Resources

Resources for accessible and universal Web design are abundant on the Internet. Below is a partial list of links that help explain accessibility concepts, design techniques, and that provide useful tools.

Vision

• Colorado Center for the Blind (CCB)
  URL: http://www.cocenter.org
  The CCB is a training center of the National Federation of the Blind located in Littleton, Colorado. Their training and rehabilitation programs empower blind persons to live independent lives as fully integrated, productive and contributing members of society.
  
  
• Vischeck
  URL: http://www.vischeck.com
  This Web site evaluation tool enables you to enter a URL to see how your page or image will look to people with different variations of colorblindness.
  
  
• Lighthouse International
  URL: http://www.lighthouse.org/color_contrast.htm
  Learn more about the three perceptual attributes of color: hue, lightness and saturation. Understanding these principles will help you select color combinations and contrasts that will for work well for people with partial sight and color deficiencies.
  
  

Hearing

• Resource Guide to Deaf Services
  URL: http://www.denvergov.org/Disabilities/template113630.asp
  A helpful collection of resources complied by the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities.
  
  
• Relay Colorado
  URL: http://www.dora.state.co.us/puc/telecom/relay_colorado.htm
  Relay Colorado is a free telephone relay service that provides full telephone accessibility to people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deaf-blind, and speech-disabled. This 24/7 service provides a connection between people with hearing and people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Local calls are free, and either party can reach an operator by calling 711.
  
  
• National Association of the Deaf
  URL: http://www.nad.org
  The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), established in 1880, is the oldest and largest constituency organization safeguarding the accessibility and civil rights of 28 million Deaf and Hard of Hearing Americans in education, employment, health care, and telecommunications.
  
  
• Self Help for Hard of Hearing People
  URL: http://www.shhh.org
  Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) is the nation's largest organization for people with hearing loss. SHHH exists to open the world of communication for people with hearing loss through information, education, advocacy and support.
  
  
• Info to Go
  URL: http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/infotogo
  Maintained by Gallaudet University's Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center, this site offers a wealth of information on deafness, assistive devices, referral organizations, careers and employment, educational opportunities, and more.
  
  
• HandSpeak
  URL: http://www.handspeak.com
  An interesting site that explores the visual languages, communication, cultures and arts.
  
  
• WISE EARS!
  URL: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/wise/index.asp
  Sponsored by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), in partnership with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), WISE EARS! is a national campaign to prevent noise-induced hearing loss.
  
  

Aging

• U.S. Administration on Aging
  URL: http://www.aoa.gov
  The Administration on Aging is one of the nation's largest providers of home- and community-based care for older persons and their caregivers. One of many goals is to help society prepare for an aging population.
  
  

Academic Organizations and Programs

• Colorado Community College Computer Access Centers
  URL: http://www.cccs.edu/ATEProject/ComputerAccessCenters.html
  Specialized computer labs for students with disabilities are located in many community colleges throughout Colorado. These centers offer access to assistive and adaptive technology workstations; they often provide hands-on technology instruction, and provide exposure to learning strategies to enhance academic success. This Web site provides a list of participating colleges, along with information and contacts about their programs.
  
  
• Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind
  URL: http://www.csdb.org
  The Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind is a state-funded school within the Colorado Department of Education. The school was established for the purpose of providing comprehensive educational services for children who are blind and/or deaf and under the age of twenty-one. Services are provided directly to students enrolled at the school and indirectly through outreach services, which are provided to the public schools throughout Colorado.
  
  
• The Center for Applied Special Technology
  URL: http://www.cast.org
  CAST is a not-for-profit, education research and development organization that works to create opportunities for all students, especially those with disabilities, by using technology to make education more flexible and accessible. This organization created the leading accessibility checker, Bobby, and has now developed a new educational methodology called Universal Design for Learning.
  
  
• University of Wisconsin, Trace Research and Development Center
  URL: http://trace.wisc.edu
  The Trace Center is a nonprofit research center that focuses on making off-the-shelf technologies and systems such as computers, the Internet, and information kiosks more accessible for everyone through the process known as universal, or accessible, design. The center is considered the leading research, development, and resource center in the area of access to computers by people with disabilities.
  
  
• Utah State University, Web Accessibility in Mind
  URL: http://www.webaim.org
  WebAIM.org is a leading source for finding concrete examples, simulations, and detailed tutorials for creating accessible Web content. They also offer information for trainers, educational CD-ROMs, a monthly e-newsletter, articles, and more.
  
