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Accessibility glossary

• Accessibility - the quality of a website (or any entity) that makes it usable by the largest audience possible, regardless of disability.
• ADA - a United States law passed in 1990 that prohibits discrimination against people with disabilities.
• Adaptive Technology - technology used to adapt an already existing computer device or piece of software. A Head Pointer is an example device that allows a person with a limited mobility to use the computer.
• AIAP - technology under development by the V2 committee of the National Committee on Information Technology; it will allow a user to get web pages in the form they choose for the device they choose.
• alt text - an attribute allows descriptive text to be inserted into HTML to describe objects on a web page (these objects are usually images). alt text provides a text description that can be read out by a screen reader so that a person with visual impairment can understand the purpose of the objects.
• Applet - A Java program or application that is embedded in a web page to provide extra functionality.
• Assistive Technology - equipment or software that assists people with disabilities in performing every-day activities. Examples include screen readers and voice input software.

• Biometrics - the practice of automatically identifying people by bodily characteristics.
• Bobby - a website accessibility assessment tool developed by CAST (See CAST below), located at Bobby (opens a new window)
• Browser - the software on a computer that allows websites to be rendered so they can be displayed to users. There are two types of visual browsers (some, like Internet Explorer, render content visually while others, like Lynx, are text-only) but others exist, some produce voice output.

• CSS - a means of applying styling / formatting to markup to a web page. This has many advantages, for a start, CSS formatting is more powerful, and allows more flexibility. Secondly, CSS separates design from content, therefore making the content more accessible. Site owners can use a style sheet to allow the text on a website bigger, for the benefit of people with visual impairment.
• CAST - This organisation developed the website accessibility checker Bobby (opens a new window)
• CC/PP - CC/PP profiles are a method that allows a description of device capabilities and user preferences to be delivered to a web site, so that content can be adapted suit.

• DDA - a name shared by two laws passed in Australia (1992) and the United Kingdom (1995). They both prohibit discrimination against people with disabilities.
• Digital Divide - the gap that exists between those who have access to Electronic and Information Technology, and those who do not.
• Disability - a physical or mental impairment that renders tasks performed by an individual more difficult or impossible to achieve.
• D-LINK - a link that takes the form of a capital D near an image. It provides a longer description of the image or its purpose than is feasible using alt text.
• DTD - a file that defines how applications interpreting a document should present the content. It is used in HTML, XML, and other markup languages.

• EIT - this term encompasses any number of devices and device types. It is basically any device or technology that uses electronic means to transmit and present information to the user. Examples include computers, PDA's, cell / mobile phones, information kiosks, televisions, and many other devices.

• Frames - an HTML feature that allows a web author to divide a page into two or more separate windows. Each frame requires a <title > element, or the <title > element is not meaningful, causing accessibility issues. Some browsers do not support frames. For these accesibility reasons, frames should be avoided.

• Head Pointer - a device attached to the user's head, that allows them to move the pointer on the screen.
• HTML - the markup language that is used to create web pages. The standards of HTML are controlled by the W3C.

• Image Maps - areas of an image on a web page that have links to other areas of the Web.
• ICT - Information and Communication Technology - a generic name for all the technologies involved in communicating with computers.

• Java - Java is an object-orientated programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. It can be used to create applications that run on a single computer, or distributed among several computers in a network. It is also used to write applets.
• JavaScript - a scripting language used on web pages. It has many uses, including validating fields in a form, or writing information to the user's screen, or creating calculators. It is a client side technology that operates on the users computer once it has been downloaded with the web page.

• Lynx - a text-only browser that is popular amongst Unix users. It is commonly used by people with disabilities and is for those who have a low bandwidth connection as it avoids downloading graphics. Download your copy of Lynx

• Multimedia - using a computer to present multiple types of media simultaneously, in an integrated manner. These can include sound, graphics, video, text, animation, or any other form of information representation.

• On Screen Keyboard - a keyboard that appears on screen so a user who cannot use their hands can use an Assistive Technology (such as a Head Pointer) to enter keyboard input.

• PDF - this was developed by Adobe Systems Inc, as a way to publish documents electronically, with a standard formatting for printing, and document security (documents are generally read-only). Recently Adobe has made large strides in making the PDF format accessible to people with disabilities.
• Plugin - a module (usually a third party software upgrade although it can be a hardware device) that adds a special feature to your software. For example the plug-in that allows browsers to display Flash content.

