Web Accessibility Essentials
Web Accessibility refers to the development practice of creating websites that accommodate for people with disabilities. When websites are created properly, all users have equal access to the navigation, content and functionality of the page.
Web Accessibility covers all disabilities that could restrict access to the web, including auditory, visual, speech and neurological disabilities.
However, Web Accessibility does not only cover people with disabilities, but all limitations a user might face when browsing the web. For example, slow internet connection, javascript disabled, older versions of browsers…
Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
The WAI seeks to improve the accessibility of the web, as well as develop strategies, guidelines and resources. Below are some guidelines that can be taken into consideration when developing.
Web Accessibility Quick-tips
- Provide text alternatives for non-text content (eg. alt attribute for images)
- Provide captions or alternatives for audio and video
- Make content available to assistive technologies (eg. Screen readers & magnifiers, voice recognition software, touch screens)
- Use sufficient colors and contrast, to make the web page easier to read.
- Make all functionality keyboard accessible (eg. tab indexes)
- Make text easily readable and understandable
Making your website accessible
Making your website accessible can be simple or it can be complex, depending on factors such as the type of content, size and complexity of the site, and the development tools and environment used.
Many accessibility features are easily implemented if they are planned from the beginning of Web site development or redesign. Fixing inaccessible Web sites can require significant effort, especially sites that were not originally “coded” properly with standard XHTML markup, and sites with certain types of content such as multimedia.
The document “Implementation Plan for Web Accessibility” lists basic steps for addressing accessibility in Web projects. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and techniques documents provide detailed information for developers.
Evaluating web accessibility
When developing or redesigning a site, evaluating accessibility early and throughout the development process can identify accessibility problems early when it is easier to address them. Simple techniques such as changing settings in a browser can determine if a Web page meets some accessibility guidelines. A comprehensive evaluation to determine if a site meets all accessibility guidelines is much more complex.
There are evaluation tools that help with evaluation. However, no tool alone can determine if a site meets accessibility guidelines. Knowledgeable human evaluation is required to determine if a site is accessible.
The document “Evaluating Web Sites for Accessibility” provides guidance on preliminary reviews using techniques to quickly assess some of the accessibility problems on a site. It also provides general procedures and tips for evaluating conformance to accessibility guidelines.
References
For more detailed information on Web Accessibility I recommend accessites.org where you can see screenshots and discuss Web Accessibility with experts in the field. To see an excellant example comparing an accessible site with a non accessible site, visit http://www.w3.org/WAI/EO/2005/Demo/
