Making web sites accessible
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Many web sites were designed with an 'average user' in mind. The problem with designing for the average user is that many users are decidedly non-average. Sites that have not been designed with the non-average user in mind are almost always inaccessible to those users. Those users make up around a fifth of your potential audience (Source: W3C statistics).
An accessible site has well structured code that can be interpreted by a variety of browsers, search engines and access-tools. It provides non-visual equivalents to visual elements, adds underlying navigation features (such as access-keys, skip links and relational navigation), and uses clear language. These things are all additive (they do not take away any existing functions of your site), and can be implemented without affecting the visual design.
Accessible web sites ensure that users with visual, mobility, language and other impairments, major or minor, are not excluded from the information or services that a site provides. But accessible web sites are more accessible for everyone, not just for people with disabilities. Accessible sites welcome users who do not or cannot use javascript, cookies or flash; users with slow bandwidth connections; or who are using alternative access methods (anything from a palmtop to a mobile phone, a text-browser to a screen-reader).
Many corporate firewalls block scripts and cookies at various levels of security. Sites that rely on Javascript or cookies can be rendered unusable to theses users. 13% of users do not use javascript (source: the Counter.com global statistics, May 2003), and many more use javascript, but restrict or block cookies.
PDA users have smaller screens than desktop users, and often switch off images to conserve bandwidth. Often javascript implementation is limited, and images are resized to fit on the screen, often pixellating in the process. 2.8 million PDAs were sold in Western Europe in 2002, of which over a million could connect wirelessly to the web. Forecasts for 2003 are 3.9 million and over 2 million respectively. (Source: eTForecasts, 2003).
An estimated 1 in 5 users block pop-ups (Source: Internet Marketing Center); AOL, Norton Personal Firewall and the Google toolbar have in-built popup-blocking capability. If you are relying on pop-ups for any key functionality, such as your sign-in procedure, you will be losing many of your users. Accessible sites avoid calling pop-ups or new windows wherever possible, and where it is unavoidable, ensures that the user is informed that a link will open a new window.
Not everyone has access to broadband, and many people still haven't made the move to a 56k modem. New technologies such as Smartphones and PDAs with wireless web access also have much slower connection rates. An accessible site makes sure that users with slow connections can turn off images and still have an elegant, well designed, informative and navigable website. UK Narrowband connections (i.e. 56k or slower) still outweigh broadband connections by 2:1 (Source: Neilsen//Netratings, Jan 2003). 15% of UK users are connecting at slower than 56k (Source: Neilsen//Netratings, Jan 2003)
Thanks to its excellent ranking system, Google has grown to be the world's largest and most popular search engine, reporting what it finds to over 200 million users every day. Accessible pages make ranking highly in Google a more realistic prospect. Google loves pages that are also easy work for a blind user: pages that are well structured when read linearly; that use heading tags appropriately; that do not rely on JavaScript to work; and that provide good text equivalents for images. In effect, making your site accessible means that Google can get to know what language your page is written in, what your page is about and which of the text is most important.
The web changes the nature of disability. Deaf users are at little disadvantage in cyberspace, whereas colour blindness or dyslexia can be significant problems. Most accessibility issues are to do with allowing for users who have visual, language or mobility impairments. Mobility impairments include everything from rheumatism to tendonitis, tennis elbow to cerebral palsy. Language impairments can stem from dyslexia, as well as a host of social reasons -- 15% of the population have reading difficulties. Visual impairments include various kinds of blindness, as well as colour blindness, and simply weak sight. If you're over forty, you've probably been frustrated already by a standard font size that's too small to read.
Users with disabilities are a substantial, poorly served market in the UK, who gain particular benefits from online transactions. A well designed, accessible site gives you access to this eager audience.
Some clients make themselves accessible because their audience demands it. Some because their audience is smaller without it. Some to avoid lawsuits. Some to tap a poorly served market. Some simply because it's the right thing to do. All of these are excellent reasons for making your site accessible.
Communis will help you to understand in real terms the costs and benefits of making your site accessible. We avoid jargon, and will explain simply and clearly the difficulties that a person with a visual, mobility or language impairment would face when trying to access your site or intranet. We will make recommendations as to how your site can be modified to improve accessibility, without compromising the overall design of your site.
Contact us at info@communis.co.uk to discuss your requirements.
See also: Comply with the Law - find out your obligations
links to published materials commenting on various aspects of accessibility on the web.
Beyond Accessibility: Treating Users with Disabilities as People by Jakob Nielsen, Useit.com
"As long as companies and government agencies view accessibility as solely a matter of complying with regulations and technical specifications, rather than a way to support the work practices and customer needs of people with disabilities, equal opportunity will remain a travesty."
Why Bobby Approved Is Not Enough by Frank Gaine, Evolt.org
"It should be remembered that the Bobby test does not ensure 'real' accessibility. Firstly, "Bobby Approved" is based on passing the Priority 1 checkpoints alone. Many now believe that if a site is to be truly accessible it should pass the Priority 2 checkpoints also. Indeed, if we are to look at initiatives at European Union level we should expect Priority 2 compliance to be the benchmark going forward."
Accessibility: The Politics of Design by Alan Herrell, aListApart
"Accessibility in website design is not a crisis of confidence; it is a challenge to your creativity, knowledge, and ability to create a Web for everyone. Governments will do it, because it is our tax dollar. Companies will do it because it is a bottom line issue."
Access: Everybody Wins by D. Keith Robinson, aListApart
"There are more than 750 million people worldwide with disabilities. Approximately 43 million Americans have a disability of some type, and about 15 percent of the population has a disability 'severe enough to interfere with work or otherwise constitute a serious handicap.' Many of these people use the Web, and many of them are not getting the content they need or want."
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