• Screen Magnifier - a device (or software) that will make images and text on a screen larger for the benefit of the visually impaired.
• Screen Reader - a computer program that reads the screen to a user. It can be used to surf the Web.
• Section 508 - this is a shortened reference to Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (US). This is a law that basically says all Electronic and Information Technology purchased or developed by the US Government must be accessible to people with disabilities.
• SMIL - a markup language under development by the W3C that will allow web developers to separate the content of multimedia into distinct files and transmission streams such as text, image, audio, and video. They can then be sent to the user's computer separately, reassembled and displayed as intended.
• Spacer Images - also called spacer GIFS. These are small transparent images placed on a page, usually in a table to used layout. These are generally not good from a usability perspective as they are graphics used simply as spacers.
• Style Guide - a Style Guide is a document that sets out the rules for your website. Accessibility rules and standards can be included in this Style Guide ensuring that accessibility becomes embedded as part of a website.
• Stylesheets - see Cascading Stylesheets and Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL).
• SVG - a language for vector graphics coded in XML. XML documents can have graphics placed directly into the document, with many advantages - SVG produces graphics that are smaller, transmit more quickly, are scaleable without loss of resolution, can have searchable text labels, and allow links to part of an image. SVG is being developed by the W3C.

• Text Equivalent - this term is used to describe the technique of providing a text alternative that will be the same in both content and function as a non-text object on a webpage. This is an unfortunate trend as it leads to parallel development and causes content to fall out of sync, as both the text alternative and the 'real' page need to remain updated. Commercial factors make this scenario difficult to maintain as there are both time and costs associated with this strategy. Web sites should build content that is accessible from the beginning and as such reduce costs and increase market share.
• Text Only Browser - a browser that does not show images. It does not have images turned off; rather it just doesn't display them, i.e Lynx (opens a new window)

• Universal Access - the idea that all things (on the Internet) should be accessible by the largest audience possible, regardless of disability, location, device, or speed of connection to the Internet.
• Universal Device - Designing for the largest audience possible regardless of disability or ability to speak the native language. This is a process rather than an end in itself.
• Usability - the idea that a website or webpage is easily used by any web user.
• UCD - the design process that places the user at the centre of the design rather than the object to be designed.
• UCDUIML - User Interface Markup Language - unlike many markup languages UIML is not used to describe documents, rather it is used to describe elements on the page such as buttons, menu lists, and other page elements generally used in graphical user interfaces. It is used to define their placement on the page, and the actions to be taken when certain events such as mouse clicks or keystrokes occur.

• Voice Input - software that recognises voice commands, and responds accordingly.
• Voice Output - computer programs that read screen content out loud.
• Voice Recognition - programs that recognise a person's voice and its various characteristics in order to convert voice into text for the computer to process.
• VoiceXML - a type of XML that allows the user to interact with a webpage using Voice Recognition software.
• Voice Recognition Software - software that can be trained to recognise a person's voice, and either execute commands, or turn the voice into text or other forms of media such as sign language or brail for the deaf.

• W3C - an international consortium of companies and organisations involved with the Internet and the World Wide Web, responsible for maintaining web technology standards, such as HTML and CSS http://www.w3.org/ (opens new window).
• WAI - started by W3C and its members, it addresses web accessibility issues http://www.w3.org/WAI (opens new window).
• WAP - - A specification that allows users to access information via wireless handheld devices. These devices usually have small screens.
• WCAG - - these are the guidelines built by the W3C / WAI to address issues in building accessible web pages.
• WAVE - was developed by Temple University Institute on Disabilities. It is an alternative to bobby and shows attributes used and missing. It also shows the order that a screen reader will read a page. WAVE (opens a new window)

• XML - a language specification from the W3C that allows users to develop their own markup languages (often called vocabularies), and format their documents using stylesheets. XML allows close control over document format.
• XHTML - this is a reformulation of HTML as XML vocabulary - XHTML is designed to eliminate problems that arise from badly coded HTML.
• XSL - is a W3C specification that contains 3 parts:
• XSLT - for changing the formatting and structure of markup according to a set of rules.
• XSL-FO - for applying a strong set of rules to a document, to ensure reliable formatting when printed
• XPath to select the elements required by XSLT.

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