Sydney Web Accessibility Forum
About 50 of us from 9 different organisations attended the Forum. The program was broad-ranging and meant that there was 'something for everyone' whatever their IT or HTML skills. The key focus point to come out of the Forum was usability for everyone – when the basics are covered, a page is easier for everyone to access and read.
We were also reminded of the legal obligation Universities are under to support the learning needs of all students. See the Disability standards for education page from the Attorney-General’s Department for more information.
Presentations
Accessibility and the importance of user testing
Russ Weakley, Max Design
Is user testing more important than following WAI guidelines? Russ covered the benefits of user testing, with useful information on using accessible forms, tables, skip links, source order and structural labels.
Russ Weakley is a standards-based web designer, developer and trainer from Max Design who has worked in the web industry for 10 years. Russ co-chairs the Web Standards Group and co-founded Web Essentials. Russ has also produced a series of widely acclaimed CSS-based tutorials including Listamatic, Listamatic2, Listutorial, Floatutorial, Selectutorial. He recently wrote his first book, "Teach Yourself CSS in 10 Minutes".
The process of improving accessibility of web sites
Laurie Alsop, Equity Officer (Disability), University of New South Wales
Making non-HTML content accessible
Brian Hardy, Vision Australia
Universities are all addressing the issue of web accessibility for staff and students, but most are concentrating on the HTML pages that comprise the information and navigation. Most Universities also place large amounts of non-HTML material on their sites and Brian suggested valuable approaches to maximise the availability of Word, PowerPoint and PDF documents to all.
Please note that this presentation is copyright claimed by Vision Australia and that unauthorised use is not permitted.
- WANAU members are authorised to use this material within their own organisations for training or coaching of staff, with due acknowledgement of the source.
- Incorporation of this material within an academic program may be permitted, but must be applied for on a case by case basis (contact Andrew Arch at andrew.arch@visionaustralia.org)
- Use of the material for training of people outside of the WANAU member’s organisation is not permitted in any circumstances
- Use of this material for any commercial purpose is expressly prohibited
Australian university website accessibility revisited
Dey Alexander, Dey Alexander Consulting
In 2003, 45 Australian higher education websites were audited to see how well they complied with standards for accessible design. The results were disappointing - 98 percent of sites failed to meet even the most basic standards. In this presentation, Dey revisited the same sites and evaluated their design. Four years on, we saw that the situation hadn’t really improved.
Program summary
- Welcome from the chair: Tony Dwyer, Manager, Media Production Services, Centre for Flexible Learning, Macquarie University
- Opening address: John Shipp, University Librarian, University of Sydney
- Accessibility and the importance of user testing: Russ Weakley, Max Design
- The Process of Improving Accessibility of Websites: Laurie Alsop, Equity Officer (Disability), University of New South Wales
- Making non-HTML content accessible: Brian Hardy, Vision Australia
- Australian university website accessibility revisited: Dey Alexander, Dey Alexander Consulting.
The Forum was organised by Tony Dwyer, Manager, Media Production Services, Centre for Flexible Learning, Macquarie University and by Marie-Laure Bouchet, Web Services Coordinator, University of Sydney Library.
Thank you to the University of Sydney Library for hosting this event and providing the refreshments.