About LIFT Assistive
In September 2006, the University acquired a sitewide license for Usablenet's LIFT Assistive (LA) text transcoder. The LIFT Assistive technology is a framework for creating a dynamic, customizable text-only view of any and all websites on the Virginia.EDU domain. The text-only view has the potential to offer significant accessibility improvements over the source web content.
LIFT Assistive allows you to add a "text-only" link to every page on your web site, although the pages will be transcoded whether or not they have a link. Using text-only mode, the user can navigate U.Va.'s pages and web content without having to ever go back to graphical pages. Check out LIFT for webmasters if you're ready to deploy LIFT Assistive on your site.
Why LIFT Assistive?
Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that all pages be made accessible to users with sensory, motor, and cognitive impairments. The University's policy on Accessibility of Information Technology (IRM-008, 9/6/2006) states:
The procurement, development, and/or maintenance of information technology and user support services for persons with disabilities align with accessibility standards specified in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and in "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines" from the World Wide Web Consortium, appropriately tailored to the specific circumstances of the University and its Medical Center.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) ensure access for people with vision impairments who rely on various assistive products to access computer-based information, such as screen readers, which translate what's on a computer screen into automated audible output, and refreshable Braille displays.
Although the LA view does not guarantee compliance with these guidelines, minor customizations to the encoder or source web pages can often meet compliance criteria and improve accessibility for users of assistive technologies.
Webmasters who wish to use Lift Assistive on their site to meet Priority 2 compliance with the WCAG should view these implementation tips.
What about Accessible Web Design?
LIFT Assistive works best when the source page is already accessible to begin with. LIFT still offers benefits to the webmaster of a WCAG-compliant website by providing the opportunity to hide and rearrange page elements in order to arrive at a view that is best for a specific set of visitors. As such, future designs can be informed by either ad-hoc or structured usability tests performed using the LIFT framework.
By removing images and scripts, providing a liquid layout, and adding visibility enhancements, LIFT Assistive can still greatly improve the accessibility of certain form-based transactions, shopping carts, and 3rd party markup outside the control of the web team.
LIFT Implementation and Customization
The default output from LIFT Assistive transcoding is not always optimal. For information on how to best make use of the LIFT Assistive software, visit LIFT for webmasters.