  
• Information Technology Technical Assistance And Training Center (ITTATC)
  URL: http://www.ittatc.org
  Located at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the ITTATC provides accessibility training and technical assistance to state officials, trainers, and consumers so that they can better understand the requirements of Sections 508.
  
  
• University of Washington's Tactile Graphics Project
  URL: http://tactilegraphics.ischool.washington.edu
  With grant funding from the National Science Foundation, the University of Washington established the Tactile Graphics Project to research ways to help people who are blind "see" illustrations in books and on the Internet. The project is geared specifically toward advancements in graphics related to mathematics, engineering and science. However, UW is one of several universities working on tactile graphics, which would offer tremenduous benefit in a variety of disciplines.
  
  

Disability Organizations

• Denver Commission for People with Disabilities
  URL: http://www.denvergov.org/Disabilities
  A program of the City and County of Denver, the Denver Commission for People with Disabilities serves as an advocacy organization for the civil rights of people with disabilities, and advises the Mayor of Denver on effective ways that the city can serve this population.
  
  
• DisabilityInfo.gov
  URL: http://www.disability.gov
  This Web portal provides access to disability-related information and programs available from the federal government on numerous subjects, including civil rights, education, employment, housing, health, income support, technology, transportation and independent living.
  
  
• National Organization on Disability
  URL: http://www.nod.org
  The National Organization on Disability promotes the full and equal participation and contribution of America's 54 million men, women and children with disabilities in all aspects of life.
  
  
• International Center for Disability Resources on the Internet
  URL: http://www.icdri.org
  As an internationally recognized public policy center organized by and for people with disabilities, ICDRI seeks to increase opportunities for people with disabilities by identifying barriers to participation in society and promoting best practices and universal design for the global community.
  
  

Library Services for People with Disabilities

• Denver Public Library Services
  URL: http://www.denver.lib.co.us/about/disabilities.html
  The Denver Public Library system offers many assistive technology services for people with disabilities. At the Central Library downtown, and several branch libraries, computer workstations are available that offer screen magnifiers and readers, Braille printers and displays, adaptive keyboards, voice recognition software, TTY devices, and more.
  
  
• Project Gutenberg
  URL: http://www.gutenberg.org
  Project Gutenberg is the oldest producer of free electronic books on the Internet. This extensive database houses more than 6,000 complete electronic versions of important literary and scientific texts. Most are available for download in plain ASCII text format, which is compatible with a variety of assistive technology. Or, choose the HTML format to read the book online. If you have been wanting your own personal digital copy of Hamlet, Civil Disobedience, Metamorphosis, 20,000 Leagues Under the Seas, Madame Bovary, The Odyssey, Pride and Prejudice, The War of the Worlds, Great Expectations, Don Quijote, or another masterpiece, visit Project Gutenberg for literary liberation.
  
  
• National Library Service (NLS)
  URL: http://www.loc.gov/nls
  Through a national network of cooperating libraries, the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped administers a free mail subscription program that offers braille and audio library materials. The reader service is available to all people who are blind, or who have a physically-based reading disability that causes an inability to read printed material. Eligible readers must be residents of the United States.
  
  
• Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFBandD)
  URL: http://www.rfbd.org
  RFBandD is a private organization that lends recorded textbooks and other educational materials to people who cannot read standard print because of visual, perceptual, or other physical disability. There is a registration fee and an annual membership fee for RFBandD service.
  
  

Assistive Technology (AT)

• Colorado Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
  URL: http://www.cdhs.state.co.us/ods/dvr/colorado_commission.htm
  This State of Colorado program helps distribute telecommunications equipment to people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, including TTYs, phones that amplify and clarify voices, flashing light alarms for the phone, speaker phones, and equipment for people who are Deaf-Blind.
  
  
• Assistive Technology Partners (ATP)
  URL: http://www.uchsc.edu/atp/library/librarymain.htm
  Organized by faculty and staff from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, ATP is a resource dedicated to enhancing access to assistive technology by people with disabilities. They maintain an extensive online library offering details about assistive technology, and what is available and useful for certain disabilities. The site includes lists of local and national vendors.
  
  
• Freedom Machines
  URL: http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/freedommachines
  This film by Jamie Stobie and Janet Cole aired on nationwide PBS stations on September 14, 2004. One of the few documentaries to feature people with disabilities, it explores the lives of several main characters and their use of assistive technology. Societal attitudes are brought into question as the film demonstrates how AT can maximize human potential and productivity, if only the technology could be made more available to those who can benefit from it.
  
