Learn how to help people with disabilities


Accessibility... The Basics.

An accessible website is one that allows as
many people as possible to access theWhat  does  it  entail?
infomation contained within it. An inportant
subset of accessibility is allowing peopleMany techniques involved in making your
with visual, aural, or physical disabilitieswebsite accessible will have no effect
full access to the information and serviceswhatsoever on the final look and feel of your
available in the same way as able-bodiedsite for the majority of users. It will
people. Ensuring that your website is nothowever allow users with disabilities to use
dependant on particular hardware or softwareassitive devices such as screen readers (to
is also an important consideration whenread 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 incolour  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 theirto  make  them  easy  to  select
goods  and  services.
* To use a consistent and easy to navigate
Few organizations can afford to deliberatelylayout
miss this market sector. On top of this,
accessible web design contributes toOther  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-kioskswebsites 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 orsite.  Other  advantages  include:
slow  connection  situations.
* Better structure means easier and cheaper
* Provide access across a wider range ofsite  maintenance
computer  hardware  and  software.
* Accessible sites demonstrate that your
Other extremely important benefits that makeorganiation 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 byI believe accessibility is beneficial for all
search engines and therefore help driveinvolved and should be a consideration of
traffic  to  your  site.every website.



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