Stanford Online Accessibility Program

Introduction

The Stanford Online Accessibility Program has been established to provide guidance to the Stanford Community as they use various online means to share information to their respective constituents. The program has the mandate to assist web designers and online content creators in producing material that is accessible to the greatest audience possible. The program achieves this through the promotion of Universal Accessibility and web standards compliance.

This website is a key component of this program; here you will find a number of resource materials outlining best practices, policies, development guidelines and more. It also provides tips, tricks and tutorials geared towards the web developer/designer - from the novice to the experienced. The developer's toolbox has a variety of tools that all content creators can employ as they create and publish online material on campus. Finally, information is provided regarding the number of consulting services offered, from training and compliance assessment to assistance in the design and development process - whether done in-house or contracted outside of the campus.

Online accessibility awareness is increasing at an enormous rate. Content owners more than ever understand that ensuring accessible content is both smart and the right thing to do. Today's multitudes of web-enabled devices rely on online content that has been optimized, not for a specific browser, but rather for Universal Accessibility.

In 2004 a study commissioned by Microsoft showed that among adult computer users in the United States:

• 1 in 4 has a vision difficulty
• 1 in 4 has a dexterity difficulty
• 1 in 5 has a hearing difficulty

The Microsoft Survey also found that 16% of users have a cognitive difficulty or impairment, and few (3%) have a speech difficulty or impairment.

(Source: Study Commissioned by Microsoft Corporation and Conducted by Forrester Research, Inc. - www.microsoft.com/enable/research/computerusers.aspx)

Online @ccess = Online SUccess

The anonymity of internet usage makes tracking users and user requirements for your particular web site difficult to impossible. But by looking at general population numbers and statistics it should become very clear that between 20% and 25% of the average web site user-base will benefit from ensuring that accessible design and development techniques are incorporated into your current or next-generation web property.

We encourage you to use the resource we have assembled and to take advantage of the services provided by this program. We welcome your feedback, and look forward to assisting you in optimizing your online content.

Leading the Charge

comments and news in online accessibility

Some Light Reading for the Weekend (04/04) - Accessibility,Standards or just Plain Interesting...

Friday 4 Apr 2008

MARTIAN HEADSETS You're about to see the mother of all flamewars on internet groups where web developers hang out. It'll make the Battle of Stalingrad look like that time your sister-in-law stormed out of afternoon tea at your grandmother's and wrapped the Mustang around a tree. This upcoming battle...

Some Light Reading for th ...

Understanding
Universal
Accessibility

Universal Accessibility means creating content in such a way that all users, regardless of how they may interact with your content, can do so in a productive and useful manner. It means conveying your ideas in such a way so that the content created can be re-purposed in many different ways without losing its meaning, intent, or usefulness; it focuses on making web resources compatible with the widest range of web browsing technologies. It's about getting the most mileage out of the work you produce, saving you time, effort and resources. As an added benefit, it also ensures that your material is also accessible to users who may be unable to access it in a traditional manner, including members of the disabled communities.

A simple analogy is sidewalk cut-curbs. Initially provided to assist users in wheel-chairs, cut curbs today also benefit people on roller-blades and skate boards, cyclists and mothers with baby strollers; user-groups never originally envisioned when cut-curbs were first mandated. And while retro-fitting older sidewalk intersections was a time consuming and expensive undertaking, today the inclusion of cut-curbs in new sidewalk construction is a matter of course, and adds little to nothing to the overall cost of sidewalk construction or repair.

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