  
• Alliance for Technology Access
  URL: http://www.ataccess.org
  The Alliance for Technology Access (ATA) is a network of community-based resource centers, developers, vendors and associates dedicated to providing information and support services to children and adults with disabilities, and increasing their use of standard, assistive, and information technologies. Their efforts facilitate the empowerment of people with disabilities so that they can participate fully in their communities.
  
  
• ABLEDATA
  URL: http://www.abledata.com
  This site is an excellent resource for exploring and evaluating the range of assistive technologies. Their database of product information contains over 18,000 entries from 2,000 companies.
  
  

Accessible Information Technology (IT)

• Interaction Domain
  URL: http://www.w3.org/Interaction
  The W3C's Interaction Domain develops technologies that shape the Web's user interface, including XHTML, CSS, MathML, SMIL and SVG, along with emerging technologies like VoiceXML, Multimodal Interaction and XForms. Their focus is on adapting current technologies to enable Web access for anyone, anywhere, anytime, using any device. This group is leading the future of the Web, and their efforts are helping it emerge into a truly usable and accessible medium.
  
  
• IBM's Accessibility Center
  URL: http://www-3.ibm.com/able
  IBM has embraced accessible IT as a core business model. According to IBM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Samuel J. Palmisano, "accessibility - which started out as a philanthropic effort - has now evolved to a business transformation effort for IBM and our clients." Their Accessibility Center offers information about IBM's research into designing accessible IT solutions, and offers a nice summary of accessibility laws and guidelines for IT developers.
  
  
• Macromedia's Accessibility Center
  URL: http://www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility
  Learn about the accessibility of various Macromedia products, such as Flash and Dreamweaver, and the company's committment to designing innovative accessibility tools and solutions that create greater access for people with disabilities.
  
  
• Adobe's Accessibility Center
  URL: http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/accessibility/main.html
  Learn about Adobe's committment to providing accessible tools and products that improve access for people with disabilities. Tutorials are available for developers which offer step-by-step instructions for creating accessible PDFs and forms, along with a helpful PDF-to-HTML conversion tool. A helpful tutorial for people with disabilities is also available, which shows how to use the accessiblity features within Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  
  

Universal Design and Usability

• Adaptive Environments Center, Inc.
  URL: http://www.adaptiveenvironments.org
  Adaptive Environments is a 25-year-old educational non-profit organization committed to advancing the role of design in expanding opportunity and enhancing experience for people of all ages and abilities.
  
  
• universalusability.org
  URL: http://www.universalusability.org
  A universal design project from the student fellows and the fellows committee members from the Association for Computing Machinery's 2000 Conference on Universal Usability. Learn about user diversity and the concepts behind designing universally-accessible Web sites.
  
  
• Software Usability Research Laboratory (SURL)
  URL: http://psychology.wichita.edu/surl
  Managed as a division of the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Laboratory at Wichita State University, the SURL lab conducts usability analyses and research. Their current focus is on Web site usability, information retrieval, design, and Web navigation techniques. For updates on their research, subscribe to their Usability News newsletter.
  
  
• Human Factors International (HFI)
  URL: http://www.humanfactors.com/home/default.asp
  Human Factors International (HFI) is a user-centered design company whose mission is to improve the interactions that people have with computers. They offer training, consulting and products for improving the general usability of Web sites. This for-profit company does offer a wealth of free articles and design tips.
  
  

Accessible Multimedia

• National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM)
  URL: http://ncam.wgbh.org/index.html
  This is a research and development facility, part of the Media Access Group at WGBH, that is dedicated to the issues of media and information technology for people with disabilities in their homes, schools, workplaces, and communities. Here, you can learn about video captioning techniques and download MAGpie, an authoring tool to create captions and audio descriptions for rich Web media.
  
  
• AT508.com
  URL: http://www.at508.com
  Created by former Business Week Online Magazine writer John Williams, this site is dedicated to increasing awareness of Section 508 guidelines. The multimedia found here serve as excellent examples of captioning techniques.
  
  

Accessible Design Resources

• World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)
  URL: http://www.w3c.org
  Founded by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the Web, the W3C came into existence in 1994 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Now a consortium of over 350 member organizations, the W3C develops industry standards that promote the evolution of the Web to ensure that it can be universally accessed by users on all continents regardless of differences in culture, languages, education, ability, material resources, access devices, and physical limitations.
  
  
• Usability.gov
  URL: http://www.usability.gov
  This National Cancer Institute project is an expansive resource with accessible web design methods, guidelines and checklists, and a general philosophy on accessible technology.
  
  
• Section 508 Web Site
  URL: http://www.section508.gov
  This Web site is maintained by the General Services Administration (GSA) of the federal government. The GSA is responsible for the dissemination of information regarding Section 508, and to increase understanding of the law and its implications. Their site, while geared toward federal agencies, a great training tutorial as part of their 508 Universe, which can be accessed by first registering to the site.
  
  

Developer Tools

• W3 Schools
  URL: http://www.w3schools.com
  W3Schools offers a plethora of fee Web-building tutorials that cover HTML, XHTML, XML, XSL, CSS, and multimedia.
  
  
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
  URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10
  WCAG standards and techniques from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
  
  
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0
  URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20
  Latest draft for WCAG Version 2 from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Until these standards are adopted, this site is for reference only.
  
  
• HTML 4.01 Specification
  URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/html4
  HTML 4.01 standards and techniques from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
  
  
• XHTML 1.0 Specification
  URL: http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1
  XHTML 1.0 standards and techniques from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
  
  
• The XHTML Way
  URL: http://www.4guysfromrolla.com/webtech/120303-1.shtml
  Written by Vlad Alexander, this article explains the evolution of HTML to XHTML, why separating content from layout is important, and how to begin preparing to shift to XHTML 1.1.
  
  
• Dive Into Accessibility
  URL: http://diveintoaccessibility.org
  A great site for developers that offers a comprehensive, but easy to understand, "manual" for accessible design techniques. Each technique includes details about the how it can benefit different people with disabilities based on five hypothetical user profiles.
  
  
• dezwozhere.com
  URL: http://www.dezwozhere.com/links.html
  Great CSS tutorials that focus on accessible and cross-browser design.
  
  
• Eric Meyer on CSS
  URL: http://www.ericmeyeroncss.com/
  This master at CSS offers tutorials on how to expand the functionality of CSS.
  
  
• Adobe's Accessibility Center
  URL: http://www.adobe.com/enterprise/accessibility/main.html
  Adobe offers tutorials for developers that include step-by-step instructions for creating accessible PDFs and forms, along with a helpful PDF-to-HTML conversion tool.
  
  
• Planet PDF
  URL: http://www.planetpdf.com
  A plethora of information about PDF technology, and tips and tools for proper PDF creation.
  
  
• Web Style Guide, 2nd edition
  URL: http://www.webstyleguide.com
  An online version of the book by Patrick Lynch and Sarah Horton. This guide is very helpful for new designers. However, while it includes accessibility topics, that is not its main goal, and it should not be considered an authoritative guide to Web accessiblity.
  
  
• Accessibility Improvements in ASP.NET 2.0 - Part 1
  URL: http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040727.htm
  An online review of accessibility features by Alex Homer, 15seconds.com.
  
  
• Accessibility Improvements in ASP.NET 2.0 - Part 2
  URL: http://www.15seconds.com/issue/040804.htm
  An online review of accessibility features by Alex Homer, 15seconds.com.
  
  
• Accessibility Features of Dreamweaver MX and MX 2004
  URL: http://www.webaim.org/techniques/dreamweaver
  An online review of accessibility features by Jared Smith, WebAIM.org
  
  
• ASP.NET Topic Center
  URL: http://www.macromedia.com/devnet/dotnet
  Macromedia's ASP.NET center offers information about using Dreamweaver MX to build ASP.NET controls.
  
  

Articles About Accessibility, Assistive Technology, and Disability Issues

• As boomers age, books get bigger
  URL: http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/12/news/midcaps/large_print/index.htm
  CNN/Money, August 12, 2005.
  
  
• IBM develops mouse adapter that assists hand-tremor sufferers
  URL: http://www.techweb.com/wire/hardware/159402885
  by Antone Gonsalves, TechWeb News, March 14, 2005.
  
  
• Brainwave interface goes 2D
  URL: http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2005/020905/Brainwave_interface_goes_2D_020905.html
  by Kimberly Patch, Technology Research News, February 9/16, 2005.
  
  
• Matrix realized: Connecting brains to computers could circumvent disabilities
  URL: http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050129/bob8.asp
  by Christen Brownlee, Science News, January 29, 2005.
  
  
• IBM's building an accessible IT world barrier free
  URL: http://www.at508.com/articles/jw_017.asp
  by John M. Williams, AT508.com.
  
  
• Disabled hail e-voting despite doubts
  URL: http://www.aapd-dc.org/News/votingissues/e-voting.html
  Associated Press, October 4, 2004.