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Thread: WebAIM course
Number of posts in this thread: 5 (In chronological order)
From: Paul Bohman
Date: Fri, Aug 18 2000 6:14PM
Subject: WebAIM course
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Announcement
WebAIM will offer an online course in "Universal Web Design and Disability
Access" from October 2, 2000 until December 1, 2000. Anyone can enroll, and
there is no fee during our first run of the course. We hope to offer the
course for university credit in the near future (possibly January). The
first run of the course will not offer university credit, but it WILL offer
a wealth of information, training and resources with regard to Web
accessibility. I encourage anyone who is interested to enroll and to invite
others to enroll. This is an excellent opportunity for university webmasters
and anyone else.
The course can be accessed at
http://www.blackboard.com/courses/INST5320/index.html. When you click on the
preceding link, you can follow the link for Guest Access ("Visit as a
guest...") or enroll from the same page.
Hope to see you there!
Note: The course is hosted by Blackboard.com because WebAIM is working with
Blackboard to improve the accessibility of their course design software. You
will notice that there are some minor accessibility issues (for example: the
course site uses frames which are created automatically by Blackboard's
template system), but the site is quite accessible as it currently stands,
and students with disabilities should be able to successfully complete the
course with few or no special accommodations.
Paul Bohman
Technology Coordinator
Web Accessibility in Mind (www.webaim.org)
at the Center for Persons with Disabilities (www.cpd.usu.edu)
at Utah State University (www.usu.edu)
From: Tim G. Smith
Date: Sat, Aug 19 2000 11:58PM
Subject: RE: WebAIM course
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Paul,
This is an excellent opportunity and you can plan on me attending.
Thanks again for all you are doing at WebAIM to help those of us responsible
for web development in our organizations.
Tim G. Smith
Director of Technology
Center for the School of the Future
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =
From: Leonard R. Kasday
Date: Sat, Aug 19 2000 7:58AM
Subject: RE: WebAIM course
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Hi Paul,
Thanks for the course announcement. I'm very glad to hear you're working
with blackboard because that's what we use here.
I glanced at the home page with the WAVE and noticed that the login button
has missing alt text. There are also a couple of decorative graphics with
no alt text and that need ALT=""
I then clicked over to the register page. The enroll button has no alt
text and is a javascript button [submit()] which is a gratuitous barrier to
folks with browsers, e.g. pwwebspeak, home page reader, lynx, that don't do
javascript.
This is using the beta of wave 2.0
http://www.temple.edu/inst_disabilities/piat/wave/indexx.html
I realize of course that none of this is your doing: it's what comes with
Blackboard. We're in the same situation here like I say.
As for frames... as you know, w3c/wai doesn't consider that an
accessibilty problem if the frames have good names and preferably titles...
I take it you're more conservative on that one?
Len
From: Reidy Brown
Date: Mon, Aug 21 2000 1:23PM
Subject: RE: WebAIM course
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Blackboard is performing an internal accessibility audit as part of our
partnership with WebAIM. We are committed to providing an accessible
teaching and learning platform, and feedback from sources such as this
listserv that can help us. Your help will allow us to make future versions
of Blackboard software more accessible.
You can address any accessibility issues directly to me at
mailto: = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = , and I'll make sure that they are factored into
the audit-- a direct pipeline to our Product Strategy team.
Thanks,
Reidy Brown
-------------------------------------------
Reidy Brown
Accessibility Coordinator/
Software Engineer
Blackboard, Inc.
1899 L. St., NW, 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036
(202) 463-4860 x236
-------------------------------------------
From: Paul Bohman
Date: Mon, Aug 21 2000 5:07PM
Subject: RE: WebAIM course
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quote from previous message:
> As for frames... as you know, w3c/wai doesn't consider that an
> accessibilty problem if the frames have good names and preferably
titles...
> I take it you're more conservative on that one?
>
My response:
Actually, I have generally been able to access sites with frames with
adaptive software without too much trouble. I have used the latest versions
of JAWS and IBM Home Page Reader, and both seem to be able to handle frames,
although they handle them quite differently.
I consider frames to be mostly accessible by the standard of the current
adaptive technologies. However, I am aware that older adaptive software
doesn't always handle frames well. Not everyone with a disability has access
the the latest and greatest software. Even those who have the latest version
may not be "power users" who know how to use the software well. I think that
I fit that category. I do not have a disability which requires me to use
adaptive software, so I have not spent a great deal of time getting to know
the ins and outs of the programs--just enough to get me by. Even many users
with disabilities learn only the basics, and don't realize what they are
missing out on.
Web designers can't control the users. We probably shouldn't be designing
sites for the lowest common denominator, but we shouldn't purposely shut
them out either.
There are other issues with frames besides disability access. When frames
are used poorly--for example, when the frames layout and navigation is
inconsistent or confusing--then they become less accessible to everyone.
They cause other inconveniences that I'm not going to get into here, but I
try to avoid them when possible. By the way, this is an opinion that has
grown on me over time. I used to use them quite a bit, but experience has
persuaded me otherwise.
Paul