Accessibility
(Making websites user-friendly for the visually impaired)

Section III of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), which specifically refers to websites, has been in force since October 1, 1999. Since that time the majority of websites have been in breach of the law!

W3C (Internet governing body) web accessibility guidelines.

• Visual impairment: a spectrum of sight-related disabilities, from age-related myopia to chromatic sight conditions, blindness and color-blindness.

• Blind people typically use "Screen Readers" to surf the Web (applications that read a computer display like a book and transform text into speech).

  • JAWS for Windows - Most popular screen reader. Not cheep! Costs between $800 and $1,200!

• Low-vision people use screen magnifiers.
   

Guidelines for making websites more accessible to the visually impaired:

• Don't be too clever with your design - Flash animations can alienate anyone, not just the visually impaired.

• Make sure text is legible.

  • Contrast is important when designing sites everyone can use.

  • Use text and background color combinations that offer maximum contrast.

• Use 'alt-text' for all jpg and gif images.

  • Add alternative text to graphics and photos, describing the image for people using "screen reader" software. (When inserting images into a web page, Expression Web and Dreamweaver require 'alt text' be added.)

• Allow users to change colors and text size by adjusting browser settings.

• Include site map (table of contents).

  • Helps visitors quickly get an impression of the site layout, and makes it easier to navigate. (Expression Web or Front Page creates site map.)

• Be sure links make sense out of context.

  • Screen readers provide a list of links on a page. Links that contain the words "click here" are not obvious out of context, but "Download SuperSoftware 4.8" is self-explanatory.
     

• Include text links with image maps.

  • Some software packages cannot read image maps. Make text links available as well.

• Don't use frames for pages!

  • Some software cannot read frames.

  • If you must include frames, use a NOFRAMES tag to provide frames-free versions of pages.

• Avoid JavaScript, applets, Flash animations and plug-ins where possible.

• Label Forms Properly.

  • Make sure the question or description for each input field is on the same line as the input field. Consistently place it on the same side of the input field.

• Accessability checkers:

  • WebXact - Free online accessibility checker allows you to check website, but only one page at a time. Test website online.

  • MS FrontPage and MS Expression have built-in accessibility checker. (Checks individual pages or entire site):

    • In Menu Bar, scroll down to "Tools" then "Accessibility" (F8)

    • Includes hints for generating Alt tags and link descriptions.
       

• Connect to American Federation for the Blind Accessibility Guidelines

• The bottom line: IT'S THE LAW!!! YOU MUST MAKE WEB PAGES ACCESSIBLE.

Next: Tools for Improving Websites