From Afterthought to Forethought: The Advancement of Web Accessibility

Abstract

While web application security has stolen most of the spotlight due to
the hacking and theft of information, there is an equally large problem that
is not getting the same attention. Web accessibility has made strides in the
last few years, but the reality is many individuals with disabilities are still
overlooked when it comes to web application functionality and design.
Although accessibility may seem like an issue of the past, we are really just
now scratching the surface on fixing accessibility and usability issues
across the web. Thanks to advances in technology, accessibility and
usability are becoming foundations for future web development, enhancing
the web experience for all users.

From Experiment to World-Changer: The Evolution of Web Design

and Development

As technology advances, the World Wide Web is struggling to keep up

with the changing times and to take advantage of everything new technology
has to offer. For many years standards and procedures were left out of the fold;
it was all about growing business and technology in what seems like a constant
race to have the biggest and best design and features. Unfortunately, web
accessibility took a back seat, since it was more about functionality and
equality, as opposed to eye-catching and innovative. Times are finally
changing, and although it has been a long, tough road for accessibility
supporters, it is finally getting its turn in the spotlight.

Although many have heard the term web accessibility, the meaning of
the terms seems to be misunderstood by a large majority of people. So what
is web accessibility, you may ask? Its ensuring all information and
functionality across the web can be achieved by all users, disabled or not. In
reality, web accessibility is more than that, as it is very closely tied to the
usability of a website. If a website is completely accessible, it has a greater
chance of being more user-friendly, as the time was most likely taken to
optimize the site for user experience. As technology and web know-how are
progressing, accessibility and usability have been taken into greater
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consideration as sites and web applications are designed and developed.

The emergence of HTML5 is helping set new standards for website
accessibility and usability, and they are standards that will be put into
place universally (Loiacono 2009, 118).
Web design and development has been attempting to catch up with
the evolution of technology and hardware for years, often causing many
important issues to be overlooked. Often times the design and flashy factor
won out over functionality and usability, creating a dangerous precedent
among web developer and designers. Technologies such as Adobes Flash
player became popular to achieve the visual results users were looking for,
despite Flash players accessibility limitations (Wisniewski 2011, 54). As
technology continues to advance, there are many services available now
that allow users to create their own sites in a matter of clicks, which may
seem like a great idea. One of the biggest problems we are currently facing
is the lack of understanding and proper education when it comes to web
design and development, and often a lack of knowledge leads to a lack of
accessibility and usability. However, as problems began to continue, a
solution is in the works that should finally help resolve some of these long
standing issues, although it will not be fully in place until 2015 (Wisniewski
2011, 54).

As the World Wide Web reaches a crossroads of continuing innovation

and redesigning non-user friendly and non-accessible websites, HTML5 is a
solution that has come into prominence. Not only is it the follow up language
and markup to the current HTML version 4, but it is being developed and
designed with two key ideas in mind: accessibility and usability. HTML5 will
mark the first time where major companies such as Microsoft, Apple,
Google, and Mozilla have a reached a consensus on the future of web
development, allowing the World Wide Web to advance towards the same
set of standards and specifications across the web (Lee 2008, 48). Currently,
many JavaScript workarounds must be added in order to achieve web
accessibility with interactive online experience, such as with online forms.
With HTML5, most accessibility functions are built into the code, they just
have to be called in order for an Internet browser to render them correctly.
As it currently stands, HTML5 can be used to developed sites today, however
it will be found that much of the built-in functionality will not be correctly
rendered by web browsers (Wisniewski 2011, 55). As development continues
and as HTML5 becomes closer to be official, advancements will have been
made that allow for the full functionality of HTML5 to be supported across all
major browsers.
There are many tools used by those with disabilities to ensure they get
the same information and functionality from a website as normal users do. One
of the most popular tools is a screen reader, which is most commonly
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used by individuals with visual impairments or disabilities. Screen readers

have become a big part in planning for the future, especially in the
development of new languages and protocols such as HTML5. While screen
readers have been a great invention to assist those with visual disabilities,
the tool is only as useful as the code behind websites and web applications
(Centeno 2006, 90). Unfortunately with a lack of standards and
specifications, websites were often thrown up in a hurry, and the main
concern was getting a website up and functional, no matter the
programming it took. This set into motion a couple major issues that are
just becoming more prevalent thanks to organizations such as the National
Federation of the Blind.
With a lack of standards and specifications, there was no wrong way
to develop and design a website. As a result, the code driving many older
websites is extremely difficult to follow and repair, as is quite often to find
the code to not be commented or documented, making it necessary to follow
line by line to understand how the code is functioning. Code, if formatted
and commented properly, should read like a well formatted paper. Without
proper headers and description tags, screen readers cannot effectively read
the context of the site to a user. If there is no formatting to the code, the
screen reader will read each line of code, as there are no proper tags for it to
read as a priority. HTML5 and other current programming languages have
taken this into account, and many content management systems now
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require users to enter descriptive tags to better assist screen readers and
other tools that depend on that information (Brophy 2007, 952).
Unfortunately, businesses and educational institutions alike have ignored
the need to move to accessible code, and it has taken some drastic tactics
by key organizations and groups to bring the national spotlight to the need
for web accessibility.
One of the first and primary examples of bringing web accessibility to
the forefront was by the National Federation for the Blind (NFB), when they
sued the Target Corporation in 2006 for having an inaccessible; and nonassistive technology friendly website. Rather than work with the NFB, Target
made the claim that it was not responsible for making their website fully
accessible, as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) did not specifically
state that it applied to websites, especially those in the private sector. This
brought on an ugly lawsuit, in which Target ultimately lost. Not only did
Target spend money on legal fees for themselves and the National
Federation of the Blind, but also had to pay six million dollars in damages to
the individuals who brought on the lawsuit (Richman 2006, 1). Many saw
this as the legal case that would bring accessibility national media attention,
which would result in web developers and designers becoming better
educated on accommodating web accessibility needs. While it did work to a
certain degree, bringing one lawsuit after another is not only costly, but
does not provide for the best image from a public relations and marketing
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standpoint. While this case did make a statement, especially being the first
of its kind, it did not have the impact the accessibility supporters wanted.
After the Target case, many in the public sector began to wonder how
long it would take before they became the target of a lawsuit for not being
compliant with web accessibility. While Section 508 compliancy was
instituted to ensure public sector institutions were compliant, many did not
accept web accessibility as a priority, while others were not educated on the
requirements of Section 508 compliancy. Fast forward to 2010, and the
National Federation of the Blind filed another lawsuit, this time against Penn
State University. In the complaint, it was alleged that Penn State had been
discriminatory against blind faculty and students alike, as many of their
department websites, course management system, and online library
catalog were all found to be inaccessible to those with visual impairments
(Penn State Discriminates Against Blind Students and Faculty 2010, 1).
While Penn State has still never admitted to any wrongdoing, in late 2011
they reached a deal with the NFB to have the lawsuit dropped. As a result,
Penn State must perform a full accessibility audit on all of their web
systems, must have a plan in place to repair/replace those that are found to
not be accessible, and must provide training to all faculty and staff involved
in managing such systems by the end of 2012 (National Federation of the
Blind and Penn State Resolve Accessibility Complaint 2011, 1).

