Most browsers support jumping to specific links by typing keys defined on the web site. On Windows, you can press ALT + an access key, or ALT+shift for Firefox; on Macintosh, you can press Control + an access key.
All pages on this site define the following access keys:
- Access key 1 - Home page
- Access key 2 - About me
- Access key 3 - Archives
- Access key 4 - Projects
- Access key 5 - Interesting pages
- Access key 6 - Contact form
- Access key 0 - Accessibility statement
Standards compliance
- Most pages on this site are Watchfire WebXACT approved, complying with most guidelines. This is always a judgement call; many accessibility features can be measured, but many can not. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are in compliance.
- All pages on this site is WCAG AAA approved, complying with all priority 1, 2, and 3 guidelines of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Again, this is a judgement call; many guidelines are intentionally vague and can not be tested automatically. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are in compliance.
- All pages on this site are Section 508 approved, complying with all of the U.S. Federal Government Section 508 Guidelines. Again, a judgement call. I have reviewed all the guidelines and believe that all these pages are in compliance.
- All pages on this site validate as XHTML 1.1. This is not a judgement call; a program can determine with 100% accuracy whether a page is valid XHTML. For example, check the home page for XHTML validity.
- All pages on this site use structured semantic markup.
Links
- Many links have title attributes which describe the link in greater detail, unless the text of the link already fully describes the target (such as the headline of an article).
- Links are written to make sense out of context.
Images
- All content images used in this site include descriptive ALT attributes. Purely decorative graphics include null ALT attributes.
Visual design
- This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout.
- This site uses only relative font sizes, compatible with the user-specified "text size" option in visual browsers.
- If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the content of each page is still readable.
Accessibility references
- W3 accessibility guidelines, which explains the reasons behind each guideline.
- W3 accessibility techniques, which explains how to implement each guideline.
- W3 accessibility checklist, a busy developer's guide to accessibility.
- U.S. Federal Government Section 508 accessibility guidelines.
Accessibility software
- JAWS, a screen reader for Windows. A time-limited, downloadable demo is available.
- Home Page Reader, a screen reader for Windows. A downloadable demo is available.
- Lynx, a free text-only web browser for blind users with refreshable Braille displays.
- Links, a free text-only web browser for visual users with low bandwidth.
- Opera, a visual browser with many accessibility-related features, including text zooming, user stylesheets, image toggle. A free downloadable version is available. Compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and several other operating systems.
Accessibility services
- Watchfire WebXACT, a free service to analyze web pages for compliance to accessibility guidelines. A full-featured commercial version is also available.
- HTML Validator, a free service for checking that web pages conform to published HTML standards.
- Web Page Backward Compatibility Viewer, a tool for viewing your web pages without a variety of modern browser features.
- Lynx Viewer, a free service for viewing what your web pages would look like in Lynx.
Related resources
- WebAIM, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving accessibility to online learning materials.
- Designing More Usable Web Sites, a large list of additional resources.