online.

Whether paralysis, arthritis, or a repetitive stress injury limits range of motion or visual impairments prevent users from seeing the mouse pointer, many people benefit from keyboard-accessible Web sites. In addition, ensuring your site is keyboard-compatible means that it must be accessible even to users who cannot use a keyboard, as assistive technologies such as speech recognition software create simulated keystrokes that allow for content input.

For the same reason, following this guideline also increases the accessibility of devices such as cell phones, PDAs, and other devices that lack native keyboards but usually have a way of generating keystrokes—meaning users with disabilities can use a variety of assistive technologies to effectively utilize these gadgets.

Guideline 2.2: Provide users enough time to read and use content.

Being on the clock, as we all know, can be nerve wracking. Even simple tasks such as completing online orders can become stressful when a timer is thrown into the mix. And for users with disabilities it can be even worse, as they often require more time to complete things. There are a variety of rea-sons why this is the case: some take more time to physically respond, some need additional time to find and read text, others may be using assistive technologies that take longer to complete tasks—no matter the reason, it’s important that users have enough time to complete tasks on your Web site.

As we mentioned previously, there are a variety of reasons why an indi-vidual may take longer to complete online tasks—of course, that means there are a variety of people who will benefit from timing features designed with accessibility in mind. For example:

• A user who is blind and navigating a page using a screen reader will most likely move through content more slowly and the ability to turn off or extend allotted time will help him or her successfully complete the task at hand.

• A user with an attention disorder may be easily distracted by inter-ruptions while completing timed tasks, leading to time running


out before completion. Allowing users to turn off non-emergency updates or pop-up features will help them focus on the task at hand.

• Scrolling content can cause problems for a user who has difficulty following moving objects. Providing a way for users to pause content will allow them to take full advantage of it.

Guideline 2.3: Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.

There is no more straightforward guideline than this one. But with the capabilities of today’s Web sites to run graphical and animated content, it is important to remember that certain types of content are known to cause seizures. Fortunately, this is an easy problem to fix: simply eliminate any content that flashes three or more times a second or ensure that it is below the general flash and red flash thresholds.31

The beneficiaries of such measures are obvious: those who are prone to seizures. Following this guideline is critical because seizures often strike before inducing content can be turned off and potential seizure-inducing content warnings often go unnoticed or cannot be read by children.

Guideline 2.4: Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

It may be stating the obvious, but online content is only useful if you find it. Of course, it also helps if you can keep track of where you are on a Web site. Disabilities can make both of those things difficult to do, which is why it’s important that your Web site provides the cues and clues users with disabilities need to navigate it.

This guideline is especially beneficial to people with visual disabilities using screen readers and to those who face difficulties indentifying navigation bars, page headers, and other repeated content. Including descriptive page titles and providing link purpose and destination, descriptive headlines and content labels, location information, and options to skip repeated blocks of content such as advertising frames can help alleviate confusion for users of assistive technology and those who have cognitive disabilities, allowing them to have more successful online experiences.

5.5.3 Understandable

Guideline 3.1: Make text content readable and understandable.

This guideline is simple: make sure that text elements are usable for every-one engaging with your Web site, including those doing so through assistive technologies—and ensure that information necessary for comprehension is available.

Remember, your audience interacts with your brand online in a variety of ways. For people using screen readers text becomes auditory, but for those using Braille devices text is rendered as a tactile display—for others


a combination of visual and auditory elements present content in a way that is most accessibile.

Text that is merely accessible to assistive technologies isn’t enough, as it must also make sense when presented in an alternative format. For example, a screen reader may not be able to accurately present content if the human language isn’t specified or the direction of the text (right to left or left to right) isn’t noted. Details like these may seem small, but failure to consider them can lead to problems for users with disabilities—and if you’ve ever listened to a Spanish Web page spoken with an English text reader you know why.

Fortunately, it’s a simple process for a screen reader to switch languages if it knows which one to change to. The <html> tag at the top of the page simply needs a “lang” attribute. Here’s how the tag would look for Eng-lish: <html lang=”en”> or <html lang=”en-us”>. For Spanish, use: <span lang=”es”> or div element <div lang=”es”>.

