Accessibility Standards

WHAT IS ACCESSIBILITY?

The key to web accessibility is flexibility and ease of use in navigation and information seeking. When flexibility is part of design and not an afterthought the user is provided with options to "surf" the web based on the tools available for productivity. For students with disabilities that may include tools known as "assistive technology."

Screen reader software for users with visual impairments
Screen enlarger software for users with low vision
Text to voice software programs for users with learning disabilities
Speech recognition software for users with mobility impairments
Input devices such as trackballs and other ergonomic furniture enhancements

Designing web sites with accessibility in mind, not only benefits users with a disability it also provides improved performance and usability for non-disabled users. Not everyone has access to high speed connections. Downloading heavy graphic and multimedia enhanced pages can be frustrating for the most savvy user of the Internet. Frustration leads to closing the website or incomplete information gathering if the site is used for instructional purposes. Participation in today's society is through the exchange of information and flexible presentation of that information, which is critical to one's success.

WEB ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS

Santa Barbara City College web standards support the principle of "Universal Design" which promotes a high degree of usability for people with visual, hearing, physical, language and cognitive disabilities. Guidelines are in accordance with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) developed by the W3C Consortium.

Santa Barbara City College follows Priority One of the W3C web accessibility guidelines.

Section 508 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, mandates that electronic and information technology be usable by persons with disabilities. One component of the technical standards requires accessibility of web pages. See Chancellor's Office legal opinion.

Santa Barbara City College follows 508 web standards.

ACCESSIBILITY IS ACHIEVED THROUGH:

Compliance with guidelines and 508 standards.
Testing pages in development with different browsers.
Testing pages in development with assistive technology.
Validation of web page using code validators and web accessibility checkers.