Web Access Centre

Glossary

Summary: Accessible web design glossary.

• A - B
• C - E
• F - L
• M - R
• S - T
• U - X

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A - B

Accessibility - Accessibility is the measure of how well a website is designed to be viewed and used by everyone regardless of ability or disability. An accessible website ensures that all visitors have the same experience whether they use assistive technology or not.

Assistive technology - A specialised piece of equipment or software which is used by someone with a disability to improve their ability to use a computer. Types of assistive technology include screen readers, refreshable braille displays, screen magnifiers, voice recognition, closed captioning, alternative keyboards and mice.

Auditory impairment - A broad term used to describe many different conditions from having difficulty with hearing to being completely deaf. They require visual representations (captions or transcripts) of information contained in audio files.

Bobby – A software tool which can be used to evaluate the accessibility of a website. Websites which have met the requirements often display the "Bobby approved" badge. Bobby is owned by Watchfire.

Braille display - A piece of hardware assistive technology which interprets the contents of a web page into braille language which can then be read by a blind and partially sighted person. It works in the same way as a screen reader does, but instead of audio the output is to a device which raises and lowers dots. The person using it places their fingertips on these dots to read them.

C - E

Closed caption - A text transcript of the audio content in video clip which is embedded into the video file itself by the author. The transcript is synchronised with the actions in the video. This is particularly useful to allow someone with a hearing impairment to access video content.

Cognitive impairment - A broad term used to describe many different conditions which cause someone mild to severe difficulty in understanding or processing information. This can be include more slowly than average. These people may require information to be presented in multiple formats (see and hear it for example) before they completely understand it. See also: Learning Disabilities

CSS- Cascading Style Sheets. Also frequently referred to as Style Sheets. A language which can be embedded into web pages to provide visual formatting. Intended to replace deprecated formatting tags and attributes in HTML.

DDA - Disability Discrimination Act (1995). Legislation introduced in the United Kingdom to tackle the discrimination that people with disabilities encounter. Particularly significant because it specifically applies to websites and requires that owners and designers provide equal access to information and services to everyone, regardless of disability.

Depreciated HTML – HTML that will eventually not be supported by future versions of browsers.

F - L

Flash – Flash, developed by Macromedia, creates animated images and applications for the web. The release of Flash MX 2004 has a lot of accessibility features built in.

Graceful degradation - Coding to a certain standard that will ensure a web page is accessible and able to be used through any type of browser, such as on a PC, Mac, handheld device or mobile phone.

HTML - Hyper Text Markup Language. Used to structure and present information on web pages. By far the most common markup language used on the web.

Information architecture - The structure and organisation of content and services that a website contains to ensure they are as efficient and effective.

Intranet - A type of network which tends to by used by companies to provide access to and share information with members of the organisation. Intranets are similar to the internet itself, but private and secured against unauthorised access.

JAWS - A widely used screen reader developed by Freedom Scientific.

Linearity - The process by which some types of assistive technology such as screen readers or text browsers read the contents of a page, from left to right, and top to bottom. It is important to note that they follow the order of the way the page is coded, not the way it appears on screen.

M - R

Markup - The tagging of information that describes how it is structured, laid out and formatted on a web page by a markup language, such as HTML.

Mobility impairment - A broad term used to describe many different conditions which limit someone's physical movement or ability to perform actions. For example, they may not be able to use a mouse or a keyboard. Assistive technologies and adaptations can be used to compensate and allow them to control their computer.

PDF - Portable Document Format is a file format created by Adobe. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required to be able to view or use PDF document. This software is available as a free download from Adobe. PDF's have become popular as a format for publishing documents on the web. This is mainly because they will visually display on a monitor in exactly the same as the author intended, assuming they have installed the Reader first.

Plugin - A piece of software that has to be installed on a visitors computer before they can access certain content or perform a certain action on a website. Examples include Adobe Acrobat reader to read PDF's and Macromedia Flash to be able to access Flash content or functionality.

Refreshable braille display - See braille display

S - T

Screen magnification - A piece of software that magnifies a computer screen up to a level that is suitable for someone with a sight problem, such as low or blurred vision.

Screen reader - A piece of software which reads the contents of a web page aloud. Commonly used by people with sight problems which prevent them being able to see or use a computer screen.

Section 508 - American legislation which is part of their Rehabilitation Act, 1973. It applies only American Federal Government agencies. It requires that they ensure any information technology which is bought, owned, used or developed by them, must be accessible to people with disabilities.

SENDA - Special Educational Needs Discrimination Act. Legislation Introduced in the United Kingdom to include educational establishments that were previously exempt from the Disability Discrimination Act (1995).

Speech output - See screen reader

Style Sheets - See CSS.

Text to speech - Software which is used to convert text on a web page into audio output. It is not the same as a screen reader because it tends to have very limited abilities and is not sufficiently sophisticated.

Transform gracefully – a term that refers to an HTML page being able fit all resolutions and types of browsers without losing or confusing the presentation of information.

U - X

Usability - Making a website usable means ensuring that it is designed to be as user friendly and simple to use as possible.

Visual impairment - A broad term used to describe a condition which limits someone's ability to use their visual senses, and makes them rely more heavily other senses to compensate, such as hearing and touch. Most commonly used to describe blindness, but it also can refer to colour blindness and low or blurred vision.

Voice recognition - A combination of hardware and software which allows someone to control their computer and it's programs simply by using their voice to dictate commands into a microphone.

W3C - World Wide Web Consortium. An independent body who set standards for development of the internet and it's associated technology.

WAI - Web Accessibility Initiative. The W3C's standards and guidelines for creating accessible websites.

WindowEyes - A popular screen reader used by people with site problems.  

XHTML - eXtensible Hyper Text Markup Language. Used to structure and present information on web pages. The successor to HTML.

For Web Access Centre updates email webaccess@rnib.org.uk

Content author: webaccess@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 21/07/2008 14:10