Program Summary

This program provides the fundamentals of web design and development in order to create effective, accessible and visually stimulating web sites with Section 508 compliance.

Program Agenda

The course addresses the following Web Accessibility and Design principles: integration of accessibility, usability and aesthetic enrichment. The instruction includes the application of widely accepted design techniques for generating accessible content. The topics are reinforced by instructor examples and by open-forum critique sessions with students.The third course hour introduces students to specific disability-related issues of web use, along with forms of assistive technology (AT) used to address these issues on the web. This material will build on the previous hour by addressing how designing for AT effects decisions of simplicity versus enrichment. Hour three:In the fourth hour, students learn how to validate web pages for accessibility through automated and manual methods. To consolidate their learning, they also examine and critique web sites per the Section 508 guidelines. Hour four:

• A Brief History of Accessible Web Design - provides students with a perspective on current practices;
• Web Accessibility Laws - addresses policy issues and the applicability of laws to web sites; helps students understand when and how they must comply; examines the legal ramifications of non-compliance;
• Web Accessibility Guidelines - students learn about Section 508 and W3C guidelines, with an emphasis on when and how to apply each standard.
  Course demonstrations reinforce "best-practices" behaviors for techniques utilizing 508 and W3C guidelines for compliant web content.
• Simplicity versus Enrichment - how far to go with accessibility versus aesthetic design; knowing the audience and site goals; letting the content drive the accessibility efforts;
• The Designer's Challenge - six principles for universal design; visual and experiential appeal for all abilities; elimination or reduction of Rich Content Delivery; maintaining privacy and security;
• Information Architecture - learning the end-user experience and designing for ease of use and customizability; essential methods to combine accessibility, usability and aesthetics; creation of a site analysis.
• Types of Disabilities - how different forms of disabilities can effect web use; case studies of each type of disability; how to design to accommodate each type of disability;
• Types of Assistive Technology - AT to address the needs of users on the web; built-in accessibility features versus third-party AT; how to design sites to take advantage of AT.
• Review of Course Material - how to use this course material as a coherent web design plan; Section 508 case studies - successes and failures.

Program Instructors

Jennifer Bilotta is a graphic designer for Georgia Tech’s Interactive Media Technology Center (IMTC). Jennifer is currently lead developer of a major web accessibility initiative at IMTC (IMTC recently received funding from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. The 5-year, 5 million dollar grant was given in order to create a new Rehabilitation Research Engineering Center for Mobile Wireless Technologies for Persons with Disabilities.) In addition to web accessibility training and dissemination outreach for web accessibility, her research includes efforts in the field of cognitive prosthetics & human-computer interaction (HCI) in collaboration with the Shepherd Center. Jennifer received a BFA in digital multimedia design from the Atlanta College of Art and Design and is currently enrolled in the Information Design and Technology Master of Science program at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Robert L. Todd is an Information Architect and Research Scientist at Georgia Tech’s Center for Assistive Technology and Environmental Access. He holds a M.S. degree in Information, Design and Technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, as well as a M.S. degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. Mr. Todd has over a decade of experience in addressing accessibility issues for people with disabilities. He is the project director of assistivetech.net, a U.S. Dept of Education national Internet site on assistive technologies and disability resources. His current focus of research is in methodologies to synthesize usability, accessibility and aesthetic practices in Web design to create the most effective designs for all people.