Esteemed classmates:
As a teacher, having an accessible website for students and parents to use is very important. In "Five Steps to an Accessible Classroom Website," Linda Amundson describes five ways to insure that your website is available for everyone.
The five steps are: Organization, Navigation without a mouse, text for images, descriptive links, and using Web validators.
"Organization" encompasses having clear headings, using horizontal lines and graphical elements (secondary to the headings), and consistency between pages. Also, being aware of colors (red and green are indistinguishable for color blind people and should therefore be avoided) and fonts is essential. After all, if your students and parents cannot read your website - why bother?
"Navigation without a mouse" is vital for those who use braille readers or even those who have a broken arm. Roll-overs and dropdown menus are difficult without a mouse and should be limited. Including an access key (assigning letters on the keyboard various functions) allows keyboard users the same opportunities as those with a mouse.
"Text explanations for images" insures that the visual impaired and those using a slower Internet connection can still "see" the graphics. The descriptions should be as if you were describing the image to a friend - not too long, but still informative.
"Using text that makes sense" applies for hyperlinks. Hyperlinks should be expressive - telling what the hyperlink links to, instead of simply saying "press here." They should be included in paragraphs, and if the same description is used multiple times then each should link to the same page.
Finally, "Web validators" evaluate your websites accessibility and tell you where you can improve. This lets you know that your website is accessible.
Ultimately, I feel that some of this article is obvious (like using headers), but I like the points about not needing a mouse and including descriptive text for graphics. It's important for all of your students and parents to be able to equally access your website.
-Lily
Amundson, Linda (2009). Five Steps to an Accessible Classroom Website.
Learning and Leading With Technology, Volume 37. Retrieved from
http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200911?pg=20&pm=2&fs=1#pg18.
Hi Lily,
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to read about the different points that make a website easier to read. I would have never thought about making it accessible without a mouse, and now after reading your post I understand why that is important. Since we made websites in class last week, this information is going to be useful to all of us. Organization is also very essential when creating a website, there is nothing worse then a site that has links all over with no description. When visiting a website of a class you are enrolled in, it is frustrating when things are hard to understand. I like how there is a "Web Validator" to help teachers ensure that their website is accurate and to show the creator where they could improve. Thank you for explaining the concepts in depth. Very Helpful!
Sarah
Hey Lily!
ReplyDeleteYou're right this article points out a ton of obvious stuff. But like Sarah, I never would have thought about making my website accessible for those to use without a mouse, nor do I even think I could. While working on my class website these are some good key points to keep in mind. Like the use of green and red, I knew there were two colors that were hard for color blind people but I could never remember which ones. Thanks for sharing the five steps for creating an accessible website for my students and parent!
Kayla