Accessibility within web-based design
In order to gain the maximum benefit from your online presence, it’s essential that as many people as possible are able to use it. Your web site visitors should enjoy a positive browsing experience rather than a difficult or complicated one.
The key to achieving this is accessibility.
The importance of accessibility
Web accessibility is about making your site available and comprehensible to all users.
Placed into a more specific context, designing for accessibility means considering anyone who may have trouble using the internet, due to age or disability for example, and simplifying the way they comprehend, navigate and interrelate online.
Learning difficulties, problems with vision, hearing, agility and memory, or other physical disabilities, are all factors to consider.
You can achieve accessible design in a number of ways, such as creating enough of a contrast between the colours used in the foreground and the background, or by applying different text sizes to the layout of the site.
Using text that does not flicker or reposition, and adding alternative text descriptions to images are also ways of improving accessibility.
Clear text and design
Users with low levels of literacy or who are not fluent in the language in which the web site is written can also benefit from good accessibility. Clear and uncomplicated language will make it easier for those users to understand the text, as will additional images, and text that doesn’t blink or move.
Uniform design, navigation and links will also make the page clearer, allowing the user to find the information, or buy the product they want, more easily.
Devices to consider
Screen readers can help blind or dyslexic users by translating what is displayed on the monitor into audio output or refreshable Braille presentation - dots on refreshable Braille presentation displays are raised and lowered so that Braille can be read by the fingertips.
Alternative text for images can also be translated. Some people use text-only browsers, such as Lynx, in conjunction with screen readers.
Resizable fonts can be included in web design to help partially sighted users view web sites more clearly. Our Agewell in Sandwell web site, (http://www.agewellinsandwell.org.uk/), is a good example of doing so, providing users with a choice of small, medium or large text options.
Captions for aural subject matter allow users who are deaf, or hard of hearing, to follow visibly what other users can hear.
There are many devices that enable hands free interaction for users with paralysis, frailty, lack of feeling in the fingers, or limitations of dexterity, for example. It’s therefore essential that your site has a logical layout and navigational system so those users can easily find their way around it when using these devices (including head-pointers, the eye-gaze method and voice identification software).
Access keys
It’s also useful to consider access keys when designing your web site, especially when designing forms. Access keys, particularly useful for blind or dyslexic users, make it easy to fill in or skip through forms without the use of a mouse. Instead, the user can hold down the Alt key and the corresponding letter - for example, ‘s’ to submit the form, or ‘u’ to undo.
Access keys also enable the user to shortcut through a long list of links directly to the desired location. However, not all browsers support this attribute.
If designing with access keys in mind, web pages should be in a logical and structural manner to help users navigate efficiently.
Customer satisfaction
It’s not just people who would consider themselves to have some kind of disability or impairment who can take advantage of good web accessibility. Clear layouts, easily readable text passages, and a simple navigational system help to enhance the use of the internet for all users.
As more and more people come to depend on the web, it is of paramount importance that your site is accessible to everyone. If you increase the accessibility of your site, more people will be able to take advantage of it.
Can we help?
is about making your site available and comprehensible to
all users.