Throughout this guide we’ve learned about practical strategies for making web content accessible and that there are several pieces that need to fit together to create an organizational approach to accessibility. We’ve learned how important it is for an organization to set accessibility standards and seen a real-world example, the Accessibility Kit for SharePoint, that helps integrate accessibility testing into the development process—making it easier to meet organizational standards. We’ve seen how accessibility can increase sales and decrease maintenance costs, building a good business case for integrating accessibility into an organization’s web development processes. A key strategy for helping developers implement accessibility is to make it easy for them to make the right decisions and we learned about several examples of Accessible by Default, where accessibility strategies are built into development products.
The European Dialogues on Web Accessibility have been a rewarding experience and created the basis for an evolving body of knowledge that can help us reach our shared goal of an accessible Web. Microsoft and HiSoftware will continue to partner with others to improve the Riga Dashboard and increase web accessibility.
Accessible Media Player: http://www.codeplex.com/amp
Internet Explorer: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/
"Microsoft Expression (includes Studio, Design, Web, Media, Blend and Encoder):
<Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS): http://www.microsoft.com/Sharepoint/
Silverlight: http://silverlight.net/
Windows Live (including Live Writer), http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/
Windows Media Player: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/
HiSoftware solutions for accessibility:
http://www.hisoftware.com/hmcc/
href="http://www.hisoftware.com/MOSS/MOSSsolutions.htm
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) maintains the following Web standards.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS): http://www.w3.org/TR/CSS/
Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): http://www.w3.org/TR/html/
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0: http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag10docs.php
WCAG 2.0: http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag20.php
This guide was created by Microsoft and HiSoftware to summarize the practical strategies discussed at the European Dialogues on Web Accessibility. Contributors to this guide include James Thurston, Dana Simberkoff, Cynthia Shelly, and Wendy Chisholm.
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational computer technology corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products for computing devices. Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. More information about Microsoft accessibility is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/enable/
Founded in 1998, HiSoftware is a leading provider of software, services, and on-demand solutions that test, repair, monitor and enforce audited Web content, quality, and regulatory compliance. The company’s solutions empower content developers, Web site architects, and executives to work collaboratively to create and manage corporate Web standards for accessibility, financial banking compliance, privacy, operational security, search engine optimization, site quality and performance, and application transaction testing. With over 4,000 customers across 88 countries, HiSoftware’s clients boast many of the world’s largest public and private sites including US and international government agencies and Global 2000 companies such as Gateway, HP, California State University, US Department of Transportation and Microsoft. For more information about HiSoftware and its solutions go to www.hisoftware.com
There is now the opportunity and the imperative to make real progress toward a more inclusive society through an accessible Web.
This handbook from Microsoft and HiSoftware is one result of a series of interactive dialogues on the current state of Web accessibility between government officials, industry leaders, and NGO representatives across several European countries. It combines practical strategies with some of the perspectives, goals, and vision that came out of those dialogues. Our intent is to provide a tool that will help organizations worldwide foster accessibility in their operations.
This handbook begins with a summary of the important knowledge shared at the series of European dialogues on Web accessibility. Those lessons-learned and best practices are followed by an example process for implementing a comprehensive Web accessibility program in any organization. Building on that framework, there is an example of a product and community that helps organizations implement some of the practical strategies from the dialogues. Finally, there is a discussion of specific tools and tips to understand and meet Web accessibility standards.
Source: December 2001 Forrester Research Report-Design Accessible Sites Now” available at: http://www.forrester.com/ER/Research/Report/Summary/0,1338,11431,00.html.