Knowbility, Inc.

Knowbility, Inc.

Written by Mark Collins Sunday, 07 October 2007

Making the Web accessible to everyone

Knowbility is a non-profit organization with a mission to make technology accessible to people with disabilities.

“We put usability features in the Web site, and everybody is better off,” Director of Knowbility special projects Annie Hudson said. “It’s more usable, more efficient; it just works better.”

The organization started in 1999 with the inception of the first Accessibility Internet Rally. AIR begins with local non-profit agencies that are in need of a Web site or would like to have their site retrofitted to be accessible. A challenge is then issued to local Web developers to see who can create the most accessible Web site.

Knowbility gives the developers the tools and training needed to create an accessible Web site and then pairs them with a non-profit for a 10-day planning period. After the planning period, the teams come together for one day of hard work to create the most accessible Web site.

“Sharron Rush, Knowbility executive director and co-founder, realized how important this was and wondered how we could get everybody in the tech community to learn this stuff, so she made it into a friendly competition,” Hudson said.

Teams are judged using a seven-page scoring checklist that awards points in four different categories. Basic accessibility and usability covers issues like correct spelling, functioning links and a well-designed site map. Advanced Accessibility awards points for making plug-ins, video and audio more accessible.

The success of AIR has helped the event spread to other cities including Houston, San Antonio, San Francisco and Boston. In 2007, the top teams from Austin, San Antonio and Houston will compete the second week of November to see who has the most accessible city.

Knowbility also recently launched a “mystery shopping” program to help national Web sites become more accessible. Knowbility hires local people with disabilities to go online and shop. Their shopping experience is then rated, and a report is sent to the company.

The goal is not only to help retailers improve their online shopping experience and make it more accessible, but also to provide employment for people with disabilities.

So far, Knowbility has helped Travelocity, The Kennedy Center and Dell create more accessible sites, according to Hudson. Knowbility hopes that accessibility will one day be standard in Web development.

“An accessible Web site is the most usable Web site for everyone,” said Hudson.

Examples of accessibility: alt tags

An alt tag is added to a graphic to show alternate text when the image cannot be seen or for people using assistive technology. The alt tag describes the object or image meaning. According to Kim Hudson, the important part of accessibility is not only making sure all objects on a page have alt tags, but that the text is meaningful.

For example, the code for the image at right would be:

<img src = “blackshirts.jpg” alt = “knowbility group in black shirts” >

Knowbility, Inc., 3925 W. Braker Lane, 3rd Floor, 305-0310, www.knowbility.org

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