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Joomla! Accessibility
Joomla! Accessibility

Joomla! Accessibility: A quick guide to creating accessible websites with Joomla!

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Joomla! Accessibility

Chapter 2. Understanding Accessibility

In this chapter we will examine some other aspects of good user-interface design such as usability. We will look at accessibility as an important component of an holistic approach to web development, as well as what makes good websites and a positive user experience.

We will look at other useful methods for ensuring that your sites are both accessible and usable, such as involving users in the development process through user testing, and if that is not possible, alternatives such as personas are examined.

We will also look at important initiatives to raise the bar in accessible web development such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines).

What Will Joomla! Not Do?

While creating accessible websites with Joomla!, it is also important to understand the limits of the technology.

Joomla! will not magically transform anything the developer or author throws at into structured and accessible content. Although, sometimes we may wish this happens! We often...

What Will Joomla! Not Do?


While creating accessible websites with Joomla!, it is also important to understand the limits of the technology.

Joomla! will not magically transform anything the developer or author throws at into structured and accessible content. Although, sometimes we may wish this happens! We often, on a subconscious level, believe that new technology will automatically be able to fix everything so that we could then spend more time hanging out at the beach. However, this is unrealistic. Technological advances have not lead us to lives of leisure, rather we often work harder, deal with more diverse tasks, and for longer hours!

Within the context of using a Content Management System like Joomla! the old adage "garbage in—garbage out" holds true. It is important for you to understand that much of what you can do to create accessible websites comes from what you have acquired over time, with good development and design practices.

The manner in which you approach your web development...

Usability


Usability looks at the quality of the user experience and tries to determine how successfully a user can complete a task and how satisfying a device or interface is to use. Including usability in your workflow is also a very important part of good designing and development.

Areas where user interaction can be improved therefore come under usability. While usability and accessibility (strictly speaking) are different disciplines, there are close connections and crossovers between them.

Following are some definitions of usability picked from some good websites:

"A measure of how easy it is for a user to complete a task. In the context of Web pages this concerns how easy it is for a user to find the information they require from a given Web site."

"The ease with which a system can be learnt or used. A figure of merit or qualitative judgment of ease of use or learning. Some methods of assessing usability may also express usability as a quantitative index."

"The effectiveness, efficiency...

Understanding Accessibility


You may have your own knowledge and experience of accessibility. This could range from little, to a lot. It could be based on your experience, things you have read during your own research, or stuff that you have picked up from colleagues and fellow developers based on their experience and research.

You may not know any people with disabilities or any people who use assistive technology (AT). Much of what you have heard could come from second or third hand information that could either be wrong, or worse, misleading.

You may have downloaded a demo copy of a screen reader and realized that it a very complex piece of software that you can't just hop into and drive off with. Well, not smoothly anyway.

You may have read about certain assistive technology and are trying to picture in your mind how it may work. I am aware that this approach is very difficult. If it is possible for you to gain some hands-on being experience of being with people with disabilities and watch...

WCAG 1.0


The WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) are an important set of guidelines and techniques that outline important areas to pay particular attention to when developing accessible websites. By following the guidelines and successfully passing their various checkpoints or success criteria, you will have gone a long way towards creating more accessible websites.

In this book I have chosen not to give you guidance on 'how to comply with WCAG', rather I have distilled my experience and covered many of the important areas, which when followed will serve the need of many of your users. You may also, happily, comply with many parts of the WCAG guidelines.

There are two sets of WCAG guidelines (version 1.0 and version 2.0). WCAG version 2.0 is still in draft. However, you could start reading version 1.0, but do keep an eye on the newer version which I have outlined next. The new guidelines are a major improvement and a promising evolution. They are not perfect but hey, evolution is...

Summary


While accessibility is very important it is not the full picture when it comes to a good user-interface design and there are other important aspects to be considered such as usability. For me, accessibility and usability make up a powerful combination for a potent holistic approach to web development and a positive user experience for everyone.

