Web Site Accessibility

The growth of the internet means people with disabilities now have the opportunity to enjoy the wealth of information and services which were previously unavailable to them, from up-to-the-minute news and travel timetables to online shopping and banking. With the help of synthesised speech and braille display technology, even completely blind people can use the web.

For these access technologies to work properly, web pages must be appropriately designed and must be written in valid hypertext mark-up language (HTML). Many sites are totally unusable by visually impaired people simply because they are poorly designed and are written in incorrectly formatted HTML. Web sites should be accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities, but many web designers fail to recognise this. The internet is an information medium, but many web designers still think of it as a purely visual medium, and are unaware even that visually impaired people can access the web.

Many people with sight problems have some useful vision, and read web pages in exactly the same way as fully sighted people: with their eyes. However the needs of people with poor sight vary considerably, depending on how their eye condition affects their vision. Some people require large text, while others can read only smaller letters. Most need a highly contrasting colour scheme, and some have very specific needs, for example yellow text on a black background. To cater for everyone, web sites should be flexible in design, enabling individual users to use their own browser to adjust the text and colour settings to suit their own particular needs and circumstances.

People with very little or no vision, on the other hand, read web pages with the help of access technology installed on their computer. Synthesised speech software can read the content of web pages aloud through a speaker, while braille software can output the same content to a retractable braille display so that the web page can be read by touch. Good design is essential for people accessing the web through such technology - poor design can render a site completely inaccessible.

An accessible web site is one that can be accessed by anyone. In this context, the essence of good design involves ensuring a text alternative exists for every non-text element on the web page. It is perfectly possible to produce an attractive, dynamic design that is fully accessible. Web sites that are designed intelligently benefit everyone - not just people with disabilities.

With over 2 million visually impaired people in the UK, can you afford to miss out on their spending power?