Joomla! Accessibility

Joshue O Connor

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781847194084
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Informatique
• Subtopic: Technologies de l'information

In Detail

Understanding how to create accessible websites is an essential skill these days . You may even be obliged by law to create websites that are usable by the widest audience, including people with a range of disabilities.

This book looks at what accessibility is and the various reasons, such as legislative or legal, as to why you really need to understand accessibility and then create websites that can be used by everyone.

This book therefore examines the diverse range of user requirements that need to be considered for humans to successfully use web technologies.

If you have no experience of being around, or working with, people with disabilities then it can be very difficult to successfully design user interfaces that cover their needs. This book will show you how you can both understand some of the various needs of people with disabilities and the technology they use to interact with computers and the Web.

This book provides a short, practical guide to ensure that your Joomla! web site is accessible and usable by the widest audience.

Approach

This is a practical book that contains many step-by-step examples for the reader to get their teeth into. Primarily, the book is designed to help the reader gain a deeper understanding of Joomla! and accessibility, but it can also be read as an introduction to assistive technology, disability, and the diversity of user requirements.

The book also attempts to de-mystify accessibility and take it off the theoretical platform and firmly root it in the real world with tangible benefits for users of Joomla!.

Who this book is for

This book is a guide to any Joomla! user who wants to make their sites more accessible and the author does assume that you have a basic working knowledge of Joomla!. You don't need to know anything about accessibility -- the author tells you all that you need to know to make your Joomla! sites accessible to the widest audience.

While some design skills and technical knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP will be very useful you will still benefit from reading this book if you wish to understand more about assistive technology and the needs of people with disabilities. The book is distilled from years of hands on experience that the author has as a web developer and also working with people with disabilities.

Joomla! Accessibility

Joshue O Connor

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Table of Contents

Joomla! Accessibility

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

What This Book Covers

Who is This Book for

Conventions

Reader Feedback

Customer Support

Errata

Questions

1. Why be Accessible?

Defining Accessibility

Understanding Your Users

Dealing with Change

Think Different

What Are the Benefits of Accessibility?

Accessibility Legislation

Irish Legislation

Accessible Procurement

Laws and Public Policies in Other Countries

UK Legislation

The US and Section 508/504

So What's the Big Deal with 508?

The European Union (EU) and e-Accessibility

eEurope Action Plan

e-Inclusion Policy

European Policy and the Future

So What Does It All Mean to You?

Summary

2. Understanding Accessibility

What Will Joomla! Not Do?

Usability

User Testing

Using Personas

Building Personas

Understanding Accessibility

Being Accessible Doesn't Hurt

WCAG 1.0

Differences Between WCAG 1.0 and WCAG 2.0

Principle 1—Content Must be Perceivable (P)

Principle 2—Interface Elements must be Operable (O)

Principle 3—Content and Controls must be Understandable (U)

Principle 4—Content Should be Robust Enough to Work with Current and Future Technologies (R)

Understanding WCAG

Summary

3. Understanding Disability and Assistive Technology (AT)

Blindness

Visual Impairment

Glaucoma

Macular Degeneration

Retinopathy

Detached Retina

Physical Disabilities

Cognitive Disabilities

Assistive Technology (AT)

What is a Screen Reader?

Screen Magnification

Switch Access

How Do Switches Work?

Mouse Emulation

Useful Tools for Developers

Web Accessibility Tools Consortium (WAT-C)

Mozilla Web Developer Toolbar

Sitting Comfortably? Then we'll Begin

Exercise 1—"No Frills" Browsing

If You are Using Firefox

Internet Explorer

ActiveX

Disabling JavaScript and Java in IE

Flash content

Mouse Free Zone

The Acid Test

Finally—Was It Good for You?

Try it yourself

Exercise 2—Turn Off Your Display

Summary

4. Creating Accessible Content

Describe What it is, Not How it Looks

All the (X)HTML You Need in Two Minutes

Using Headings to Communicate Structure

Time For Action—Let's Add Some Content

What Just Happened?

Time for Action—Adding Headings with WYSIWYG

What Just Happened?

Time for Action—Adding Headings by Editing the HTML

Add Frequent Headings to Assist the Screen Reader

How to Use Different Levels of Headings

Another Important Element

Lists

Time for Action—Adding Lists

What Just Happened?

Make Images Accessible

Description Anxiety

Time for Action—Adding Alternate Text to an Image

What Just Happened?

Choosing Good Alternate Text for Images

What is Good Alternate Text?

Ignoring Purely Decorative Images

Charts, Graphs, and Infographics

Describing Photographs

Time for action—Using longdesc

What Just Happened?

Good Link Text Assists Accessibility

Creating Accessible Tables

The Trouble with Tables

Time for Action—Create an Accessible Table (Part 1)

What Just Happened?

Time for Action—Create an Accessible Table (Part 2)

What Just Happened?

Does it Work?

Time for Action—Create an Accessible Table (Part 3)

Putting it All Together

What Just Happened?

Does Joomla! Have Good Table Manners?

Summary

5. Creating Accessible Templates

Understanding How Joomla! Templates Work

Separation Anxiety—Layout Tables, HTML, and CSS

Joomla! 1.0 Used Tables for Layout, So What's the Problem?

Why Are Tables Bad for Layout?

Building a Standards-Compliant Joomla! Template from Scratch

What Modules Do I Need?

Color scheme

Ensure Good Color Contrast for Your Site

Icons and Graphics

Create a Mock Up If Possible

Roll Your Own Accessible Joomla! Template

Using Dreamweaver

Set Up FTP Server Connection to Your Local Host

Create a Template for Your Template

A Few More Steps, Before We Get Going with Coding Our New Template

Selecting Your Template

Choosing the Correct DOCTYPE

What's up DOC?

XHTML Rules

Just One More Thing

Putting It All Together

Basic Template Layout

CSS Scaffolding

My CSS Layout

Just Before We Add Any Content Modules

Adding Content Modules

Module Options

Finishing the Template

Advantages of Joomla! Templates

Editing Joomla! Templates

Resizable Text

How to Make Sure That Text Will Resize

Without a Mouse

Highlighting Links

Some Basic Link Styles

Skip Navigation

Accessible Templates

Summary

6. Using XStandard to Create Accessible Content

Choosing Your Editor

The XStandard Interface

Styles Menu

Tool buttons

View modes

Browser Preview

Screen Reader Preview

Help

Context Menu

Removing The "Noise" From Markup

Using Correct Markup

Relative Values

Decorative Versus Non-decorative Images

Data Tables

Create a Table

Edit Tables Using the Table Properties Dialog Box

Edit Tables Using the Context Menu

Abbreviations

Screen Reader Preview

What is Screen Reader Preview?

Using the Screen Reader Preview

Interface Accessibility

Keyboard Shortcuts

More Tiny MCE

Summary

Index

Joomla! Accessibility

Copyright © 2007 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: October 2007

Production Reference: 1231007

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

32 Lincoln Road

Olton

Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-847194-08-4

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by Vinayak Chittar (<[email protected]>)

Credits

Author

Joshue O Connor

Reviewers

Niko Kotiniemi

Joseph LeBlanc

Senior Acquisition Editor

David Barnes

Development Editor

Mithil Kulkarni

Technical Editor

Akshara Aware

Editorial Manager

Dipali Chittar

Project Manager

Abhijeet Deobhakta

Project Coordinator

Abhijeet Deobhakta

Indexer

Monica Ajmera

Proofreader

Damian Carvill

Production Coordinator

Aparna Bhagat

Cov...