Website Accessibility

[Resonate]

Website Accessibility on the internet is just as important as it is in the real world. It is about supporting disabled visitors, but that is not the only reason for making a website accessible. An accessible website can be accessed by people with different web browsers, PDA's, and cell phones.

A common misconception is that by making a website accessible, it will be not as attractive as a website that is not accessible. That is not the case. Website Accessibility does not need to affect presentation at all!

Using semantic, well structured XHTML will take you a long the way towards creating an accessible website. To get an idea of how accessible a page is, try viewing it in a text-based browser like Lynx to see if the content still makes sense. This is far from the only Website Accessibility check you need to do, but it's a good start.

Just imagine having a sight or dexterity disability, and visiting a website that is not accessible. You'd be upset - and discriminated against!

Federal Agencies in the USA, as well as other countries, have strict legalities regarding Website Accessibility:

Section 508 requires that Federal agencies' electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. The Center for Information Technology Accommodation (CITA), in the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Government wide Policy, has been charged with the task of educating Federal employees and building the infrastructure necessary to support Section 508 implementation. Using this web site, Federal employees and the public can access resources for understanding and implementing the requirements of Section 508.

Website Accessibility is something every web designer is responsible for.

[sherytiger]

Great, thanks for sharing brother!
Keep it up.

[Resonate]

Stop and think about that for a second. Making your site accessible includes:

• Making sure people using Mozilla or Safari can read it.
• Making sure Search Engines index your content and present your site well.
• Making sure people with a slow connection speed don't give up waiting.
• Making sure people with a disability like color blindness can read your page.
• Making sure that even if someone has something slightly different about how they're browsing (javascript turned off, perhaps using a screen reader, even just using a mobile phone or PDA,) they can still access the information you provide.

Accessibility is about making sure you're in touch with your users.

Who Cares?
If you have a website, why did you create it?
Was it to sell your business on the web? Then having more people able to access your site makes commercial sense, particularly as they may turn into sales.

Present information on a hobby? Well perhaps people using anything other than Microsoft's latest browser would like to read about it too.
Or is it a family site, to tell people about what you do in your life? Other people may take pleasure in reading it too.
Whatever the reason, there are few (if any) sites that wouldn't benefit from being accessible to more people.

How do I make my site accessible?
This is the full W3C Checklist of things you can do to make your site accessible.
Checklist of Checkpoints for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

Note: they are divided into priorities, 1 being things you must do to make your site accessible, 2 being things you should do, and 3 being things that would make your site seriously accessible.

If the list above is confusing (it really is) then there is a quick list below to make it more simple

• Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
• Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
• Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
• Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
• Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
• Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
• Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
• Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
• Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
• Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

[kineticdc]

Resonate I detect your passion in this thread. Thanks for sharing!!!