Web pages Images Conferencing Chat Audio/Video PowerPoint PDF Advanced Multimedia

Students Affected:

Principles: Degrade Gracefully

What It Means

Your choice of forum software can have major implications for accessibility. The threaded nature of forums is easy to represent visually, but it may be difficult to present to students who use screen readers and require auditory cues to navigate. If the forum software does not support keyboard navigation, it will pose problems for students who cannot use a mouse.

If You Do It Wrong: Some students cannot log in if the software presumes the user has a mouse. The subject-post-reply structure of most forums can confuse those using screen readers and other linear browsing methods.

If You Do It Right: Forums are easily navigable by keystrokes. The subject and author of each post are clearly marked. The structure of the page is clear.

How It Works

1. Check to make sure that accessibility is a feature of the forum software.
   
   
2. The forum software should be clear and easy to navigate.
   
   
3. The forum should be navigable using only the keyboard. The login page and submit buttons are common points of failure.
   
   
4. Try to find forum software that has an e-mail feature (see the next page for more information).
   
   
5. Forums are basically text-based Web pages, so all the techniques for accessible Web pages apply (see How To: Web Pages for more information).

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