WiscIT News

MIDWEST - Workshop - Tools and Techniques for Accessible Web Content: ARIA, AJAX and MORE at UW-Madi

Posted: 2007-07-19 03:54:12   Expiration: 2007-08-26 03:54:12

Disclaimer: This news item was originally posted on 2007-07-19 03:54:12. Its content may no longer be timely or accurate.

Discover why some AJAX techniques are not accessible and how we might make progress, how this is critical for Web 2.0, and learn how to use the emerging W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA).

DATE/TIME: Friday, August 10, 2007, 9 am – 3 pm
LOCATION: Memorial Library, Room 126, UW-Madison

Register to attend (no fee)

or you can cut and paste the following url into your browser to register: https://websurvey.wisc.edu/survey/TakeSurvey.asp?AI=1&SurveyID=7MI6644M9o5LMl5

Definitions:
ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications)
AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) interactive Web Applications
Web 2.0 refers to second generation of web-based communities and hosted services — such as social-networking sites, weblogs, RSS feeds, wikis and other forms of publishing, which facilitate collaboration and sharing between users.

FEATURING: Dr. Jon Gunderson, Director of IT Accessibility Services at University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.

AJAX has taken off with lightening speed, and we have read frequently that it’s not very accessible. We have choices:

1. Let people with disabilities behind or cope with the current state of affairs.
2. Accept that it’s not accessible and go back to pre-AJAX methods (and let the world pass us by) or,
3. Learn why some AJAX techniques are not accessible and how we might make progress. If you’re interested in this choice, keep reading.

Attend this workshop (no fee) designed for web developers to learn how to use the emerging W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) recommendations to create accessible Web 2.0 applications.

Participants will learn about the accessibility issues faced by people with disabilities in using the web, and how web resources can be designed to improve accessibility using the ARIA web standards.

Participants will learn about the W3C Roles for ARIA and States and Properties Module for ARIA specifications for making web 2.0 widgets compatible with assistive technologies through ARIA support in Mozilla Firefox browser and assistive technologies like WindowEyes and JAWS screen readers.

Participants will build and test the accessible Web 2.0 widgets using a best practices model and learn about compatibility issues related to supporting ARIA widgets with Microsoft Internet Explorer and creating valid HTML documents.

Participant Skills Participants should have web development experience with html, css and javascript technologies. Participants will program and test the accessibility of web widgets created using the new ARIA technology.

This workshop is funded and co-sponsored by:
MIDWEST Alliance in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and
Technology Accessibility Program, Division of Information Technology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

For additional information or directions, contact Alice Anderson at email: alice.anderson@doit.wisc.edu, or telephone 608.262.2129

-- Alice Anderson