[Accessibility_sig] Accessibility Checklist

[andrea richeson]

Lou,

Here's an example of an internal checklist I used on a project a few years
ago.  It may be helpful as a starting place.

--Andrea Richeson

Web Checklist

Web Page Checklist Rev. 20050525

General Page Elements
File and Directory Names    Are files and directories named correctly?
•    Use lowercase characters a through z, 0 through 9.
•    Do not use spaces or other special characters.
•    Try to keep the file names under 12 characters if at all possible.

Top    Does the page include the required Meta tags?
•    Title
•    Author
•    Description
•    Keywords

Editable Body
•    Is the information accurate and current?
•    Have you used relative links where possible?
•    Font tags are not used. CSS should control layout and design.

Accessibility & Privacy Issues
Accessible Format
Is the page/document in an accessible format (e.g., html or txt)?

Skip Navigation
Is there a link that allows the user to skip repetitive navigation on each
page?

Use of Color
Avoid the use of color to convey information.
If color is used to convey information, is the information also conveyed
without color, e.g., from context or markup?

Tables
•    See W3C guidelines for complete guidelines regarding developing
accessible tables.
•    Have you used style sheets to control layout and presentation? (If you
can design the page without tables, do so. Note: If a table is used for
layout, do not use any structural markup for the purpose of visual
formatting.)
•    Does your table code include a summary attribute?
•    Does your data table use appropriate header tags, i.e.: <th
scope="col">Sample Column Header</th> ?
(For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column
headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.)
•    Have you used % widths in your tables?

Browser Compatibility
Did you check that the page displays as you intended in both IE 6+ and
Firefox 1+

Image Alt Tags
Does every image file have an alt tag with information that sufficiently
describes the content to a person with visual disabilities or a null for
simple images that do not convey information? Note: the proper code for a
null is alt=""

Image Maps
The use of image maps is discouraged. If image maps are necessary, does the
tab-through order make sense and are the alt tags accurate?

Header Tags
Use header tags (<h1></h1>) to emphasize sections/show the hierarchy of the
text.

Use of Lists
Use lists (<ul><li></li></ul>) for lists of information, such as menu
navigation.

PDFs
If a page/document is an image file (e.g., pdf file), for which the
associated reader does not fully support accessibility, did you provide an
accessible version of the same information?
Did you provide a link for a free, associated reader and instructions? (See
exceptions at 1 TAC §201.12 State Web Sites.)
Note: If a file format other that .htm is posted, you must include the file
size, format type, and link to the download for the plug-in application

W3C Priority 1 & 2 Compliance
Is the page free of priority 1 and 2 errors, and blinking or scrolling text?
See explanation of Priority 1 and 2 errors on the W3C's Checklist of
Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.

Sec. 508 & State of Texas Compliance
Does the page meet all requirements in Sec. 508 and of 1 TAC 206 - State Web
Sites?

Load Time/Page Size
Does the web page load in 15 seconds or less on a 28.8 modem?
Check the status bar on the bottom-right of your Dreamweaver window while in
design view to see the page size and download time.

Auto Redirects
Have configured the server to perform redirects? (Do not use markup to
redirect pages automatically.)

Valid Code
Keep in mind that the code should validate at W3C Markup Validation Service
and Bobby.

Web Page Conventions
Standard Capitalization
•    Internet: capitalized - not internet
•    Rarely use all caps. It is impolite 'nettiquette' and is interpreted as
yelling on the Internet.

Naming conventions
Avoid long filenames. Avoid special characters.

----------Original message follows-------------

> Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2007 18:05:08 -0500
> From: "Louis Capone" <Louis.Capone at imc2.com>
> Subject: [Accessibility_sig]  Section 508 and WCAG Checklists
>
> Thanks for the feedback.  I have all of the items you mentioned, but I
> am looking for a laundry list of good standards to follow.
>
> Maybe I should have asked if anyone had an example of their internal
> accessibility guidelines, which I could use as a reference.
>
> Lou
>
>
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