Accessibility is now a legal requirement for all national government Web sites in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the European Union. Throughout the world, many other organizations--universities, schools, and private companies--are recognizing that accessibility is a moral and business imperative; many are adopting policies aimed at making Web resources accessible to the more than six hundred million people with disabilities worldwide.

Maximum Accessibility is a comprehensive resource for creating Web sites that comply with new U.S. accessibility standards and conform to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0. This book offers an overview of key issues, discusses the standards in depth, and presents practical design techniques, up-to-date technologies, and testing methods to implement these standards for maximum accessibility. You will learn how to:

• Write effective text equivalents for images and audio files
• Caption soundtracks and describe the action of videos and animation
• Set up data and layout tables that make sense to the ear and eye
• Design Web forms that people can interact with via the keyboard and other input devices
• Label forms so that people who use talking browsers can give the right information at the right time
• Make scripts accessible to people who don't use a mouse
• Create simple PDF files that are accessible to people with disabilities
• Use cascading style sheets to make your thoroughly accessible pages look great

Throughout the book, case studies illustrate how inadvertent accessibility barriers on major Web sites affect the ability of people with disabilities to locate information, participate in e-commerce, and explore the richness of the Web. These case studies demonstrate how certain design features can make access much harder, and how other features can greatly ease the use of a page or site.

Most of all, this leading-edge guide reveals that a little extra design consideration up front can help you create a site that is not only a pleasure for people with disabilities, but attractive and pleasing for all interested users. In short, Maximum Accessibility shows why good design is accessible design.

John M. Slatin, Ph.D., is a leader in the field of Web accessibility. He is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, where he founded and directs the Institute for Technology and Learning. He developed the award-winning AccessFirst Design Concept and the AccessFirst Design and Usability Studio, a consultancy that advises organizations on the accessibility of Web sites to people with disabilities.

Sharron Rush is the cofounder and Executive Director of Knowbility, a nonprofit technology education and advocacy group. Since 1998, she has produced Accessibility Internet Rallies (AIR) throughout the U.S., engaging hundreds of Web developers and their companies in accessibility issues and providing them with accessible design skills. The Peter F. Drucker Foundation, the U.S. Department of Labor, and numerous others have recognized these efforts for excellence and innovation.