| An accessible website is one that allows as | | | | |
| many people as possible to access the | | | | What does it entail? |
| infomation contained within it. An inportant | | | | |
| subset of accessibility is allowing people | | | | Many techniques involved in making your |
| with visual, aural, or physical disabilities | | | | website accessible will have no effect |
| full access to the information and services | | | | whatsoever on the final look and feel of your |
| available in the same way as able-bodied | | | | site for the majority of users. It will |
| people. Ensuring that your website is not | | | | however allow users with disabilities to use |
| dependant on particular hardware or software | | | | assitive devices such as screen readers (to |
| is also an important consideration when | | | | read text out aloud to them) and assistive |
| building accessible websites. | | | | input devices (for people with physical |
| | | | disabilities) to access and use your site. |
| Is it worth it? | | | | Some of the key concepts are: |
| | | | |
| * At least 10% of the population in most | | | | * To provide textual alternatives for all |
| countries has disabilities; visual, auditory, | | | | images and animations |
| physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological | | | | |
| disabilities can all affect access to the | | | | * To ensure that textual content can be |
| Web. | | | | resized to the users peronsal preference |
| | | | |
| * Average age of population in many countries | | | | * To ensure sufficient contrast between text |
| is increasing; aging sometimes results in | | | | colour and background colour |
| combinations of accessibility issues; vision | | | | |
| & hearing changes, changes in dexterity & | | | | * To ensure that hyperlinks contain text that |
| memory. | | | | describes their purpose. |
| | | | |
| * Many elderly and disabled people rely | | | | * To ensure that hyperlinks are large enough |
| increasingly on the internet to obtain their | | | | to make them easy to select |
| goods and services. | | | | |
| | | | * To use a consistent and easy to navigate |
| Few organizations can afford to deliberately | | | | layout |
| miss this market sector. On top of this, | | | | |
| accessible web design contributes to | | | | Other benefits |
| advantages for able-bodies users too. | | | | |
| Accessible websites: | | | | The robots that search engines use to |
| | | | catalogue your website are essentially |
| * Allow access to users of mobile phones, | | | | 'blind' visitors to your site. Accessible |
| small display scress, Web-TV and web-kiosks | | | | websites are therefore more search engine |
| and other new web=enabled devices. | | | | friendly and result in better search engine |
| | | | rankings and ultimately more visitors to your |
| * Increases usability in low bandwidth or | | | | site. Other advantages include: |
| slow connection situations. | | | | |
| | | | * Better structure means easier and cheaper |
| * Provide access across a wider range of | | | | site maintenance |
| computer hardware and software. | | | | |
| | | | * Accessible sites demonstrate that your |
| Other extremely important benefits that make | | | | organiation takes its social responsibilty |
| accessible websites worthwhile are that: | | | | seriously |
| | | | |
| * Many governments now require certain | | | | * Increased support for internationalisation |
| websites to conform to accessibility | | | | |
| guidellines. | | | | * Reduces hosting costs |
| | | | |
| * Accessible websites are easier to index by | | | | I believe accessibility is beneficial for all |
| search engines and therefore help drive | | | | involved and should be a consideration of |
| traffic to your site. | | | | every website. |