Technical Guidlines for Lift Assistive
Deploying the LIFT Assistive technology on your site is a process which requires several steps:
- Adding the link to each page
- Evaluating the LIFT text-only view
- Implementing fixes
Adding the LIFT text-only link
To add the transcoder, create a new link on your page that points to the LIFT service on Usablenet.com's servers. The following link is the simplest to implement, and will direct the user to a LA version of whatever page is the "referrer".
Another method of linking is to direct the user to a LA version of a specific page. Insert the full URL of the page to be
transcoded after the tt/ in the following example.
Tips for placing the LIFT text-only link
The most effective locations for the text-only link are (1) at the top of the page in a hidden element, and (2) in the footer of each
page as a textual link. To create a hidden link at the top of your page, paste the following code right after the opening <BODY> tag in your HTML document.
The <span class="un_jtt_hide"> is used to instruct the LIFT transcoder to exclude this code fragment from the text-only view. The style="" attribute here hides the link from modern browsers, yet will be read aloud by supported screenreading software. A <div class="un_jtt_hide"> tag can also be used to hide HTML fragments from LIFT Assistive.
You can also employ these techniques using an inline style or external style sheet; this is left as an exercise to the reader.
Evaluate the text-only version
The default output from LIFT Assistive transcoding is not always optimal. For example, pages that rely on graphics to display navigation and text may not be automatically transcoded to show navigation and text as you intended.
While in the text-only view, start by analyzing the most important pages, and target the elements on the page that are most likely to affect a user's ability to access your site.
Next, check the HTML of your site to ensure that images have descriptive ALT tags, and that alternatives are provided for multimedia, Flash, and scripted content.
Finally, compare the transcoded version of your site to the WCAG Priority 2 checklist, and note any disparities or violations.
Customizing LIFT
The transcoder can be customized using annotations on a per-page or per-site basis.
Examples that will require customization include, but are not limited to:
- Javascript document.write() calls
- "Jump" menus which redirect users using a <select onchange=""> event
- Forms which use Javascript for validation or event handling
In other cases, the text-only view may not accurately reflect the architecture or content of your site, and corrections using the techniques described above have failed to provide the desired results.
To submit a customization request, download and edit the LIFT transcoded version of your page using a HTML editor such as Dreamweaver. Using the WYSIWYG or code editor, produce a prototype of how you would like the site to appear, and email these files to the ITC Helpdesk along with the original URL.
To inquire about customizations to the Lift Assistive text version of your site, please contact the ITC Helpdesk.