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Basic Information Technology Terminology. Kevin Price Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access (CATEA) Georgia Institute of Technology. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
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Basic Information Technology Terminology Kevin Price Center for Assistive Technology & Environmental Access (CATEA) Georgia Institute of Technology
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) • International consortium where industry organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards • Develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential. www.w3c.org
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) • Project of the W3C, which focuses on developing strategies, guidelines, and resources to help make the Web accessible to people with disabilities. • Protocols and Formats Working Group (PFWG) • Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG) • Authoring Tool Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG) • User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG) • Evaluation and Repair Tools Working Group (ERT WG)
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) • Developed by WAI of the W3C • 1.0 current; 2.0 last call working draft by 5/31/06 • 3 voluntary compliance or priority levels A- Level 1 AA – Level 2 AAA – Level 3 www.w3c.org/wai/
Section 508 • Federal departments must: • Accommodate employees with disabilities. • Design accessible websites. • Procure accessible information technology. • U.S. Dept. of Ed letter interpreted Section 508 applicable to state entities, including some public colleges and universities. • Not tied in with Federal funding. www.section508.gov
Markup or Code • General term to describe the programming behind the web page.
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) • Programming language in which most web pages are written. • Web browsers interupt to display web pages.
XML, PHP, Cold Fusion • Other types of programming languages. • Each has their own distinct code. • Some are “server-side” languages which require specialized technology on the “back-end” to translate into HTML, which is then sent to the user’s web browser.
Tags • “Behind the scenes” framework for a web page i.e. headings, lists, links, paragraphs • All have starting <tag> • Most, but not all have ending </tag> • Start and end tags create elements.
Framework <Tags> of HTML Webpage <html> <head> <title>Name for Document</title> </head> <body> Content goes here </body> </html>
Hypertext • Most web sites utilize, which includes links to other pages.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL) • Address of any given page. • http://www.sedbtac.org/ • Used in the creation and navigation of hypertext.
Skip-nav • Link that enables users to skip over navigation links and directly access the content. • Helps users of screen readers, low vision, small screen devices, and keyboard-only access • Specifically required by Section 508. • Examples: • How skip-nav works: www.catea.org/grade/legal/ • Skip-nav link display using css: www.adagame.org/
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) • Separate file that is a set of instructions which tell how to display a given webpage (in terms of text fonts, colors, etc.) • Separates content from presentation. • Require by 508 and WCAG to test if web page is readable with style sheets “off” • CSS In Action: www.csszengarden.com
Alt-text • Text read or displayed if images unavailable due to disability or technology. • Typically seen by visual users when a pointing device (i.e. mouse) is placed over an image. Federal Court Concepts
Multimedia • Any file format or application that uses sound and/or video.
Applet • A program running or embedded within a web application, such as Java or Flash.
Plug-in • Any software program a user needs to download in order to run a file, such as Flash or PDF.
Tables • Two kinds of tables used in web applications: • Layout tables • Data tables • Standards apply to these types of tables which convey or contain information.
Courseware • Software products used to provide content in a consistent manner. • Blackboard • WebCT
Frames • Basically, multiple web pages within one web page. • May or may not be visible as “frames”. • Some courseware utilizes, i.e. Web CT and Blackboard. • Example: http://www.hyperorg.com/misc/DoubleTreeShow_files/frame.html