General Course Development Technical Criteria
Courses will function properly in the approved WebCT version for both Unix and Windows NT platforms.
Current recommended client operating systems are:
- Microsoft Windows 98, 2nd Edition
- Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
- Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1
- Mac OS X v10.1 and v10.2
Current recommended browsers for WebCT Vista:
- Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 (SP2), 6.0 (Windows)
- Internet Explorer 5.1 (Mac OS X v10.1)
- Internet Explorer 5.2 (Mac OS X v10.2)
- Netscape 7.0 and 7.1(Windows and Mac OS X)
- AOL 8.0 (Windows)
- AOL OS X (Mac OS X)
- Mozilla 1.5 (Windows and Mac OS X)
Note: Safari 1.x will be supported in a future service pack release of WebCT Vista 3.0.
Note: WebCT Vista 3.0 will include a browser checker that automatically detects whether or not a user’s browser is supported by WebCT. The browser checker also validates that the appropriate Java Virtual Machine (JVM) is installed on the user’s computer.
For the most up-to-date list of supported web browsers, go to: http://www.webct.com/tuneup
Supported Browser JVM Versions
Some features in WebCT Vista require the browser to be configured to use a supported Java plug-in. These Java plug-ins are part of Sun Microsystem's JRE installation packages, which can be downloaded from Sun’s Java website.
WebCT Vista supports the Sun Microsystems Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
1.4.1 and higher, however, it is recommended that you use the most recent version of the JVM.
Courses will be designed to function properly in the WebCT Vista version specified by the University System Board of Regents.
HTML Coding
Whenever possible, W3C recommended coding practices should be used.
All graphic elements must have <alt> (or <longdesc>) tag text equivalents. This is automatically done for many WebCT generated graphics.
Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers read the text equivalent. <alt> tags should describe the graphic and the intended educational outcome of viewing the graphic. <img src="fruitfly.gif" alt="a picture of a barb wing fruit fly"> is less instructive than <img src="fruitfly.gif" alt="a picture of a barb wing fruit fly emphasizing the small, withered, non-functional wings">.
Any content delivered via client side JavaScript must have <noscript> equivalents.
Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers do not support client side JavaScript. Any content delivered in this manner will not be available to users with these user agents.
Style sheets will be employed for font type and size, rather than using <font>, <Bold>, and <Italics> tags.
Hard-coded font information prevents user agents from altering the form of text to meet the needs of the end user. Screen magnifiers for the visually impaired and Braille output devices in particular could lose functionality if the <font> tag is employed.
Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers can alter their inflection in response to the <em> and <strong> tags in ways that cannot be achieved if the <Italics> or <Bold> tags are used.
The <font>, <b>, and <i> tags will cease to be supported as the HTML standards transition into XML standards.
Proper use will be made of the <abbr> and <acronym> tags to expand abbreviations and acronyms.
Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers attempt to pronounce abbreviations: DNA becomes "dinnah." Properly tagged, it could be read as "Deoxyribonucleic acid."
Tables should not be used for layout purposes.
W3C recommends against using Tables for layout of non-tabular data. Whenever possible, use style sheets.
Tables can cause difficulties for Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers if not coded properly.
Data tables will have necessary markup.
This will allow Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers to render the cells of a table in the context of their associated headers.
Use "headers" and "axis" attributes of <td> to associate data cells with their appropriate headers.
Use "summary" attribute of TABLE to provide an overview of the table.
Interaction with material cannot be input device dependant.
Visually impaired and physically handicapped users may not use a mouse for screen navigation and manipulation. Many common webpage elements, such as Forms, text entry boxes, buttons, and check boxes, require a mouse, if not coded properly.
Descriptive link text is required for all external links.
Example: <u>Click here</u> is not informative link text for the user. <u>QuickTime 4.0 Plug-In</u> is much more informative.
Screen Readers and Non-Visual Browsers make all links on a page available together for ease of navigation. Link text must therefore be understandable out of page context.
Multimedia elements must have both audio and visual delivery of information. Video clips must have an audio description and a text description accompanying them. QuickTime allows for the creation of second audio tracks and closed captions. Audio clips must have a transcript available.
Vision impaired users require audio or text which is accessible to screen readers. Hearing impaired students require text equivalents for audio material. Student with certain learning styles will also benefit from different methods of presenting content.