[CEUD-ICT] Yahoo! Style Guide mentions accessibility

[Alan M. Dalton]

Hi,

Yahoo! have published a style guide for people who write for the web. It
includes 2 articles about accessibility: "Learn how people with
disabilities use the Web" [1] and "Gauge your site's accessibility" [2].

The "Learn how people with disabilities use the Web" articles describes
screen readers, screen magnifiers, on-screen keyboards, and refreshable
Braille displays. It also gives 3 example scenarios of people with
disabilities being excluded . It's a useful short introduction to
accessibility.

The "Gauge your site's accessibility" article is basically a 10-question
checklist. Brilliantly, the first 2 questions are about considering
accessibility when designing a website, and consulting people with
disabilities when designing and testing a website. The next 8 questions are
about:
- enabling keyboard navigation;
- including labels for input fields;
- using CAPTCHAs correctly;
- including alternative text for images;
- including captions for videos;
- not relying on colour or visual effects;
- not relying on visual location;
- making text readable.

It doesn't discuss:
- including audio description for videos;
- using headings (although there is a separate "Headings" article [3]);
- allowing users to control sound;
- not using images for text (although the "SEO basics" article [4] does
say, "Avoid saving text as an image");
- letting users control time limits;
- letting users control non-static content;
- avoiding flashing content;
- letting users jump past repeated content;
- including page titles (although there is a separate "Page titles" article
[5]);
- using descriptive link text;
- including site maps;
- identifying the language that the content is written in;
- providing definitions for abbreviations and technical terms (although
there is a separate "Acronyms and other abbreviations" article [6]);
- providing summaries that are easy to read (although the "Get to the
point" article [7] does say, "If your content is unavoidably lengthy or
complex, consider putting a summary ... at the top of the page," and "Write
for a lower reading-comprehension level than you expect many of your
readers to have ...");
- avoiding major changes (such as new windows opening) without warning the
user;
- using consistent page layout (although the "User-interface text basics"
article [8] does say, "Place repeating page navigation ... in a consistent
location throughout your site");
- using words consistently (although the "User-interface text basics"
article [8] does say, "Use consistent terminology");
- giving examples to users when they fill in forms;
- giving helpful messages to users who make mistakes (although the
"Feedback messages and error messages" article [9] does explain how to
"User-friendly (not user-frightening) error messages");
- letting users correct mistakes.

I think it's still a useful article, particularly for people who are new to
web accessibility.

Also, the "Coding basics" article [10] shows how to use HTML to specify
page titles, headings, sub-headings, paragraphs, links, quotations,
bulleted lists, numbered lists, and images. The HTML in the example is
accessible, and the example is clear.

I've noticed some areas where the Yahoo! Style Guide gives advice that is
different to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 [11]. For
example, the "Headings" article [3] says, "you should [use all uppercase
text] for headings in plain-text emails." The Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines 2.0 has a technique called "Using standard text formatting
conventions for headings" [12]. It says, "The beginning of a heading is
indicated by two blank lines preceding the heading. The end of a heading is
indicated by a blank line following the heading." When other guides
contradict the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0, I would follow the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.

Finally, there are some examples of inaccessible content in the Yahoo!
Style Guide. The final example in the "Example: Seed copy with keywords for
SEO" article [13] uses style sheet formatting to convey information. It
also says, "Roll your cursor over the text below to see which words we
linked." Some users don't roll cursors! The style guide is quite new, so
hopefully Yahoo! will eliminate those problems in time.

Let me know what you think!

[1]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/make-your-site-accessible-everyone/learn-how-people-disabilities-use-web

[2]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/make-your-site-accessible-everyone/gauge-your-sites-accessibility

[3]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/construct-clear-compelling-copy/headings
[4]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/resources/optimize-search-engines/seo-basics
[5]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/write-clear-user-interface-text/page-titles
[6]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/editing/treat-abbreviations-capitalization-and-titles-consistently/acronyms-and-other-abbreviations
[7] http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/write-web/get-point
[8]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/write-clear-user-interface-text/user-interface-text-basics
[9]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/writing/write-clear-user-interface-text/feedback-messages-and-error-messages
[10]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/resources/basic-webpage-coding/coding-basics
[11] http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG/
[12] http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/NOTE-WCAG20-TECHS-20081211/T3
[13]
http://styleguide.yahoo.com/resources/optimize-search-engines/example-seed-copy-keywords-seo

Regards,
Alan.
_
Alan Dalton
Accessibility Development Advisor for EtA http://www.nda.ie/eta
Access Officer for NDA http://www.nda.ie

Address: National Disability Authority, 25 Clyde Road, Dublin 4.
_


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