Seminar Page 5
There has been a lot of discussion of accessibility in recent times and some implementation myths have sprung up.
Myth - Creating a parallel text-only site while maintaining an inaccessible site as is the best solution for accessibility.
Reality - It's preferable to incorporate accessibility tags and devices into a single Web site, saving text only transcripts for multimedia and plug-ins as needed. The reasons include.
- Many people with disabilities feel that text-only sites are exclusionary. A single site with appropriate accessibility is perceived as more inclusive to the entire Internet community.
- It's much more difficult to maintain a second site. Once it's out of date, you are out of compliance because equivalent information is not available to everyone.
- Modern screen readers can actually process accessible HTML better than a text-only site.
- Text-only sites may address some accessibility issues specific to screen readers, but not all accessibility issues.
- Accessibility goes beyond "text only," so the original site must be reviewed in any case.
Myth - All HTML tables must be removed to be compliant
Reality - This is not required by Section 508. Although screen readers in the past had difficulty reading tables, newer screen readers are better able to process tables. Using updated tags, tables can sometimes be a better accessibility solution than other workarounds.
Myth - If I use CSS stylesheets, I will guarantee that my formatting will be compliant.
Reality - Although CSS stylesheets can improve accessibility, you can also create additional accessibility issues if you use the markup incorrectly. Similarly you can create sites which are standards compliant and usable, but still inaccessible. Section 508 does not require CSS, but it does require sites to be usable without CSS stylesheets.
The same statement applies to other standards such as XHTML, XML and other schemes.
Myth - You must replace the B (bold face) and I (italics) tags with STRONG and EM tags to be compliant.
Reality - The STRONG and EM tags are functionally different from B and I in that screen readers change reading styles to highlight important information. However many uses of bold face and italics are for visual formatting only and may be irrelevant to screen readers. Use of STRONG and EM is not required by Section 508.
Myth - An accessible Web site is a plain Web site.
Reality - More complex designs can be accomplished and still be accessible. They key is to incorporate elements which do not interfere with readability, motion impairment or screen reader access. See the Web sites for Access P.S.U. and the Office of Disability Services for examples. Not to mention WebAim, Jim Thatcher Accessibility Tutorials, Accessify Com and many others.
Myth - Accessibility compliance only benefits users of screen readers.
Reality - Accessibility also includes users who are mobility impaired, hearing impaired and many other users with slighter impairments or lower-quality technology options. Almost all users will find a benefit to accessibility accommodations at some point in their Internet experience.
NOTE: You can easily create a site which is accessible to screen readers but inaccessible to the color blind (if wrong colors used), the hearing impaired (if no text transcripts for audio files are provided), or low vision users (if text zooming is disabled).
Myth - If you meet the minimum for Section 508 compliance, you will never have to worry about accessibility issues again.
Reality - Not all accessibility issues are covered in Section 508 regulations. Further, advances in Internet options will inevitably create additional accessibility issues. This page and this site will no doubt need to be redesigned in the coming years, although hopefully not too drastically.
Myth - You don't need to worry about implementing accessibility until a user complains.
Reality - If "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure," then one minute of implementing an extra tag or adding more descriptions is worth one hour of finding each problem and figuring out how to fix it. Retrofitting a site for accessibility is far more time consuming than implementing it from scratch.
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