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Use Development Aids

Web Accessibility

There are varying levels of accessibility, but a web page is considered accessible if it is designed to be accessible to all users, including people using text-only browsers like Lynx, and people with disabilities. One example of such an accommodation is a web page that uses 'ALT' tags to describe its images. The text descriptions in these tags allow people who use screen readers to access the visual content conveyed by the page's images.

The Illinois Center for Instructional Technology Accessibility (CITA) provides developers of web-based instructional materials numerous resources to aid in creating web pages that are accessible to people with disabilities. The Illinois Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for Microsoft ® Office is a dynamic program offered by CITA to help instructors convert their Office documents into accessible web pages.

While there are obvious ethical reasons for making web pages accessible, public educational institutions have a legal obligation to make sure that all students have equal access to course content. Below are some resources to help you do this. Knowing about web accessibility issues as you begin to design course web content can save you time in the long run.

"ALT" Tags

ALT is short for "'alternative text." An ALT tag is simply an HTML tag that lets a web designer provide a text description of images so that people who access your site using a screen reader will have access to whatever information is contained in the image. Screen readers read the text that appears in a web page, and are usually used by people who are vision-impaired. JAWS is one of the most commonly used screen readers.

If you've ever been at a site and noticed that when you hover your cursor over a picture a little box with a text description appears, then that site is using ALT tags. For an example of this, see http://www.illinois.edu/.

Remembering to include ALT tags becomes increasingly important as you decide to use more images in the development of your site and consequently render more text (headings, links, etc.) as images. Larger sites will often choose to make a text-only site available as well, but this isn't practical for smaller sites that don't have a large staff to maintain them.

Using ALT Tags Effectively

Webmonkey's Accessibility Tutorial is a good place to begin, whether you hand code your HTML or use a WYSIWYG editor like Dreamweaver, Composer, or FrontPage.

Inserting ALT Tags in FrontPage 2000 is where FrontPage 2000 users can find step-by-step instructions for using ALT tags.

Course Management Systems and Accessibility

Most Course Management Systems (e.g., Illinois Compass & Mallard) are accessible, or will be accessible in their next version. However, it is up to instructors to make sure that any content they upload (images, text, video, etc.) into the course management system is accessible. This usually means providing HTML descriptions and/or audio descriptions of course materials with visual content.

Illinois Compass Accessibility

WebCT Accessibility Interest Group
CITES EdTech is working closely with the WebCT Accessibility Interest Group, a consortium of 17 colleges, WebCT Inc., the PACER Center and the National Federation of the Blind that is exploring and promoting accessibility improvements of the Illinois Compass (WebCT Vista) learning management system.

Accessibility Resources from Georgia State's UETS
The department of University Educational Technology Services offers a comprehensive list of resources to help you in making your web content accessible. There is also a list of FAQ's regarding accessibility.

Accessibility Resources