Universal Design and Web Accessibility Sites

    Bruce Bailey
    Maryland State Department of Education
    Division of Rehabilitation Services
    http://www.dors.state.md.us/
    webmaster@dors.sailorsite.net
    410/554-9211

Trace Center
http://trace.wisc.edu/world/web/

World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative
http://www.w3.org/WAI/

Web Contact Accessibility Guidelines and Techniques
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/
http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT-TECHS/

http://www.w3.org/1999/05/WCAG-REC-fact
A twenty item WCAG 1.0 FAQ which, among other things, addresses two common
misconceptions: Why don't the guidelines recommend using text-only pages?
Does it cost more to make a site accessible? This page also succinctly
explains "priority/conformance levels" and other terminology/concepts as
relates to the Web Content Accessibly Guidelines.  

http://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG1-Conformance
The W3C WAI "seal of approval" icons. There is no automatic test for
conformance, you have to refer to the guideline check points.  

http://aware.hwg.org/
"AWARE stands for Accessible Web Authoring Resources and Education, and our
mission is to serve as a central resource for web authors for learning about
web accessibility." This is a deep site with almost as much content as the
W3C WAI and Trace's "Designing a More Usable World" sites. 

http://aware.hwg.org/why/
The "Why Accessibility?" pages, which, in addition to legal and moral
justifications for universal design, also includes greedy, self-serving,
capitalistic reasons! The "Web Accessibility Myths" page is also very good,
and debunks the notion that clean html design is hard.  

http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/508/memohead.html
There has been much discussion about recent amendments to section 508. This
past month (4/2/99), Janet Reno sent this "Memorandum for the Heads of All
Federal Agencies" regarding the implications of 508 on Federal "Electronic
and Information Technology". Useful related links are included on this page.
The bullet: Federal Agencies have one year to figure out how their computers,
web site, and related technology are going to become universally accessible.
The implication: As go the FEDs, so goes the state government. Federal
contractors also need to comply. Eventually, so will go all business that
deal with state or federal government organizations. This is ADA for
information age people!