An Accessible Web Site for Everyone?

Your organization's new Web site is jam-packed with images andrelevant information, and it's easy to navigate, too. Mission accomplished, job done, nothing more to do here, right?

Before you answer that, you should ask yourself the followingquestions: Is your Web site usable by someone who is blind? What about by a person who doesn't have the use of her hands? What if the user is cognitively impaired? How can you tune your site to be readable by everyone?

Most Web sites, about 81 percent of them, fail to satisfy even the most basic accessibility requirements, according to an April 2004 Disability Rights Commission report (PDF).

If your site isn't accessible, you're leaving out the nearly 20 percent of Americans (10 percent of Europeans) who have a disability of some kind, including those who have carpal tunnel syndrome, arthritis in their hands, dyslexia, or are colorblind. (In fact, 8 percent of men and 0.4 percent of women are colorblind.)

A Better Solution

At the moment, there isn't a technology that enables everyone unlimited access to the Internet. At least, not yet. So for now, screen readers for the blind or low-vision users, refreshable Braille displays, and voice-activated or speaking browsers, adapted keyboards are all helping to make the Web an easier place to visit.

When designing a Web site, not only do you have to adapt it to be useful to those with a large range of disabilities, you also have to consider the software and hardware that people might use to access your site. There are many variables and combinations to consider. Are your visitors using an assistive technology? How big is their monitor? What browser are they using? Are they using the large fonts setting?

At the moment, all browsers and readers display or read a Web page following the same standards. The answer to a better Web experience for everyone is for developers to put these technologies and standards into common usage.

Instead of trying to figure out the devices and settings your visitors are using and then trying to compensate, try following some basic guidelines to increase accessibility.

1. Stick to a consistent, easy-to-use navigation and page layout with distinct headers and sections. This will help those who are cognitively disabled to understand your site and enable people who are using a screen reader to hear your site logically and in the intended order. Besides, good navigation is generally a good usability feature for all of your users.
2. Create a site map and a highly noticeable link to it. A site map makes it easier for everyone to find what they're looking for.
3. Keep your headers simple. And, if appropriate, try to simplify your text. (This doesn’t mean you need to remove your content, just try to include some clarification to make sure everyone can easily understand important information.)
4. Keep your layout fluid. That way, it's usable no matter what the screen size or resolution.
5. The proper use of headers, labels, form legends, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), semantic layout (the structure of the HTML code), and clean, error-free code will go a long way in making a site accessible.
6. Follow the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Web Accessibility Guidelines. These include adding alternative text in all images and putting title tags inside of all links. Here are the complete W3C Web Accessibility guidelines .

The End Result

Given the amount of variables, creating a site that everyone can read is a daunting task. But it doesn't have to be. Don't expect to control how your site will look on all of your readers' hardware and software. Instead, create a flexible site to accommodate all of your users, regardless of the assistive technologies they use.

When you can separate content from presentation, the same content can be viewed in many different ways. Using the W3C Guidelines can make your standards-based sites more flexible and better able to serve the diverse needs of your readers.