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Making Educational Software and Web Sites Accessible
Design Guidelines Including Math and Science Solutions

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Introduction

Educational Issues for Students with Disabilities

Inclusive Classrooms

Educational Software Use

Benefits of Accessible Software

Electronic Textbooks

Interactive Educational Software

Considering the Ages and Skill Levels of Students

Preserving Pedagogy During Access Adaptation

Benefits of Multimodal Learning

Policy Issues

U.S. Federal Government Requirements

ADA and Section 504

Section 508

U.S. State Policies

California Higher Education Requirements

Maryland K-12 Educational Technology Requirements

New York State K-12 Textbook Requirements

Texas K-12 Print and Electronic Textbook Requirements

Disabilities, Functional Limitations and Accessibility Tips

For People Who Are Blind

For People with Low Vision

For People with Color Blindness

For People Who Are Hard-of-Hearing or Deaf

For People with Physical Disabilities

For People with Language or Cognitive Disabilities

Tools for Access: Types of Assistive Technologies

Screen Readers

Refreshable Braille Displays

Screen Magnifiers

Adaptive Keyboards

Voice-Recognition Software

Single Switches

Equivalent Access Versus Alternative Access

Direct Access Versus Compatible Access

Access Issues for Selected Development Environments

Windows OS

Macintosh OS

The Java™ platform

Macromedia Products

The Guidelines

Guideline 1
Provide access to images for users who are blind or visually impaired.

Checkpoint 1.1
Provide text equivalents for all images.

Technique 1.1.1
Provide meaningful alt-text for all images in a Web site.

Technique 1.1.2
Use the <longdesc> attribute and a d-link to provide an in-depth HTML description, where necessary.

Technique 1.1.3
Write image descriptions.

Checkpoint 1.2
Allow images and screen layouts to be printed and enlarged.

Technique 1.2.1
Provide commands for printing the entire screen or a specific image.

Technique 1.2.2
Use the standard operating system print API.

Technique 1.2.3
Allow users to print to a file.

Checkpoint 1.3
Provide tactile graphics or three-dimensional models for images.

Technique 1.3.1
Provide tactile graphics for images.

Technique 1.3.2
Provide 3D models for complex images.

Guideline 2
Provide access to multimedia presentations for users with sensory disabilities.

Creating Accessible Multimedia

SMIL

SAMI

FLASH

Checkpoint 2.1
Add audio descriptions to multimedia presentations.

Technique 2.1.1
Add audio descriptions to movies using MAGpie.

Technique 2.1.2
Integrate audio descriptions into multimedia presentations using SMIL.

Technique 2.1.3
Embed audio-description tracks in QuickTime movies.

Technique 2.1.4
Add audio descriptions to Windows Media.

Checkpoint 2.2
Add closed captions to multimedia presentations.

Technique 2.2.1
Write captions for multimedia presentations using MAGpie.

Technique 2.2.2
Integrate captions into multimedia presentations using SMIL.

Technique 2.2.3
Integrate captions into multimedia presentations using SAMI.

Guideline 3
Provide access to forms for users who are blind or visually impaired.

Checkpoint 3.1
Label all form elements and controls so they can be recognized by assistive technology, such as a screen reader.

Technique 3.1.1
Label all text fields, text areas, drop-down menus, checkboxes and radio buttons.

Technique 3.1.2
Label all buttons.

Guideline 4
Provide access to data in tables for blind users.

Checkpoint 4.1
Design all HTML-based tables in accordance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines published by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (W3C/WAI).

Technique 4.1.1
Use HTML to mark up tables.

Technique 4.1.2
Provide alternative access to static tables.

Guideline 5
Provide access to textbooks.

Checkpoint 5.1
Provide accessible electronic or on-line textbooks.

Technique 5.1.1
Mark up electronic or on-line textbooks properly.

Technique 5.1.2
Make multimedia accessible in on-line textbooks.

Technique 5.1.3
Provide alternative presentations of electronic or on-line textbooks.

Guideline 6
Provide access to interactive activities for all users with disabilities.

Checkpoint 6.1
Ensure that all actions can be completed from the keyboard.

Checkpoint 6.2
Present information in ways that are accessible to both blind and deaf users.

Checkpoint 6.3
Allow users to customize any timing of events.

Checkpoint 6.4
Provide features that allow users to access multiple sources of information separately when they are delivered simultaneously.

Checkpoint 6.5
Provide a simpler version of any screen with complex backgrounds.

Guideline 7
Provide access to graphs for users who are blind or visually impaired.

Checkpoint 7.1
Allow all graphs to be printed.

Checkpoint 7.2
Allow all graphs to be enlarged on screen.

Technique 7.2.1
Print graphs as scaled on screen.

Checkpoint 7.3
Allow users to control the width of lines and characteristics of fonts for viewing and printing graphs.

Checkpoint 7.4
Provide a complete description in text for static graphs.

Checkpoint 7.5
Provide summary information about dynamic graphs.

Checkpoint 7.6
Provide alternate formats for graphs.

Technique 7.6.1
Provide tactile graphs for static graphs.

Technique 7.6.2
Provide a brief orientation in text.

Technique 7.6.3
Provide an audio equivalent to graphs.

Technique 7.6.3.1
Use tones to present an audio graph.

Technique 7.6.3.2
Provide text output of a visual graph.

Technique 7.6.3.3
Implement navigation features to allow users to explore data points while listening to a graph.

Technique 7.6.4
Provide a haptic or haptic and audible means of obtaining information conveyed in a graph.

Guideline 8
Provide access to scientific and mathematical expressions for all users with disabilities.

Checkpoint 8.1
Allow all expressions to be enlarged on screen.

Checkpoint 8.2
Ensure that users with visual impairments can read scientific and mathematical expressions and that users with visual impairments and with physical impairments can write expressions.

Technique 8.2.1
Use MathML to provide access to scientific and mathematical expressions.

Technique 8.2.2
Use LaTeX to provide access to scientific and mathematical expressions.

Technique 8.2.3
Use prerecorded audio to read static scientific and mathematical expressions.

Technique 8.2.4
Use concatenated speech strings for simple scientific and mathematical expressions.

Technique 8.2.5
Create scientific and mathematical expressions scripts using guidelines for spoken mathematics.

Appendices

Appendix 1:
Braille and Tactile Graphics Production Resources

Appendix 2:
Closed Captioning and Audio Description Resources

Appendix 3:
General Captioning Conventions

Appendix 4:
Guides to Spoken Mathematics

Acknowledgements