Web Accessibility

Simulation

Simulation Websites

We have put together three websites which demonstrate excellent, poor, and partially-accessible Web design. Before clicking on the links below which lead to the sites, take a moment to turn off the image display in your browser. While not a foolproof test for visual impairment accessibility, it is a good start. In the Resources section of these materials, we will explore some validation tools which could be applied to the example sites below, as well as to your own site as you consider accessible design requirements.

Go to image display instructions for Internet Explorer.

The three example sites:

  1. A highly accessible site: the City of San Jose, California's site was designed to be accessible to city residents and officials with vision and hearing impairments. The site's standards were put in place after disabled city officials and residents proved that an accessible site was crucial for all members of that community. While this site is designed with accessibility in mind, it is still attractive and functional for all visitors.
    Visit the main City of San Jose site.
    Visit the site's instructions for users with disabilities.
  2. An inaccessible site: many designers just don't think about accessibility issues when designing their sites. A common problem are sites which use Flash for navigation. However, even lower bandwith sites can be problematic if they use images without ALT tags. The following site is an example of both Flash and images used in a less-than-accessible manner.
    Try turning off the image display in your browser and clicking some links on Volkswagon's site.
  3. A partially accessible site: in designing this website, we used many of the accessibility tips mentioned we tout. However, even when accessibility is a goal, sometimes institutional or other factors hinder full accessibility. While the main content of this site makes sense when viewed through a text-only browser or view source, some of the programmatically generated portal tools at the top of the pages are not fully accessible because of limitations in the technology used to control them. When you find yourself in a situation where certain elements of a website's design are beyond your control, it is still worth making the parts of your site you do control as accessible as possible.
    Try viewing the source of this page, and also the scenarios page, which contains a table that should read linearly when viewed as text.

To turn off image display in Internet Explorer:

From the Tools menu, choose Internet Options, then click the Advanced tab.

Scroll down to the Multimedia section, uncheck the box for Show pictures, then click OK. You may need to load a new page in the browser for the setting take effect. A screen capture of the Internet Options dialog box is below.

Internet Explorer Internet Options dialog box Advanced tab, with Show pictures box unchecked.d

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