Cerro
Coso Community College is committed to providing equal access to Web-based
information for people with disabilities. This is in accordance with
Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, Section 508 of the
Rehabilitation Act Amendment of 1998 and the 1990 Americans with
Disabilities Act. All web pages associated with Cerro Coso Community
College must conform to the Web Accessibility Guidelines listed below.
Universal design is the
design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the
greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized
design. The intent of universal design is to simplify life for everyone by making
products, communications, and the built environment more usable by as many
people as possible at little or no extra cost. Universal design benefits
people of all ages and abilities.
Applying this concept to
web design means creating sites that are accessible to visitors who are
blind, have low vision, are unable to distinguish colors, are deaf, have
hard hearing, learning disability, or motor skills problems. The
challenge for the designer is to create those pages which are accessible
to people with disabilities by using a variety of assistive technology
tools. For example, a person who is blind may use a speech output
system to read aloud text that is presented on the screen; this system may
be composed of screen reading software and a voice synthesizer. A person
with a mobility impairment may not be able to use a mouse and rely on the
keyboard for web browsing. To create resources that can be used by the
widest spectrum of potential visitors rather than an idealized
"average," web page designers should apply "universal
design" principles. They should consider the special needs of
individuals with disabilities, older persons, people for whom English is a
second language, and those using outdated hardware and software.
In order to
design an accessible web site, you need to remember the most important
points in the process of your designing. The following guidelines of
developing the accessible web site are listed below:
1.
Alternative description of Graphics and Images
Use short
alternative text for every graphic/image with information. Use
alt="" for images which do not convey important information.
Use the longdesc attribute on the images that carry more information. The
long description is a caption on the large image.
Use a
"d-link" for more and detail information for the graphics and
images. The D-link is a link that opens a description file that is
referenced in the longdesc attribute.
2. Image
Maps
Image maps are
images on the web page containing several links to other web sites.
The link will take you to the different sites based on where you
click. Use of image maps is discouraged for they are hard to follow
by users with vision impairment. If it is necessary for web designer
to use them, please follow the instructions below.
It is very
important for web designers to keep in mind that each AREA of the map must
have alternative text.
3.
Multimedia
Provide
captioning and transcripts of audio, and description of video because
multimedia formats that include audio can present barriers to people with
hearing impairments.
The Nation
Center for Accessible Media ( NCAM ) has developed MAGpie, the Media
Access Generator, which is an authoring tool for making multimedia content
accessible. MAGpie can be used to export the captions to three
multimedia formats: SAMI format (Windows Media Player), SMIL format (Real
Player), and QuickTime format (QuickTime).
Video
description requires the interpretation on the part of the audio describer
if the content is pure video.
4. Do not
rely on color alone
Ensure that all information conveyed
with color is also available without color.
Ensure
that foreground and background color combinations have sufficient
contrast.
Use alt text and longdesc text.
Do not rely on mouseover to activate
an link.
5. Avoid flicker
Do not use the Blink or Marquee
elements.
Avoid flicker, moving, and blinking.
Make sure that user can stop any
blinking and moving objects.
6. Table
There are two kinds of tables on the
web, which are layout table and data table.
Do not use tables for layout unless
the table makes sense when linearized. Otherwise, if the table does
not make sense, provide an alternative equivalent which may be a
linearized version.
Use caption for the title of the
data table and provide the complicated data table with the summary
attribute of the TABLE element.
Using column and row headers: Row
and column headers should be identified for data tables; for data tables
that have two or more logical levels of rows or columns, use markup to
associate data and header cells.
Using the headers attribute: With
the headers attribute you can specify any other cell or cells as the
heading information for a given cell.
7. Frame
Ensure to title each frame properly
to facilitate frame identification and navigation.
Provide frameset alternatives when
the frameset does not make sense when linearized.
8. Form
A set of data-entry fields on a page that are processed
on a Web server. The data is sent to the server when a site visitor
submits the form by clicking on a button or, in some cases, by clicking a
graphic. Forms comprise push buttons, image buttons, test entry
fields, radio buttons, check boxes, and select menus.
The accessibility issue of both push button and
image button is resolved by default.
Ensure that the text of a prompt is close to the
text entry field and place the prompt in the text entry field. In
addition, associate labels with elements.
Just put the text on the right of radio buttons.
Similarly, the text needs to be put on the right
of check boxes.
Select menus are similar to text entry fields in
terms of accessibility, with one exception which is that the technique of
placing the prompt in the selected menu has less of a disadvantages
for select menus.
In a word, forms should have a heading, a
descriptive caption, an ALT text and title attribute of input elements.
9. Skip to Main Content
To avoid unnecessary scrolling and stabbing content,
links, and navigation bar, a link of Skip to Main Content is needed to add
on the top of the page and bottom of the page.
10. Style Sheet
Style sheets can produce a very consistent page
layout, which aids in the ease of navigation of users. Style sheets
helps the webmaster organize the content logically. A CSS
is a simple text file with the extension .css that includes specifications
of how different elements within an HTML page should appear. The main
purpose of using CSS is to separate layout from content and control
appearance and style without sacrificing accessibility. For example, many
designers use tables to lay out information. CSS enables us to create
accessible tables on our web pages. Also, by using CSS in defining style
information in one location an author can then link the style sheet to all
of the pages in a Web site to create a consistent, uniform appearance.
Write the style sheets on the notepad
and save as .css.
Write the style sheets directly on your
HTML.
Ensure that your pages are readable when
style sheets are turned off.
11. Hypertext Links
Link text should be meaningful to make
sense. For example, use 'College Directory' instead of 'Click Here'
to make this link meaningful.
12. Scripts and Applets
Ensure that essential information is not
lost when JavaScript functions are turned off. If this is not
possible, provide equivalent information on an alternative accessible
page.
Ensure to test your JavaScript content
page with keyboard other than mouse.
Make sure that all information can be
accessed by assistive technologies like screen reader (JAWS, Window-Eyes)
and talking browser (IBM talking browser-Home Page Reader).
When applet or plug-in is needed to add
on the web page, the page should provide a link to a applet or plug-in
which is accessible.
Applets and plug-ins must be usable
without a mouse.
Use your keyboard to test your applets
and plug-ins.
13. Text-only page
A text-only page is needed when compliance
cannot be accomplished in any other way, the text-only page must have the
same equivalent information or functionality. A text-only page must
be updated when the primary page changes.
![[Home Page]](images/interface/header-home-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Campus Map]](images/interface/header-campmap-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Contact Us]](images/interface/header-contactus-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Directory]](images/interface/header-directory-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Search]](images/interface/header-search-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Site Map]](images/interface/header-sitemap-off.gif){kind=small}
![[CC Online]](images/interface/campus-ccon-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Eastern Sierra Center]](images/interface/campus-escc-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Indian Wells Valley]](images/interface/campus-iwv-off.gif){kind=small}
![[Kern River Valley]](images/interface/campus-krv-off.gif){kind=small}
![[South Kern]](images/interface/campus-sk-off.gif){kind=small}
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