Following this guideline will also help users who are cognitively or learn-ing-impaired who are not using assistive technology at all. For example, providing practical examples or descriptive images to clarify content, supplying definitions for confusing acronyms or abbreviations, and using the simplest language that is appropriate can make navigating your site significantly easier for users who have difficulty understanding or keeping track of large amounts of information.

Of course, there are many other examples of how this guideline works to help users with impairments, but it really boils down to one thing: remem-ber that people experience text in many different ways, and ensure that your organization’s content can be presented in multiple formats so that everyone can successfully interact with it.

Guideline 3.2 Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.

We all know how difficult it can be to navigate a poorly designed Web site. Lack of continuity between pages, inconsistent navigation elements, and failure to present repeated page components in a similar order throughout a Web site can result in negative user experiences. The difficulties presented by those same shortcomings are magnified when users with disabilities attempt to navigate such sites on their own or with assistive technologies.

For example, screen readers present Web sites as speech—presenting a con-sistent Web site allows users of this technology to better understand page layout and functionality, as site elements will be recited in a similar order for each page. An inconsistent layout can also make it difficult for users of screen magnifiers to efficiently navigate a Web site as they only see a por-tion of each page at a time; however, if content elements are in similar loca-tions throughout the site they become much easier to find as one navigates from page to page. In addition, consistent presentation benefits users with cognitive disabilities and motor impairments by providing a less confusing


interface for the former and allowing the latter to more easily determine the fewest number of keystrokes it takes to complete repeated tasks.

Guideline 3.3 Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

All users make mistakes, but for those with disabilities, input errors often occur more frequently—and are often hard to detect. That’s because tra-ditional error messages are not always obvious to users with disabilities for a variety of reasons: lack of color perception, a limited field of view, or incompatibility with assistive technologies.

By following the success criteria in this guideline, your organization can help reduce the number of errors that occur, boost the chance that they will be detected by the user, and help the user know what to do to fix them. While there are many ways to help users with disabilities of all types to avoid, recognize, and fix mistakes, here are a few quick WCAG tips that can go a long way32:

• Make error messages as specific as possible.• Provide instructions and cues to help users input information.• Provide error descriptions to help users understand the problem.

In addition to aiding those using assistive technologies, providing multiple error indication formats will also help those with cognitive disabilities bet-ter recognize and correct mistakes.

5.5.4 Robust

Guideline 4.1: Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, includ-ing assistive technologies.

This guideline may be the simplest of all: be sure that your content is designed with both current and future assistive technologies and other user agents such as alternative Web browsers in mind. Put simply, don’t design or utilize content that won’t work with assistive technologies and make sure content is presented in ways that assistive technologies can recognize. For example, adhering to the W3C HTML and CSS guidelines will help ensure that your content will be compatible with current and future user agents.

In light of rapidly changing technologies, it is especially important to con-sider these guidelines as your organization moves into the future. As we’ve already discussed, the population of people with disabilities is a large and growing one; keeping this criteria in mind is not only the right thing to do, it can also expose your organization to new markets and generate the posi-tive buzz that keeps new customers coming and loyal ones coming back.


6. Marketing to people with disabilities

“By being sensitive and fulfilling the special needs of travelers with disabilities, businesses can develop loyal customers who will spread the word and continue to come back.”

—Cheryl Duke, founder of Virginia-based Opening Doors, a non-profit group that specializes in helping businesses cater to

the growing disability market

The ultimate goal of any hotel or lodging establishment is to put guests in rooms and avoid vacancy, and marketing to America’s growing population of people with disabilities can help do both. Don’t be shy about advertis-ing the accessibility features that your establishment provides, as doing so can lead to increased business, engendering positive buzz and generating increased customer loyalty. Here’s how:

• Travelers with disabilities often bring a traveling companion with them, frequently resulting in the sale of two rooms.

• You can also benefit from the group and meeting market by catering to this segment of the traveling population, as government agencies that book meetings need to find and use accessible properties.

• It is difficult for individuals with disabilities to find accessible hotels, and by focusing on identifying and meeting the needs of your guests with disabilities, you will develop loyal, repeat custom-ers.

