WebAIM Features
Using JAWS to Evaluate Web Accessibility
Evaluating the screen reader accessibility of web content is important. Screen readers, however, can be complex and difficult to use, especially for novice users.
This article provides an overview for beginners on how to use screen readers for evaluating the accessibility of web content.
WebAIM Training
June 2008 Training Dates Now Available!
Join WebAIM's accessibility experts in two days of intensive, hands-on web accessibility training June 11-12, 2008 in beautiful Logan, Utah. Learn everything from basic web accessibility principles to advanced accessibility techniques. Learn what you need to know to ensure that you and your website meets legal guidelines and international standards. Registration is limited to ensure you get individualized attention.
WebAIM Receives Funding to Work on Web Accessibility and Cognitive Disabilities
WebAIM, through its partnership with the National Center on Disability and Access to Education, has received funding to help web developers consider issues of cognitive disability in their designs. The Phase I Steppingstones of Technology Innovation grant, awarded by the US Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), is a two-year development grant with a focus on producing a tool intended to help web developers create web content that can more readily be used by those with cognitive and learning disabilities.
Accessible Content with Microsoft Expression Web
Expression Web is the tool that has replaced FrontPage as Microsoft's web design program. Although the interface is a little bit different than its predecessors, it should be familiar for Microsoft FrontPage and even Office users. Although it offers significant improvements in creating standards-compliant HTML and CSS, it can still be difficult to create accessible HTML using Expression Web "out of the box." This article will show you how to make your content as accessible as possible using MS Expression Web.
Updated Introduction to Web Accessibility
We recently updated our popular introduction to accessibility. It highlights the web's potential to empower people with disabilities, the frustrations they feel when they cannot access the web, and what you can do to make your sites more accessible. This is a great resource for anyone who is new to web accessibility.
OpenOffice.org and Accessibility
OpenOffice.org is a free, open source office suite, often compared to Microsoft (MS) Office. Writer is OpenOffice.org's word processor application. While there may be some concern over the accessibility of Writer as an application, in terms of document accessibility, it seems that OOo Writer and Microsoft Word have almost the same abilities and limitations.
Firefox Accessibility
The focus that Mozilla Firefox places on web standards and the user experience is quickly making it a popular choice for both web developers and end users alike. Firefox is also becoming a popular browser on the accessibility front. It's Open Source nature and extensibility are allowing Firefox to be a powerful medium for increased accessibility of web content.
This article presents an overview of Firefox accessibility and outlines many of the accessibility features available today.
Appropriate Use of Alternative Text
Adding alternative text for images is the first principle of web accessibility. It is also one of the most difficult to properly implement. This article presents the basics of alternative text and showcases many examples of proper implementation. These recommendations come from our understanding of accessibility standards and screen-reader users.
Section 508 Checklist Updated
The WebAIM Section 508 checklist has been one of our most popular resources since 2001. Although most accessibility principles haven't changed in the last five years, there have been some changes in assistive technologies, conventions and best practices. The Section 508 Checklist has recently been updated with these changes in mind.
WCAG 2.0 Comment Deadline Extended
The deadline for comments on WCAG 2.0 - external link has been extended from May 31, 2006 to June 22, 2006. Now is an important time to review and provide feedback - external link on these important accessibility guidelines.
Usable and Accessible Form Validation and Error Recovery
Form validation is the process of testing to ensure that end users enter necessary and properly formatted information into web forms. Error recovery is the process of guiding the user through fixing missing or improper information as detected by form validation. There are several methods of performing form validation and error recovery.
WebAIM's New Web Site
WebAIM is pleased to release our new site design. With this release comes new community tools, such as our blog and our online forums. Much of our articles and resources have been updated or are new.
We have written an article describing our redesign process and many of the accessibility and design decisions that we made. If you have comments or questions, please post them in our blog posting.