User testing is a really practical way of determining whether your sites are not only accessible but also usable, and this important method for qualitative analysis really does lift accessibility and usability out of the arena of being merely a theoretical or academic exercise.

User testing can really give you positive proof that all of your hard work—in getting to the point where you can say that your interfaces are accessible and usable—has really paid off.

Regarding WCAG, much of what is suggested in the WCAG guidelines is in many ways common sense, if you give it some thought. What I hope to do is provide you with a step-by-step way of creating...

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Key benefits

  • Understand what accessibility really means and why it's important
  • Ensure that content editors and writers publish accessible articles
  • Create accessible Joomla! Templates
  • Understand Assistive Technology (AT) and the needs of people with disabilities

Description

Understanding how to create accessible websites is an essential skill these days . You may even be obliged by law to create websites that are usable by the widest audience, including people with a range of disabilities.This book looks at what accessibility is and the various reasons, such as legislative or legal, as to why you really need to understand accessibility and then create websites that can be used by everyone. This book therefore examines the diverse range of user requirements that need to be considered for humans to successfully use web technologies.If you have no experience of being around, or working with, people with disabilities then it can be very difficult to successfully design user interfaces that cover their needs. This book will show you how you can both understand some of the various needs of people with disabilities and the technology they use to interact with computers and the Web.

Who is this book for?

This book is a guide to any Joomla! user who wants to make their sites more accessible and the author does assume that you have a basic working knowledge of Joomla!. You don't need to know anything about accessibility -- the author tells you all that you need to know to make your Joomla! sites accessible to the widest audience.While some design skills and technical knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP will be very useful you will still benefit from reading this book if you wish to understand more about assistive technology and the needs of people with disabilities. The book is distilled from years of hands on experience that the author has as a web developer and also working with people with disabilities.

What you will learn

  • Get under the hood with Joomla! and learn how to modify Joomla! HTML output in order to make more accessible websites.
  • Understand how to use WYSIWYG editors like TinyMCE and XStandard to create accessible content.
  • Create accessible Joomla! templates.
  • Understand some of the most popular assistive technologies (AT) and how they work.
  • Gain a deeper understanding of some different disabilities.
  • Get an overview of the legal requirement to be accessible.
  • Gain some very practical guidance based on the authors years of practical experience working as a web developer and with people with disabilities.
  • Chapter 1 looks at the legal situation around the world and other drivers that put accessibility on the web developers map. This chapter also looks at some definitions of accessibility and introduces the concepts of usability and universality. The chapter explores the need to understand your users, accommodate diversity, and dealing with change as well as some of the benefits of accessibility.Chapter 2 considers how both accessibility and usability make up a powerful combination for a holistic approach to web development and a positive user experience for everyone. The chapter looks at other practical ways of determining whether your sites are not only accessible but also usable, such as user testing. The chapter also looks at the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).Chapter 3 looks at various types of disability as well as the variety of assistive technology that is available. You will also learn how to modify your browsing experience in order to try to gain a greater understanding of what it is like for people with disabilities when they go online.Chapter 4 looks at using headings and other HTML elements to provide content structure. How this benefits users of assistive technology and other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits. This chapter examines how to provide simple text alternatives to images and using descriptive link text to assist accessibility, as well as creating accessible tables and how to edit the HTML by hand.Chapter 5 examines the importance of preparation while designing your template and the advantages of using accessible templates. The chapter also explains the importance of good color contrast and making your text resizable for visually impaired users as well as the making your interface keyboard accessible.Chapter 6 looks at getting the most out of XStandard, while throughout most of the book TinyMCE was used.

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Publication date : Oct 31, 2007
Length: 156 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781847194091
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Publication date : Oct 31, 2007
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Table of Contents

6 Chapters
Why be Accessible? Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Understanding Accessibility Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Understanding Disability and Assistive Technology (AT) Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Accessible Content Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating Accessible Templates Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Using XStandard to Create Accessible Content Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
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