[Chapter-delegates] Website Accessibility Plan

[Michael Burks]

Dan,

as one who works on EIT accessibility for a living I want to say this is an
excellent plan.  One of the best I have seen.

Let me know what I can do to help you once you are beginning to implement
the plan.  I have the Assistive Technology to test it.

Sincerely,
Mike Burks
919 349 6661

On Mon, Mar 4, 2013 at 12:29 PM, Dan Graham <dan.graham at isoc.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Here's an update on the plan to ensure our site meets Web Content
> Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) level 2.0.
>
> Progress so far: Two accessibility audits were conducted last year. One
> focused on identifying specific issues that were preventing specific
> sections of the site from being WCAG 2.0 compliant. The second was
> conducted by a visually impaired person and provided valuable constructive
> criticism and great recommendations.
>
> Two actions followed the above mentioned audits:
>
>
>    1. A series of quick fixes to the site
>    2. The development of plan that will ensure our site is WCAG compliant
>     - and stays that way moving forward
>
>
> *1. Quick Fixes*
>
>
>    - The ability to control the image carousel with next, previous and
>    pause buttons.
>    - Underlined links as they help make our links more visible
>    - The ability to navigate the site without a mouse (i.e. keyboard only)
>    - Currently adding alternative text to all images on the site
>
>
> *2. Accessibility Plan*
>
> As mentioned, the goal is to ensure that our site is WCAG 2.0. compliant (
> http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG20/glance/). Ideally, I'd like our website to
> be a flagship for accessibility. I've asked our main web developer (Balance
> Interactive) to develop plan to help us reach this goal.
>
> It's important to note that this commitment to accessibility will require
> changes in our processes. Some of these changes will translate into longer
> development times and greater costs. In other words, the challenge of
> compliance will be, as stated in the WCAG summary: "To create content that
> can be presented in different ways, including by assistive technologies,
> without losing meaning".
>
> The following items are expected to take 10 to 12 weeks to complete.
>
> Here's an overview of the key components of the plan:
>
> *2.1 Changes to our Content Management System (CMS)*
> A key step to ensuring that our content is accessible is the addition of
> accessibility checks within our CMS workflow. We'll be adding a
> new component to our CMS (Drupal) that will provide our content
> creators/editors with the ability to check the accessibility of their
> content prior to it being published to the website - and allow them to make
> the necessary changes to ensure WCAG 2.0 compliance.
>
> *2.2 Content Strategy*
> Key sections of our site will be reviewed to identify content that may
> cause difficulties or barriers to people with disabilities. This review
> will be larger in scope than the audits that were done last year. This will
> result in further fixes to the site and will also inform documentation
> of guidelines and training for staff (see below)
>
> *2.3 Staff Training*
> This will be key to ensure the site continues to be WCAG 2.0. compliant.
> Accessibility workshops for staff (those who post content to the website)
> will be given by a team of accessibility experts from Balance Interactive.
> The sessions will focus on creating usable web pages that are WCAG 2.0
> compliant. Both Lia and I will be trained on how to train staff in this
> area, ensuring that we can conduct this type of training on a regular basis
> moving forward.
>
> *2.4 Testing by People with Disabilities*
> To be a flagship for accessibility, it is critical to involve people with
> disabilities in the testing. We'll be using a vendor who specializes in
> this type of testing - Knowbility (http://www.knowbility.org/). This
> testing ensures a representative variety of disabilities and assistive
> technology used.
>
> *2.5 Responsive Design*
> Accessibility is not just for people with disabilities. In a broader
> sense, accessible design also helps serve content to a variety of
> devices, across several connection speeds. The goal is to ensure that our
> site has different layouts for different devices. For accessibility
> purposes, we will be able to display alternative text, links to
> transcripts, and lower resolution for slower connections.
>
> Let me know if you have any questions.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Dan
>
> Dan Graham
> Director, Online Marketing
> Internet Society
>
> Office: +41 22 809 0368
> Mobile: +41 78 757 9943
>
> www.internetsociety.org
> www.twitter.com/internetsociety
> www.youtube.com/internetsocietyvideo
>
>
>
>
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