The goal of this project is to understand how tools used for designing and building web pages encourage or discourage the creation of accessible HTML markup. You will pick a tool, and explore its features for supporting accessibility. You'll report on your findings by (i) writing up a one-page report, and (ii) creating a short (5-10 minute) presentation to share your findings with the class.
Please pick a tool that you have used to create web pages, anything from text editors to web-based content management systems to WYSIWYG web editors are fine. If you're having trouble thinking of one that you've used, here is a very incomplete list of common tools for creating web content:
Blogger, DreamWeaver, Drupal, Emacs, Facebook, FrontPage, Google Sites, Microsoft Word, tumblr, WordPress, YouTube
Once you've chosen your tool, please list your name and the tool that you've chosen at this link. If someone else has chosen the same tool as you, please pick another so we have diversity in responses.
List the Tool You've Chosen Here
If you've used the tool to create content before, think about how you remember it encouraging you to create your content in an accessible way. Next, use the tool to create content with the explicit goal of exploring how it allows you to create accessible content. Look for things like how or whether it asks you to create a text alternative for visual content that you add, how does it help you understand what it would be like to use the site with a keyboard, think about specific disabilities and how the content you create may or may not be usable for them.
Next, think about how the tool implicitly encourages or discourages the creation of content that is or isn't accessible to certain people with certain abilities. Search the tool's documentation to see if it discusses web accessibility anywhere, or look for a blog post or other commentary on how well the tool supports accessibility.
Finally, think about what you would change about the tool to make it more accessible. How would you incorporate your changes in a way that wouldn't degrade the user experience for others? Why do you think these changes haven't been made already by the site?
Organize these observations into a one-page Google Doc write-up.
Finally, create a Google Slide Presentation about your findings. It's nice to include a quick overview of the tool you chose, and include screenshots or audio recordings to help people understand how the tool is normally used and how it might interact with accessibility. Include in the presentation any interesting findings about how the tool supports accessibility, and any interesting ways that it doesn't. Most tools will do both.
Plan out what you're going to say, and write this down in the "notes" box below where the slides are displayed. This will help make sure that your presentation goes smoothly, and allow the instructors and your classmates to more easily refer back to your presentation later.
You should share both your document and presentation so that anyone with the link can view it, and then submit the URLs and your name here: