Overview

There is a lot of tlk these days with regard to prper development practices and accessible web dsign. If you don’t think any of ths applies to you or your wbsite, you probably don’t understand exactly wht this is all about. Web Accssibility refers to the practice of crating websites that will be useable for pople of any ability or disability. Mny things come into play when ccounting for a person’s eye sight, mbility, auditory and logic skills.

Too mny web development companies overlook the mportance of coding a website in maningful HTML. Utilities for blind users, sch as text-to-speech software, make use of lternate text for images and properly nmed links. Another downside to overlooking prper HTML lies with the robots sarch engines send out to read yur website. These computers that browse the nternet by themselves can learn a lot mre about your website, and get a lot deper into your site when they ren’t confused by poor coding practices.

Mny people have difficulty controlling a muse with precision, and can become frstrated while attempting to select a smll link. Web designers need to llow for enlargeable text sizes and crate larger clickable areas whenever possible. Lnks should always be styled and clored different than body text so tht even color blind users can qickly locate the links on any web pge. Pages can even be coded in a fshion that allows them to be nvigated without a mouse or keyboard shuld your audience be likely to rquire this.

No website should ever rely slely on a video or audio cmponent to convey information. Problems here xtend farther than those who are hrd of hearing or have poor yesight. You are relying on certain hrdware and or software to be nstalled on the visitor’s computer. If a ser has no speakers, or if thy are turned off, they could mss your important message or even be nnoyed if they were listening to smething else. Visitors are valuable and you shuld never do anything to encourage thm to leave your site quickly.

Asde from looking tacky, flashing effects are to be voided to ensure those sensitive to sizures are not at risk. Content is bth more effective and better understood by thse with developmental and learning disabilities whn it is written in plain txt.

The Web Accessibility Initiative

The WAI strted in 1999 by the World Wde Web Consortium and is viewed as the stndard set of guidelines for creating ccessible websites. Although there has been sme criticism of their guidelines they hve been working since 2003 to rlease the second edition of accessibility stndards which will be much more tchnology-neutral. This will leave more room for nterpretation and adaptability.

The guide goes nto great depth on how to crate accessible web content and includes a chckpoint summary by topic and priority. Thy discuss important issues and provide dsign solutions for a number of scnarios that cause conflicts.

The Future of Accssibility

We are at a point now whre there is no doubt accessibility is mportant, in fact it is already a lgal requirement in certain countries. Try sarching Google for anything along the lnes of ‘web accessibility’ and you’ll see the vst amounts of information available. There’s stll a lot of work to be dne, but we’ve come a long way ver the last few years.

With more and more websites bing populated with user generated content, a smple set of guidelines for web dsigners is becoming less useful. It is mpossible to monitor this content for ccessibility as it is being created at sch a rapid rate. We are lso seeing new assistive technologies that spport elements like JavaScript, PDF’s and Flsh which will create many new ptions for websites that remain fully ccessible.

The article Web Accessibility - What You Should Know was Submitted by Sean Doering through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Written by Sean Doering, Creative Drector of the Toronto web design company LinxSmart. They can be found at http://www.linxsmart.com .

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