CWDO Accessibility Statement
We are committed to ensuring that our website is accessible to everyone. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding the accessibility of this site, please use our Contact Form, as we are continually striving to improve the experience for all of our visitors. This site is entirely created by volunteers and we are always looking for more hands and help with the site’s management. If you have any Drupal expertise or identify any issues that are problematic, please contact us using the CWDO Contact Form.
Standards compliance
1. All pages on this site make every effort to follow priorities 1 & 2 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 and attempt to achieve a double A conformance level with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0.
2. All pages on this site validate as HTML 5.
3. All pages on this site use structured semantic markup. H1 tags are used for the content area of the page, H2 tags are used for main titles, H3 tags for subtitles. For example, on this page, JAWS users can skip to the next section within the accessibility statement by pressing 2. Opera users can skip sections by using “S” and “W” to cycle forwards and backwards respectively through headings.
Structural Markup
Web pages on cwdo.org include 4 different areas:
1. A header bar,
2. main content area,
3. A “side bar” that includes the main navigation,
4. A footer.
When CSS (Cascading Styles Sheet) are not applied to a document (or when using a screen reader), the 4 areas are read in the above order.
HTML5 landmarks
The CWDO website makes use of some of the new html5 markup that enhances the identification of major sections and roles on each page. A screen reader will identify major landmarks on the page such as the content area, navigation mechanisms and the search area. JAWS users can use the “;” key to navigate through these sections..
Access Keys
Because of the way that browsers have implemented the access key attribute inconsistently, unfortunately, access keys often clash with keys set aside for use with other User Agentss (i.e. assistive technology). For this reason, we have decided to not set default access keys
Images
1. Unless they are purely decorative items, all images used on this web site have suitable alt attributes.
2. Content should be usable/accessible with images “off” (disabled).
3. The main navigation bar on this site uses an Image Replacement technique that makes the links accessible to non-visual browsers.
Links
1. Many links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target.
2. Every effort is made to have Links written to make sense out of context, when this is not possible textually or does not make sense when written in this form, than a title attribute or other type of navigational aid is added to create context.
3. The first link in every document is a “SkipNav”; it is to skip directly to what is considered the main section of the page (the content). We have implemented this feature in a way that it allows Internet Explorer users to tab through (past that target link).
4. URLs are permanent whenever possible.
Forms
1. All form controls are appropriately and explicitly labeled.
2. Form validation routine does not rely on client-side script.
Scripts
1. We are using non obtrusive client-side scripts.
2. Content of this web site is usable without JavaScript support.
Visual design
1. This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout.
2. This site uses only relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified “text size” option in visual browsers.
3. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.
4. Any information conveyed through the use of color is also available without color (i.e. text based).
- A “resize” widget has not been added to this site; however, all the functionality that would be provided by such a widget is already built into all major browsers
How to modify this site to fit your needs
These links explain the many ways you can make the web more accessible to you. (more instructions will be added regularly)
Software to improve Accessibility for visitors of the CWDO website
1. System Access, a screen reader for Windows. A fully functional free version and downloadable demo of the full product are available.
2. NVDA a free open source screen reader
3. JAWS, a screen reader for Windows. A time-limited, downloadable demo is available.
4. Links, a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth.
5. Opera, a visual browser with many accessibility-related features, including text zooming, user stylesheets, image toggle. A free downloadable version is available. Compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and several other operating systems.
Accessibility & Related resources
1. WebAIM, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving accessibility to online learning materials.
2. W3 accessibility guidelines, which explains the reasons behind each guideline.
3. W3 accessibility techniques, which explains how to implement each guideline.
4. W3 accessibility checklist, a busy developer’s guide to accessibility.