Web Design References
Web Design Glossary
abbr Element- In
HTML
the
title
attribute can be used in conjunction with
abbr
element to give the long form of an abbreviation, allowing
screen readers to speak the full word or phrase. Use of
the abbr element is part of the University of Minnesota
Web Accessibility Standards because screen-readers sometimes
attempt to pronounce abbreviations. It is also in WCAG
(priority 3). Example markup:
<abbr title="University of Minnesota
Duluth">UMD</abbr>
For more information consult
Abbreviations & Acronyms.
- Accessibility (Web)
- Web accessibility refers to web information/content
being obtainable and functional to people with disabilities.
It is about providing access to information for those who
would otherwise lose their opportunity to use the web. In
contrast inaccessible means unobtainable, nonfunctional.
- Accessibility Supported
- An accessibility supported technology means that it works
with assistive technologies and the
accessibility features of operating systems, browsers
and other user agents.
accesskey attribute- An
accesskey is an
HTML
attribute. It is meant to help users who navigating without
a pointing device, such as a mouse. Access keys are intended
to be a means of specifying a keyboard shortcut for moving to
a link.
- Adaptive Technology
- Sometimes known as assistive technology. It is software
or hardware that has been specifically designed to assist
people with disabilities in carrying out daily activities.
Assistive technology includes wheelchairs, reading machines,
devices for grasping, etc. In the area of Web Accessibility,
common software-based assistive technologies include screen
readers, screen magnifiers, speech synthesizers, and voice
input software that operate in conjunction with graphical
desktop browsers (among other user agents). Hardware
assistive technologies include alternative keyboards and
pointing devices.
- Affinity Diagram
- Affinity diagramming is a categorization method where
users sort various concepts into several categories. This
usability method is used by a team to organize a large amount
of data according to the natural relationships between the
items. Basically, you write each concept on a Post-It note
and tack them onto a wall. Team members move the notes to
groups based on how they feel the concept belongs with other
concepts. For more information consult
Affinity Diagrams.
-
AJAX
- AJAX stands for or Asynchronous Javascript and XML. It's
a way to utilize the abilities of Javascript, the Document
Object Model, and XML to create interactivity on the web. For
more information consult
AJAX
(Asynchronous JAvaScript + XML or Asynchronous JAvascript
using XMLHttpRequest).
alt Attribute- An
alt attribute is used to provide
equivalent content for those who cannot process images or
who have image loading disabled. That means that it serves the
same function as an image. Users of screen readers or other
devices cannot directly access images. Similarly, some
users choose to turn image loading off- especially those
with slower connections. These users rely on alt
attributes to obtain content.
alt Tag- The term "alt tag" is sometimes incorrectly used instead
of the correct term "
alt attribute". In HTML their is no such thing
as an "alt tag". Technically, tags are things like
<p> or </p>
that you use to mark up your page and the alt attribute sits
inside a tag, like this:
<img alt="">. Calling an attribute a tag
is a common mistake.
alt Text- Alt text is generally a phrase or short sentence that
forms the content of the
alt attribute. It is contained
within the quotation marks: <img alt="">.
This simple idea has great power as good alt text can help make a web
site accessible to people with disabilities. While there is no
official restriction on the length of alt text, it should be terse.
Many experts recommend 125 or fewer characters.
- Alternate Style Sheet
- These style sheets can be selected by the visitor as
alternatives to the preferred style sheet. This allows the
visitor to personalize a site and choose his or her favorite
scheme. They can also be used for accessibility (larger fonts
etc).
- Alternative Interface Access Protocol
(AIAP)
- A technology under development by the National Committee
on Information Technology; it will allow a user to get web
pages in the form they choose for the device they choose.
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- United States public law enacted in 1990 guaranteeing
rights for people with disabilities. This law mandates
reasonable accommodation and effective communication.
- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
- A fatal, neuromuscular disease that causes rapid
deterioration of minor cells in the brain and spinal cord,
ultimately leading to impairment of mobility, speech, and
respiratory functions. It is more commonly known as Lou
Gerhig's disease.
- Anti-alias
- Anti-alias is a feature used to smooth out jagged edges
of an electronic graphic image.
- API
- API stands for Application Programming Interface. It
a provides set of routines, protocols, and tools for building
software applications. For more information consult:
Application programming interface.
- Applet
- A Java program or application designed to be embedded in,
and invoked from, a web page, or other application. It cannot
be run by itself.
- A-Prompt (Accessibility Prompt)
- A tool developed to assist Web authors in improving the
accessibility and usability of
HTML
documents. It is made available through a joint
collaboration between the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre
at the University of Toronto and the TRACE Center at the
University of Wisconsin. Although it's free, it's currently
only available for the Windows platform. For more information
consult the
A-Prompt site.
- ARIA
- ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications. It
is a bridging technology that can help make web applications more
accessible to a diverse range of users, including those who
use assistive technologies. It adds semantics for role, state,
and functionality of interface controls, such as menus, sliders,
trees, and dialogs as well as structural information for landmarks,
regions, and grids. For more information consult
WAI-ARIA.
- Array
- In programming, an array is an indexed collection of data
values. For instance in PHP, and array is a container for a
number of variables which all have the same name, but each
has a different index. Each member of the array is called an
element. You can create arrays in the same way you create
variables, as long as you remember to put square brackets
around them to denote the index. By default, arrays are
zero-based, that is, the first element of the array has an
index of zero.
- Assignment Operator
- In programming, assignment operators assign a value to a
variable. The equal sign is the most common assignment
operator.
- Assistive Technology
- Sometimes known as adaptive technology. It is equipment
or software that assists people with disabilities in
performing every day activities. Examples include screen
readers and voice input software.
- Attribute
- In
HTML
an attribute is a characteristic of an element.
- Audio Description
- An audio description is narration, spoken out loud. It
explains visual details. This allows visual content to be
accessible to the blind or those with vision impairments.
Audio descriptions of visual content is important if, for
example, a video provides content that is relevant to the
overall understanding of the video but is not available/
recognized through the default audio already present. For
example an audio description can take a movie, and talk you
through it. The narrator tells you what is happening on the
screen what you can not figure out just from the
soundtrack.
- Authoring Tool
- A software application used to create web pages and web
sites.
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