HCOMS :: Accessible Websites
Since October 2004 legislation has been in place concerning the usability and accessibility of a website. It is not just the fear of the implications of not complying with this act that we design our websites for accessibility in mind.
It is common sense and ethical practice to make sure a web site 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 them.
Remember: not everyone uses internet explorer.
What is important to remember, is that not everyone uses internet explorer, in fact only 60% the people who use the internet 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, and about 10% safari and others. Bearing in mind that they are the largest browsers, we then have to take into account the browsers or functions that some user may need to use, here is an example of some more commonly seen alternatives:
- 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, you need to be able to provide alternatives to:
- 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 you must also 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
- Signing up to a newsletter
- Contact forms
For example, someone is on your website and they want to buy something, but the form isn't accessible and you lose a potential customer, which equates as 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 up 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 my 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. Avoid using too many presentational elements i.e. try 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. You need to 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.
Request a Website Quote
Do accessible websites have to look boring?
It is a common misconception that a website that is accessible cannot look good, but instead 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. For example, the website you are on now, www.hcoms.co.uk, is accessible and we think it looks good!
We at HCOMS are extremely well placed and experienced in website design that takes website accessibility into account. All the websites that we now produce comsider 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)