Definition of Accessibility
The degree to which a website is accessible is measured by how effectively a visitor can read or otherwise consume the content contained in that website. Barriers that prevent a visitor from consuming website content can be due to technology (either within the website or on the visitor's computer), physical limitations, comprehension issues or visual limitations.
The CapitalHealth.ca website was intentionally constructed to be accessible to the widest possible audience and has been audited to verify its conformance to best practices and international standards.
The body responsible for establishing international standards is the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the Worldwide Web Consortium (WC3), and the standard that they have authored is referred to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which is currently at version 1.0, with a version 2.0 on the way.
More information on the 14 checkpoints for website accessibility can be found at: http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/checkpoint-list.html
Website Features
The Capital Health website was built to specifically allow the largest possible audience to easily use the website.
Bobby/Cynthia Says/WCAG Compliance
The Capital Health website complies with the WCAG Guidelines for Priority 1 and most Priority 2 Guidelines. Bobby and Cynthia Says are 2 services that attempt to automatically measure a website's compliance with the WCAG Guidelines. However, automated services are only part of the solution. A website must be checked by a human expert to ensure that its compliance is valid.
The only significant failure point on Priority 1 of WCAG is that some HTML elements do not fully comply with the XHTML 1.1 Transitional document type specified for the website, a small technology issue caused by the content management system used on the website. This does not inhibit any users from accessing website content.
CSS Layout - Variable Font Sizing
The Capital Health website uses strict CSS 2.0 for layout, ensuring that the website is fast-loading, built for modern browsers and degrades cleanly to both older browsers and wireless browsers, allowing the largest possible audience to view the website. All text sizing is accomplished using a variable font sizing method, so that viewers who choose to use their browser text controls can increase the size of the page font to make it more readable.
The website uses markup and stylesheets for layout according to their standards.
Tabbed Navigation for Keyboard Users
Many users cannot use a mouse to navigate websites. These users include the visually impaired who do not navigate a site visually, those who do not have the motor skills required to operate a mouse and those on text-only technology who navigate the site without images. These visitors will use keyboard controls to navigate a website.
The Capital Health website is constructed with an optimized HTML structure to allow visitors not using a mouse to easily navigate the website. These visitors will be able to benefit from additional features such as Skip to Content links that only become apparent to visitors who begin to navigate the website using a keyboard.
Colour Reliance and Image Alternatives
The Capital Health website was created with colour impaired visitors in mind. The site was designed and was tested to conform to minimum contrast requirements for visitors with colourblindness or other ocular impairments that could prevent them from reading text that does not have sufficient colour contrast with the background colour of the website.
The Capital Health website uses images in a strong and effective method for communication. Where visitors cannot view images, due to visual or technological issues, alternative text is provided to ensure that the content of those images - where relevant - is communicated to the visitor. When images are disabled for any reason, the entire site was built to be fully navigable and usable.
The website never relies exclusively on colour or image to convey information.
Scripting Languages and Device Independence
The Capital Health website was created using only standard web technologies. The website requires no special scripting languages or plug-in software to navigate or use. Where Javascript has been used for enhanced features, those features are hidden when a visitor has Javascript disabled or does not have the appropriate version.
Device Independence simply refers to the idea that the Capital Health website does not require the use of any specific piece of browser software or operating system. The site can even be navigated using a wireless device (i.e. Blackberry or Palm).
Tables are Used for Tabular Data Only
Tables are not used for layout within the Capital Health website. Tables are only used to present data or information which is best displayed using columns and rows.
