Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Layout
  3. Information
  4. Facilities
  5. Checks
  6. References

Accessibility statement

Introduction

The accessibility of the Oralux.org website is naturally a key point for us. In fact, we enjoy the accessibility approach.

One responsibility: removing the technical barriers so that our visitors may get the information on the site. Even if she relies on other devices than e.g. a screen or a mouse.

We are aware that some layouts may build a very high barrier for some visitors or for ourselves.

Thus, we rely on cascading style sheets (CSS) for layout and these style sheets are stored in separate files. The information concern the xhtml files.

Layout

Here are our choices:
We do not use frame.
We do not use table for layout.
And we rely on pure CSS.

Information

Information are reachable even if javascript or styles sheets are disable.
Use the simplest possible vocabulary
Propose if possible the information in the visitor's preferred language
About semantic markup
The tag has a meaning, and doesn't concern layout. For example, h1 is for indicating a main header and not for displaying bold characters, blockquote is for quoting not for indenting, and so on...
lang attribute
If a piece of text is written in another language, we have to indicate it thanks to the lang attribute. For example: in the case where the current text is in French and a few words are in English: <span lang="en">Web Accessibility Initiative</span>. These are important information for the voice synthesis.
hreflang attribute
If a link points to a document written in another language than the current one, we indicate it thanks to the hreflang attribute. For example: in the case where the current text is in French and the link concerns an English document: <a href="http://document" hreflang="en" lang="en">Web Accessibility Initiative</span>
Abbreviation or acronym
The abbreviation (e.g. HTML) or the acronym (e.g. FAQ) is clearly explained in plain text the first time it appears in the page. For example: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). We do not rely on the abbr or acronym elements.
The <br /> tag
We avoid this tag. If there is a need to create a newline, then a new paragraph <p> is added.

Facilities

Javascript may be used. The site must be usable without it.

Checks

When a page is added or updated, the following tests are checked by the Oralux.org team.

  1. Spell check
  2. Test the html links
  3. Valid XHTML 1.0 strict thanks to the W3C Validator
  4. Valid CSS thanks to the W3C CSS Validator
  5. Test with Emacspeak and w3m (GNU/Linux)
  6. Test with IE6 (MS-Windows)
  7. Test with Yasr and Links (GNU/Linux)
  8. Test with Mozilla (GNU/Linux)
  9. We hope to reach the level triple A conformance to WCAG 1.0 (with Cynthia says)

References

A few links coming from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI):
People in a hurry may want to read the quick tips.
The reference document Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0)