The first step in marketing to people with disabilities is identifying exactly what accessible features your establishment has and how they can meet the needs of guests with disabilities. When doing this, remember that people with different disabilities have different needs: a guest who is deaf will have needs that differ greatly from those of a guest who uses a wheelchair. With that said, here are some accessibility features to keep in mind as you start the evaluation (Note: This is not intended to be a comprehensive checklist, merely suggestions to get started with an accessibility evaluation—and remember that there are differences between the ADA requirements and requirements in the various states):

• Wheelchair users○ Lower closet bars (to accommodate for lower reach when hang-

ing clothes)○ Roll-in showers○ Lower peepholes and deadbolts○ Wide aisle next to bed○ Lower bed height


• Blind or visually impaired○ Alarms that sound as well as flash○ Information in large print and Braille (e.g., restaurant menus,

hotel telephone numbers, and instructions on how to access voice-mail)

• Hearing impaired○ Alarms that flash as well as sound ○ Closed caption-capable televisions○ Text telephones (TTYs) (also known as telecommunications

devices for deaf persons (TDDs))• All guests with disabilities

○ Accessible list of your property’s procedures for handling the special needs of guests with disabilities.

○ Relief area for service animals ○ Accessible emergency information○ Assurance that staff can meet the needs of disabled guests

Useful resources for lodging operators that are available via the Internet include the following:

• “Communicating with Guests who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing in Hotels, Motels, and Other Places of Transient Lodging.” http://www.ada.gov/hotelcombr.htm

• The California Hotel & Lodging Association has produced a comprehensive education package for hotel/restaurant manage-ment, supervisors, and line-level staff, including a training video in English and Spanish. We Welcome Service Animals™ training kits are available free from the California Hotel & Lodging Association (www.calodging.com).

• “ADA Business Brief: Service Animals.” http://www.ada.gov/svcanimb.htm

• “Guide for Places of Lodging: Serving Guests Who Are Blind or Who Have Low Vision.” http://www.ada.gov/lodblind.htm

Once you’ve completed the evaluation process, compile an “accessibility profile” detailing your property’s features. Once completed, be sure to integrate the list into your reservation system so that staff can effectively respond to questions about accessibility features. In addition, create a place for your property’s accessibility profile on your Web site to show potential guests researching you online why they should choose your establishment for their lodging needs. Finally, be sure that you’re doing the little things to advertise that your property is accessible, as these are often the first


thing travelers with disabilities look for and can put you a step head of the competition:

• List TDD numbers online and in print communications. • Label your Web site and printed materials with appropriate acces-

sibility symbols.• Include pictures of people with disabilities in your marketing

materials.As we discussed at the beginning of this document, the number of people with disabilities is a large one with ranks that will swell as the Baby Boomers age. By keeping that mind, you can gain a significant competitive advantage by making sure that your property is accessible and marketing that fact.


7. appendixSection 508-1194.22 Web-based Internet Information and Applications

(a) A text equivalent for every non-text element shall be provided (e.g., via “alt”, “longdesc”, or in element content).

(b) Equivalent alternatives for any multimedia presentation shall be synchronized with the presentation.

(c) Web pages shall be designed so that all information conveyed with color is also available without color, for example from context or markup.

(d) Documents shall be organized so they are readable without requir-ing an associated style sheet.

(e) Redundant text links shall be provided for each active region of a server-side image map.

(f) Client-side image maps shall be provided instead of server-side image maps except where the regions cannot be defined with an available geometric shape.

(g) Row and column headers shall be identified for data tables.

(h) Markup shall be used to associate data cells and header cells for data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers.

(i) Frames shall be titled with text that facilitates frame identification and navigation.

(j) Pages shall be designed to avoid causing the screen to flicker with a frequency greater than 2 Hz and lower than 55 Hz.

(k) A text-only page, with equivalent information or functionality, shall be provided to make a Web site comply with the provisions of this part, when compliance cannot be accomplished in any other way. The content of the text-only page shall be updated whenever the primary page changes.

(l) When pages utilize scripting languages to display content or to create interface elements, the information provided by the script shall be identified with functional text that can be read by Assistive Technology.

(m) When a Web page requires that an applet, plug-in, or other applica-tion be present on the client system to interpret page content, the page must provide a link to a plug-in or applet that complies with §1194.21(a) through (l).

