It’s a dilemma many instructional designers face: sacrifice interactivity or 508 compliance. It doesn’t have to be an either/or situation, even if budgets and timelines dictate rapid development. Instructional designers must find a way to substitute eyes and ears for those with vision, hearing and mobility disabilities. You can design and develop one set of courseware for use by those who need accessibility features and those who don’t.
5 Pitfalls to Avoid
Lack of Keyboard Navigation– Every move a learner can make with a mouse must have an equivalent keyboard action. The Tab key enables learners to move from field to field, so order your interactive elements in way that makes sense to those who must tab. The more keyboard shortcuts you build into the courseware, the more you improve the learning experience. It’s easy to overlook media controls, button and checkbox controls and menu controls, all of which should be accessible from the keyboard.