Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
A centre of expertise in digital information managementwww.ukoln.ac.uk 3 Background Problems You've identified some problem areas for users of Web sites: Functionality – it doesn't work Usability – it's difficult for people to use Accessibility – it's difficult for people with disabilities to use Solutions Now let's look at some solutions to these problems Tools that can help Processes that can help A Quality Assurance (QA) framework Tools
Citation preview
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk
UKOLN is supported by:This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 licence (but note caveat)
Web Accessibility 2.0: A Holistic Approach Tools And Processes That Can Help
Brian KellyUKOLNUniversity of BathBathEmail: [email protected]
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/web-focus/events/conferences/ili-2006/masterclass/Talk 2
This talk describe some of the tools which can help us to identify problems with our Web sites and processes for deploying the tools
ili-2006-masterclass-kelly tag used in del.icio.us
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 2
Exercise 1: In small groups discuss the following:What do you mean by accessibility?
How do you detect accessibility problems?
What are the main problems you face in providing accessible Web sites?
E
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 3
BackgroundProblems You've identified some problem areas for users of Web sites:
• Functionality – it doesn't work• Usability – it's difficult for people to use• Accessibility – it's difficult for people with disabilities
to use
SolutionsNow let's look at some solutions to these problems
• Tools that can help• Processes that can help • A Quality Assurance (QA) framework
Tool
s
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 4
Useful tools:• W3C's HTML validator:
can spot functionality & accessibility problems
Tools: Functionality (1)
HTML, CSS, … Validation:• Web page doesn't look right in my browser• First thing: validate page!
Tool
s
• W3C's CSS validator• RSS validator (if you have
an RSS newsfeed)• …
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 5
Tools: Functionality (2)Link Checking:
• Clear need to ensure links work• Many tools available
Validated part of my Web areaFindings:
• 12,514 Web pages!• Only checked internal links• Large no. of errors – but
vast majority false errors• Some errors found in areas
provided by others• Others my fault – and
mostly fixed
Issues:• We can't always rely on tools• Why weren't errors spotted
previously?• What to do with large no. of errors?
Tool
s
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 6
Tools: Missing Functionality
A Web site may not be usable because:• The features it provides can't easily be
used• It omits features which are needed in
order to be usedExample:
• A search facilityIssues
• Does your Web site have a search facility• How well does it work?
Note that free third party search facilities may be useful if you have limited resources
Tool
s
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 7
http://webxact.watchfire.com/
Tools: Accessibility
Many accessibility testing tools are available
Tool
s
WebXact (formally known as Bobby) is probably the best known
http://www.wave.webaim.org/
The WAVE is one other alternative
NOTES• Automated tools can't detect
all (many?) accessibility problems
• Findings from tools can be inconsistent
• Underlying WAI guidelines are open to interpretation
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 8
Tools: Usability Of The Tools (1)There can be usability barriers to regular use of such testing tools:
• They require going to Web page, copying and pasting URL, etc
• Sometimes only single pages can be tested
Simple solution:• On UKOLN Web site can
append ,tools to any URL to run various tools on page
• Simple to implement – see QA Focus briefing no. 59
http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/qa-focus/documents/briefings/,rvalidate
Tools:,validate ,rvalidate,checklink ,rchecklink,cssvalidate …
Tool
s
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 9
Tools: Usability Of The Tools (2)'Bookmarklets' and Firefox extensions can make use of tools much easier and provide additional features
Web Developer allows: • Features disabled• Additional information
to be provided• Tools to be used
Checky allows: • Validation • Link checking• Access to misc tools
These tools are very useful and their use by all is strongly encouraged
Tool
s
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 10
Tools Aren’t Enough!Warning:
• Tools may lead you to think you have an accessible Web site when this isn't the case!
Man
ual C
heck
ing
<img src="foo" ..> - no ALT tag: detectable by tools<img src="foo" alt="add alt text here" …> - an inappropriate ALT tag. Needs testing by humans.
What do we need:• An awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of
automated testing• An awareness of approaches to use of manual
testing• A usable framework for a testing regime
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 11
Role of Automated ToolsAutomated Checking Tools:
• Spotting problems which can be found by software• Detecting (then fixing) such errors to allow (scarce)
human effort to focus on problems with tools can't detect:
• Don't tell your testers to check that links work; link checkers are better for this*
Dangers of Automated Checking Tools:• I use such tools; I don't bother with manual
checking because:• I'm a techie and we like software solutions to problems• Checkers are difficult to find; may be expensive; …• It's time-consuming• ..
Man
ual C
heck
ing
* Is this always true?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 12
Approaches To Manual Checking 1Hire a profession body:
• Firms such as RNIB, DMAG; (and many others) can be hired for usability & accessibility checking: Have a knowledge of the disable community; their
needs; the tools they use; etc. May use people with disabilities to provide realistic
feedback and comments Report can inform organisation and recommendations
applied elsewhere May be expensive Not always applicable
Man
ual C
heck
ing
The Logo IssueShould you add an accessibility logo to your Web site? What are the pros and cons?
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 13
Approaches To Manual Checking 2In-house checking:
• Always needed, so let's get in right!Simple approach:
• Email colleagues for comments. What happens? What re the limitations of this approach?
Better approach:• What do you hope to gain? Document this!• Provide structured tasks• Seek a variety of testers, representative of user
community• Testing by people with disabilities is desirable but
may be difficult• If not possible, provide similar environment for
testers (or yourself) e.g. images off, CSS off; …
Man
ual C
heck
ing
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 14
Quality AssuranceThe tools aren't sufficient by themselves. Also need:
• Documented policies: so we know what we're expected to check for
• Systematic procedures: for checking that we are implementing our policies
• Enhancements made to workflow processes, and not just fixing individual problems
In addition it can be useful to have:• Audit trails: to spot trends and identify possible
problems in workflow processes (e.g. new tools deployed, new staff involved, …)
• Sharing experiences, so that we and others can learn
Qua
lity
Ass
uran
ce
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 15
QA Examples (1)Example of QA policies & procedures for file formats
Policy: The Web site will use XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0 standards
Architecture:The Web site will be based on XHTML templates and use of SSIs
Monitoring:New and updated pages validated using ,validate and ,cssvalidate. Every month ,rvalidate will be used & record kept
Exceptions:HTML derived automatically (e.g. Save As HTML in PowerPoint) need not comply with standards. The files will be stored in a standard directory to enable such files to be excluded from checks.
Policy for QA Focus Web site
Qua
lity
Ass
uran
ce
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 16
QA Examples (2)Example of QA policies & procedures for links
Policy for QA Focus Web sitePolicy: QA Focus will seek to ensure that links are functional. Monitoring:
New and updated pages checked using ,checklink and ,rchecklink. Every month ,rchecklink will be used & record kept and quarterly Xenu will be used.
Exceptions: Links in "publications" (e.g. papers which are formally published) which become broken may not be fixed.If there are large numbers of broken links which would be time-consuming to fix we may not fix them.We make no commitment to fix broken links once the QA Focus funding finishes.
Qua
lity
Ass
uran
ce
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 17
ConclusionsTo conclude:
• Tools can help in identifying problems areas
• However tools may be flawed, inconsistent and difficult to use
• Tools aren’t enough in themselves – manual checking is also need
• Systematic application of automated and human checking as part of a QA framework is desirable
A centre of expertise in digital information management
www.ukoln.ac.uk 18
QuestionsAny questions or comments?