(n) When electronic forms are designed to be completed online, the form shall allow people using Assistive Technology to access the


information, field elements, and functionality required for comple-tion and submission of the form, including all directions and cues.

(o) A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.

(p) When a timed response is required, the user shall be alerted and given sufficient time to indicate more time is required.


8. web content accessibility guidelines 2.0

1. Perceivable

1.1 Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, Braille, speech, symbols, or simpler language.

1.2 Provide alternatives for time-based media.

1.3 Create content that can be presented in different ways (for example simpler layout) without losing information or structure.

1.4 Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.

2. Operable

2.1 Make all functionality available from a keyboard.

2.2 Provide users enough time to read and use content.

2.3 Do not design content in a way that is known to cause seizures.

2.4 Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.

3. understandable

3.1 Make text content readable and understandable.

3.2 Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.

3.3 Help users avoid and correct mistakes.

4. Robust

4.1 Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.


9. references:Note: All Web sites, information, and pricing is current as of December 9, 2009.

1. U.S. Census Bureau: Selected Social Characteristics in the United States: 2006 http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=ACS_2006_EST_G00_&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format=

2. Freedom Scientific http://www.freedomscientific.com/products/fs/jaws-product-page.asp

3. Nuance.com: Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Product Suite http://www.nuance.com/naturallyspeaking/products/default.asp

4. GW Micro https://www.gwmicro.com/Catalog/Other_AT_Software/?moreInfo=8210-050

5. MAGpie: Media Access Generator http://ncam.wgbh.org/webaccess/magpie/

6. MouseKeys: Control the Mouse Pointer Using the Numeric Keypad http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/mousekeys.aspx

7. Origin Instruments http://www.orin.com/access/sip_puff/index.htm

8. FRS Head Pointer http://www.frs-solutions.com/product_info.php/products_id/51?osCsid=d3bf527de2e761efc1e4ec3009546aac

9. American Foundation for the Blind http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?DocumentID=3652&SectionID=7&SubTopicID=97&TopicID=330

10. JimThatcher.com http://jimthatcher.com/site_resources.htm

11. Hotels.com www.hotels.com

12. Open Doors Organization http://opendoorsnfp.org/page3.html


13. SSB BART Group: Accessibility Management Platform https://www.ssbbartgroup.com/amp/index.php

14. Usablenet: Lift Machine http://www.useablenet.com/usablenet_liftmachine.html

15. Deque: RAMP™ PRODUCT FAMILY http://www.deque.com/products/ramp/index.php

16. WebKing: Parasoft http://www.parasoft.com/jsp/products/article.jsp?label=product_info_WebKing

17. IBM: Rational Policy Tester Accessibility Edition http://www-01.ibm.com/software/awdtools/tester/policy/accessibility/

18. Web Accessibility Tools Consortium: Tools http://www.wat-c.org/tools/index.html

19. JimThatcher.com: Favelets for Checking Web Accessibility http://jimthatcher.com/favelets/

20. Freedom Scientific Trial Software http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/demo/FS-demo-downloads.asp

21. Global Faces and Networked Places: A Nielsen Report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nielsen_globalfaces_mar09.pdf

22. Facebook: Help Center: Accessibility and Assistive Technology http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=440

23. TechCrunch: Facebook Commits To Making Social Networking More Accessible For Visually Challenged Users http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/04/07/facebook-commits-to-making-social-networking-more-accessible-for-visually- challenged-users/

24. Accessify.com: Easy YouTube Caption Creator http://accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessibility-tools/easy-youtube-caption-creator/

25. Accessible Twitter http://www.accessibletwitter.com/features.php

26. ITBusinessEdge: Deep Ties Bind Accessibility, Mobile Web http://www.itbusinessedge.com/cm/community/ features/articles/blog/deep-ties-bind-accessibility-mobile-web/?cs=32954


27. W3C: Mobile Web Application Best Practices http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-mwabp-20090507/

28. W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/

29. W3C: Contrast (Minimum) http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-contrast.html

30. W3C: Low or No Background Audio http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/visual-audio-contrast-noaudio.html

31. W3C: Three Flashes or Below Threshold http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/ seizure-does-not-violate.html

32. W3C: Input Assistance http://www.w3.org/TR/UNDERSTANDING-WCAG20/ minimize-error.html