Beyond The Net
Make your site accessible to all
Take a fresh look at your website today, study the design and interface, the colors and images, and then imagine what it would be like if you couldn't actually see it.
Internet users who are blind or have limited vision use synthetic speech synthesizers to ''read'' websites and refreshable Braille displays that translate Web content. But if you don't design your site to be accessible to these special programs, users may not be able to understand the information on your Web pages.
Designing a site that is accessible requires a little more attention to detail, but mostly it's about following good interface and design rules.
And the benefits go far beyond reaching people with disabilities. Accessible Web design also makes sites work better in language translation programs and can help ensure content displays well in some of the newest browsers, such as those for PDAs and other wireless devices, which only display text.
Estimates vary, but according to the annual user survey by Georgia Tech University, more than 7 percent of the Internet audience in the United States cannot view a site that does not comply with accessibility requirements. That market segment will increase as more Americans over the age of 55 adopt an online lifestyle and choose to use browsers with speech synthesizers. These programs are also used by people who cannot use their hands well enough to work a keyboard or mouse.
Government organizations have been required to comply with accessibility issues since 1998, when the Rehabilitation Act was amended to require that all federal agencies ''give disabled employees and members of the public access to information that is comparable to the access available to others.'' (www.section508.gov)
Today, more commercial sites are catching on to the importance of accessibility and all three of the most popular Web design programs -- Adobe GoLive ( www.adobe.com), Macromedia Dreamweaver ( www.macromedia.com/macromedia/accessibility ), and Microsoft FrontPage ( www.microsoft.com/enable ) -- include features designed to make it easier to develop accessible websites.
Adobe is also working to make it possible to make PDF files more accessible, and HiSoftware ( www.hisoftware.com ) is creating multimedia and content management solutions that enable accessible design. ''You wouldn't build a storefront with a door that prevented one out of 10 of your potential customers from coming in,'' said Tom McCain, an Indianapolis Web designer who has made accessible design a specialty.
Many websites rely heavily on graphics and multimedia to convey information, which works for graphical browsers such as Netscape and Internet Explorer but can make sites impossible to decipher by programs that can only read text, McCain said. ``You can do accessible design and still have visually-appealing sites. All you have to do is make sure the information is available through multiple means.''
Try this simple test to see how well the content and links on your site are organized. Imagine that you are reading your website to someone over the phone. Start at the top of the page and read all of the content from left to right. Does it make sense? How long would it take the person on the other end of the phone to find the information they wanted if this was the only way they could access the information on your site?
Here are a few tips for creating accessible websites:
- Use alternative text for images and multimedia. Also known as ''Alt'' text, alternative text is an option in HTML (the language used to create Web pages) that provides a text description if the image or multimedia file can not be displayed. Alternative text is especially important when you use images as links because screen readers can't decipher text in an image.
- Create links that have clear descriptions about where they go, group related information together, and be consistent about where navigation links are located so they are easy to find on all of your pages.
- Choose colors carefully. If you are distinguishing sections of your site with color-coding, remember that won't mean anything to someone who can't see it. Also be careful to provide enough contrast between text and background colors that those who are visually impaired can still decipher the words. For example, lightcolored text on a light background is much harder to read than dark text on a light background.
- If you use multimedia, provide transcripts of audio and text descriptions of video and animation files.
- Test for missing Alt text and other technical problems at The Center For Applied Special Technology site. You can enter the address of any website into their online testing tool, called Bobby, and get a free report listing errors or omissions that may limit accessibility.
To learn more about accessible design, check out the free online tutorial at McCain's site at www.crittur.com/access, visit www.webable.com and study the official Web Accessibility Guidelines at www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT.
First publication, The Miami Herald, Mon, Jun. 03, 2002
