Elements and Performance Criteria

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Web content accessibility guidelines 1.0 (WCAG)
Authoring tool accessibility guidelines 1.0 (ATAG)
User agent accessibility guidelines 1.0 (UAAG)
Web accessibility initiative (WAI)
Best practice vendor-specific accessibility standards

person with auditory
visual
mobility
cognitive impairments

commercial software applications
organisation-specific software
packaged software
in-house or customised software

Netscape Navigator
Internet Explorer
Mozilla
Opera
Galleon
Phoenix
Konqueror
Lynx

ISO/IEC/AS standards
organisational standards
project standards (for further information refer to the Standards Australia website at:

business
system
application
network
people in the organisation

Bobby
Opera
PwWebSpeak
Lynx
General Magic's Web-On-Call

Images, graphical representations of text (including symbols)
Image map regions
Animations (e.g. animated GIFs)
Applets and programmatic objects
ASCII art
Frames
Scripts
Images used as list bullets
Spacers
Graphical buttons
Sounds (played with or without user interaction)
Standalone audio files
Audio tracks of video, and video

The evidence guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria, required skills and knowledge, range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package.
Overview of assessment
Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Evidence of the following is essential:

Accessible web pages take into account the special needs of visitors with auditory, visual, mobility, and cognitive impairments and those people who use assistive technology. The objective is to provide those users an equivalent browsing experience to that of visitors without special needs.
Assessment must confirm the ability to identify accessibility requirements with reference to the client profile, to design or implement a valid accessibility test, to facilitate the test process and document results. The proposed solution must meet legal, special customer and business needs and expectations as well as the current and future needs of the business. Design elements that are considered undesirable in the website should be highlighted for redesign for better accessibility.

To demonstrate competency in this unit the person will require access to:

Live website
Requirements documentation
Customer relationship model
Automatic accessibility measuring tools

Context of and specific resources for assessment
The expansion in availability and use of the internet provides challenges for developers and website custodians in respect of access for people with special needs. Accessibility refers to ensuring that content is accessible (i.e. It can be navigated and read by everyone, regardless of location, experience, or the type of computer technology used). Accessibility is most commonly discussed in relation to people with disabilities, because this group are most likely to be disadvantaged if the principles of accessible web design are not implemented. Failure to follow these principles can make it difficult or impossible for people with disabilities to access content. Creating accessible content should be an integral part of the web design philosophy, and accessibility features should be incorporated into all aspects of the design process. Designing for accessibility is thus as much a strategic issue as a purely technical one.
The focus of this competency is testing for accessibility. Such testing should be incorporated into any and all user testing regimes, and not be seen as an isolated event that can occur after other user testing has taken place.
Depending on complexity of content, basic knowledge and skills would prepare a person to perform in a range of activities where there is a clearly defined range of contexts for the website.
The breadth, depth and complexity of knowledge and skills in this competency would cover a broad range of varied activities or application in a wider variety of contexts most of which are complex and non-routine. Leadership and guidance would be involved when organising activities of self and others as well as contributing to technical solutions of a non-routine or contingency nature.

Assessment must ensure:

Performance of a broad range of skilled applications including the requirement to evaluate and analyse current practices, develop new criteria and procedures for performing current practices and provision of some leadership and guidance to others in the application and planning of the skills would be characteristic.
Applications may involve responsibility for, and limited organisation of, others.

Method of assessment
The purpose of this unit is to define the standard of performance to be achieved in the workplace. In undertaking training and assessment activities related to this unit, consideration should be given to the implementation of appropriate diversity and accessibility practices in order to accommodate people who may have special needs. Additional guidance on these and related matters is provided in ICA05 Section 1.
Competency in this unit should be assessed using summative assessment to ensure consistency of performance in a range of contexts. This unit can be assessed either in the workplace or in a simulated environment. However, simulated activities must closely reflect the workplace to enable full demonstration of competency.
Assessment will usually include observation of real or simulated work processes and procedures and/or performance in a project context as well as questioning on underpinning knowledge and skills. The questioning of team members, supervisors, subordinates, peers and clients where appropriate may provide valuable input to the assessment process. The interdependence of units for assessment purposes may vary with the particular project or scenario.

Guidance information for assessment

Holistic assessment with other units relevant to the industry sector, workplace and job role is recommended, for example:

ICAA4142C Design a website to meet technical requirements
ICAB4135B Create a simple mark-up language document to specification
ICAB4171B Develop cascading style sheets
ICAD4209B Write content for web pages
ICAI4189B Ensure website content meets technical protocols and standards
ICAT4184B Ensure site usability for full range of users
ICAT4185B Create a website testing procedure
ICAT4186B Conduct operational acceptance tests of websites

An individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Demonstrate understanding of a broad knowledge base incorporating some theoretical concepts
Apply solutions to a defined range of unpredictable problems
Identify and apply skill and knowledge areas to a wide variety of contexts, with depth in some areas
Identify, analyse and evaluate information from a variety of sources
Take responsibility for own outputs in relation to specified quality standards
Take limited responsibility for the quantity and quality of the output of others

An individual demonstrating this competency would be able to:

Test a website for accessibility
Demonstrate some theoretical knowledge of website content creation
Apply a range of well-developed skills in communication and negotiation
Perform a range of skills in website design where some discretion and judgement is required
Interpret available information using discretion and judgement
Maintain knowledge of industry products and services