Due to the lawsuits placed by the National Federation of the Blind,

many accessibility issues have come to light, and both the private and
public sectors now realize they are not free from the rules of compliancy.
From the technology end, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by
Tim Berners Lee, is another group that is dedicated to improving web
accessibility, and even has an accessibility group dedicated to the HTML5
project. Since Tim Berners Lee helped create the World Wide Web as we
know it today a little over twenty years ago, he has dedicated his effort with
the W3C to create universal standards and specifications for all web
development (Reed 2011, 44). The W3C has also helped coordinate and
create Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) versions 1.0 and 2.0,
which are guidelines and standards for creating accessible content on the
World Wide Web. While these guidelines and standards are helpful, it takes
buy in from major players in the Web world in order to make them
prominent, and universally accepted (McLellan 2011, 32).
Being a web professional for almost five years now myself, I have
often heard a lot of fellow web professionals in the public sector complain
about the resources required to test for web accessibility and usability.
Other web professionals are accessibility and usability minded first, and
desire to find out how to get more involved. The question from both sides is
often, how do I achieve my goals? Since accessibility has become somewhat
main-stream, there are some great tools available to all designers and
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developersfor free. Not only does the W3C offer best practices and
standards, it offers code validators that will check your code for any
compliancy violations (Centeno 2006, 95). To take it a step further, one of
my favorite tools is the Web Accessibility Toolbar provided by vision
Australia. The toolbar conveniently combines many validators and testers
into one location. Nonvisual Desktop Access, or the NVDA project, is an
open source screen-reader software that is available for anyone to
download and use. I just recently started using this software in my testing,
and it truly put a new perspective on accessibility, especially from a visually
impaired or disabled users point of view. As for becoming more involved,
many states offer web accessibility user groups, especially in the public
sector, on how to better prepare and develop websites using accessibility
best practices.
Web applications are another developing technology, which is helping
drive the creation of simpler, more user friendly web design and
development. As the world of web based applications has greatly expanded
with the introduction of the smartphone, a new era of user interfaces is
being created. As seen with the latest beta version of Windows 8, the
desktop operating system will use a tiled, web application style layout in
the software. Rather than downloading programs, users will be able to
download web applications; much like a consumer would do on a tablet
device or smartphone. How does this help accessibility and usability, you
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may ask? While it may be a drastic change from what users are currently
used to, it is another step towards unification and universal accessibility and
usability. With Windows 8, no matter if youre using a Windows driven
smartphone, tablet device, or PC, the experience and user interface will be
largely the same. In many ways, Windows 8 seems to offer a sneak peek
into the future of web development and design, as web applications and
mobile websites are often driven by some form of HTML5. HTML5 is by far
the most mobile-friendly programming language currently in use, in addition
to the AJAX language (Murugesan 2011, 12-14). A move towards the future
is helping users to adjust to what will eventually be a more user-friendly
web based software environment.
In the beginning of the web boom, web accessibility was just an
afterthought by most, viewed more as a luxury than a necessity. Years of
designing and developing websites and web applications with no universal
standards or guidelines led to the creation of many non-web accessible
websites, in both the public and private sectors. As the e-commerce boom
continued, many services offered one click solutions to building websites,
again ignoring any standards and guidelines for proper web development, as
many users had no web development experience. These one-click services
set a dangerous tone, and one that still somewhat exists today. Many
individuals do not fully understand the requirements of proper web design
and development, as they grew accustomed to the idea that a website can
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be achieved in a matter of clicks. This is another stereotype that must be

broken to ensure proper development and design in the future, with a
focus on accessibility.
Moving forward, education and knowledge will be the two best tools in
enhancing the accessibility and usability of the web, helping to transform it
into a truly universally accepting interface. As HTML5 continues to grow in
popularity and is backed by key players in the web, word will continue to
grow about accessibility and usability (Lee 2008, 49). This transformation
towards the future will allow for accessibility to grow from an afterthought to
forethought, after many trials and tribulations. With accessibility and
usability research now becoming a standard, more informed decisions will be
made when it comes to web design and development, and for the first time,
users of all kinds: disabled, impaired, or average people will be able to
access the information and obtain the same functionality as one another
across a majority of the World Wide Web.

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