This web page provides links to resources which can be used to help web developers understand and implement web accessibility compliance requirements and guidelines.

The World Wide Web Consortium (www.w3.org) has, through it Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), outlined several resources, which are referenced below.

On December 21, 2000, the federal Access Board issued final standards for electronic and information technology under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. On January 22, 2001, the General Services Administration (GSA) issued a notice to adopt these standards into the Federal procurement regulations.  For summaries and details related to these standards, see:  Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act: Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards.

The standards adopted by this board regarding accessibility on the web are largely based upon the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium. However, there are 5 standards, (l) through (p), that are different than any comparable provision in the Web Content Accessibility quidelines of the WAI.   A listing of the standards that apply to web accessibility can be found at: Section 508 Accessibility Requirements for Web Sites on the WebAble site. You may also find guidelines produced by the Access Board for web accessibility in Web-based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications.

Using the Access Board's standards, Washburn University's Web Services conducted a review of all official Washburn web sites during the months of March, April and May, 2001.  Access Site Quality and Accessibility Review, 2001 for a schedule of review dates. During the 2001-2002 academic year, each site will be reviewed again at least once. Results of these reviews are presented to web developers to assist them in meeting the accessibility and quality guidelines.

See Washburn University Official Web Sites--Accessibility and Quality Checklist for a listing of the criteria that will be used for the Spring 2001 review.   These criteria are largely based upon the federal Access Board regulations.

Washburn University's User Services area of Information Technology Services will be offering seminars each semester to educate web developers on implementing the Accessibility Requirements and Guidelines.  For information about these seminars, contact itsus@washburn.edu.

ADA-Friendly Web Sites for Students: The Why and the How provides some good background on the portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act which apply to web accessibility.

Common Myths About Web Accessibility is a site recommended by Carol Yoho, a Washburn University adjunct. This article dispels some misconceptions about accessible web authoring.

 Accessibility Requirements

Washburn University Official Web Sites -- Accessibility and Quality Checklist	Items marked with ** are required for web accessibility.
Section 508 Accessibility Requirements for Web Sites	extracted directly from the final ruling of the Section 508 mandate as released by the Federal Access Board on December 20, 2000.
Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0	This list of checkpoints is divided up into THREE levels of priorities. Each item listed in Priority 1 is hotlinked to a section of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 , which gives examples of how to implement the guideline. From this area, you will also find hotlinks to sections in the Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 which is explained below. After working your way through Priority 1 in the Checklist of Checkpoints, advance to Priority 2, and finally to Priority 3.

Accessibility Guidelines and Tools

Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites	"Quick Tips" introduce key concepts of accessible Web design. Please note that these are not complete guidelines.
Web Accessibility Quick Reference	A document created by Washburn University's Web Services to provide a summary of the items that must be done to accomplish web accessibility using the priorities established by WAI.
Curriculum for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0	This curriculum was used as the basis for a fall, 2000, seminar series to assist users in understanding and applying web accessibility guidelines. Some of the guidelines recommended by the Consortium are geared towards the future. HTML 4.0 tags and Style Sheets are recommended, even though current browser versions do not interpret some of these tags. In some cases, Netscape Communicator interprets an HTML 4.0 tag in a different way than Internet Explorer. Some 3.2 tags will "deprecate" in the future, that is, they will no longer be recognized by browsers which follow the Consortium's guidelines. In addition, Washburn University developers need to be concerned about how these HTML 4.0 constructs look on both the UNIX and PC platforms.
Bobby	Bobby is a web-based tool that analyzes web pages for their accessibility to people with disabilities. The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) offers Bobby as a free public service in order to further its mission to expand opportunities for people with disabilities through the innovative uses of computer technology. To analyze a web page, type in the URL of the page that you want Bobby to examine and select Submit. Bobby will display a report indicating any accessibility and/or browser compatibility errors found on the page.  Information Technology Services (ITS) is looking into making a tool available to analyze all of the pages of a web site in a batch mode, eliminating the need to type in the URL for each page of your web site.
Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0	This list of checkpoints is divided up into THREE levels of priorities.
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0	This is a very long document which outlines all of the guidelines. If you prefer to digest them all at once, you can read this entire document.
Techniques for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0	While Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 strives to be a stable document (as a W3C Recommendation), this document is expected to evolve as technologies change and content developers discover more effective techniques for designing accessible pages.

Other Web Accessibility Resource Links

Comments about this web page may be directed towards Susan Jarchow , webmaster@washburn.edu. For additional information about Washburn web policies, consult: http://www.washburn.edu/its/docs/policies/webmaster