Website Accessibility

Since October 2004 legislation has been in place concerning the usability and accessibility of a website. HCOMS are proud that all our designs are stuctured to comply with all aspects of the Act, but this is not the only impetus for our policy.

It is common sense and ethical practice to make sure a website is designed to be available to as many people as possible.

Having an accessible site makes it available to more users and, in the case of e-commerce sites, gives you a larger customer base. For some businesses, an accessible website can make or break.

Remember: not everyone uses Internet Explorer.

What is important to remember, is that not everyone uses Internet Explorer as their browser, in fact only 60% of total internet users use Internet Explorer, and even less use the latest version. About 30% of web users use Mozilla Firefox (which is almost the majority share in terms of single browser) with the remainder using Safari and other browsers. Bearing in mind that they are the largest browsers, we must take. into account the browsers and functions that users may need and here is an example of some more commonly seen alternatives, together with their challengers for any web developer:

  • Lynx browser - Text-only browser with no support for tables, CSS, images, JavaScript, Flash or audio and video content.
  • WebTV - 560px in width with horizontal scrolling not available.
  • Screen reader - Page content read aloud in the order it appears in the HTML document.
  • Handheld device - Very small screen with limited support for JavaScript and large images.
  • Screen magnifier - As few as three to four words may be able to appear on the screen at any one time.
  • Slow connection (below 56kb) - Users may turn off images to enable a faster download time.
  • 1600px screen width - Very wide screen.

Therefore we need to be aware and be able to provide suitable solutions to address these:

  • Images - in the form of ALT text.
  • JavaScript - through the <noscript> tag.
  • Flash - with HTML equivalents.
  • Audio & video - by using subtitles or written transcripts.

For enhanced website accessibility we must always be careful how your pages look when support for CSS and/or tables have been removed.

Forms need to be accessible to all web users.

People use forms for all sorts of web based activities, such as:

  • E-commerce site.
  • Signing up to a newsletter.
  • Contact forms.

If your form is not accessible and you lose a potential customer then this equates to bad business. Most forms on the web suffer from accessibility issues. The two main reasons for this are:

  • Prompt text is incorrectly positioned.
  • Prompt text is unassigned to form items.

(Prompt text is the text that appears next to each form item, for example, ‘name’, ‘e-mail’, ‘comments’).

All users should be easily able to process all content on your page.

People rarely sit and read word for word on web pages, we scan through and pick out the bits of information we need. Portions of information are divided using headings, and these portions of information usually have important areas that may be highlighted by bold text. It is important to bear in mind that visually impaired, or non-keyboard users may 'tab' through headings to find information that they require.
Your site needs to be constructed of structural elements rather than presentational elements, make sure you are using the heading tags, list tags and descriptive links. We make sure to avoid using too many presentational elements i.e. not to use CSS to style your headings, instead alter the H element. This means that when they switch off styles, the heading will still stand out. If you stylize everything, then a user may not be able to differentiate between headings, paragraphs and lists.

The future of your site is in the users hands, they have the ultimate control.

Everybody has different ways of using the web, some users require larger text, some require keyboard only. We make sure that the user has control over the page so that they can make the most out of it. Especially when it comes to e-commerce sites as you want to have the largest customer base possible.

Do accessible websites have to look boring?

It is a common misconception that a website that is accessible cannot look good, and will look plain and boring. This is not true. With the correct website design and technological understanding an accessible website can still look and feel new and fresh. 

HCOMS are extremely well placed and experienced in website design to take website accessibility into account. All the websites we produce consider accessibility during the design process.

Though not fully tested in a court of law, a website is deemed as a service under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).