Web accessibility for all: A democratic issue
In the early 1990s, websites were mostly text based. Users surfing the web read one page of text after another. Today things are very different with the possibility to navigate a number of sites and reading very few words at a time. We have now become...
In the early 1990s, websites were mostly text based. Users surfing the web read one page of text after another. Today things are very different with the possibility to navigate a number of sites and reading very few words at a time. We have now become used to websites with rich and varied content, full of images, videos and flash animations.
However, one must not forget that there exist users that cannot see images and that navigation on the web nowadays has become more difficult. Whereas for seeing users, page layout is important, for visually impaired users, page layout does not mean much. It is important to note that a fairly large percentage of internet users are visually impaired to varying degrees. Whether they are blind, colour blind or simply see less than they once used to, a large percentage of users have sight problems which need to be recognised.
Most of the time, effort from the web development side would be minimal when compared to the great difference made to the users who manage to find the content of website accessible and their needs recognised.
Visually impaired users who are aware of their difficulties might use powerful assistive technology programmes to help them out through their navigation, such as ones that interpret text and page layouts, however such users still miss out on content in graphics and video.
In order to have content available to everyone, developers need to start designing websites with accessibility in mind from the planning stage at the very beginning. It is important that all content is accessible through multiple channels, at the very least it needs to be text-based, like the use of alternate text for images and links to video transcripts. A high contrast and high visibility version of the site is another thing which can be done to enhance usability for visually challenged users.
By doing this, not only visually impaired individuals will benefit but also other people with other disabilities. By following the idea of universal accommodation for one disability, a site becomes accessible for a varied range of disabilities.
Over the past few years, some browsers have been developed specifically to help people with disabilities.
This does not mean that development companies should not make improvements to make this design accessible to these particular groups.
Poorly constructed websites cause difficulties to alternate browsers to interpret correctly and thus prevent the website from making sense to the user. This is where web design which is accessible becomes crucial.
• Ms Suda is a director at Abakus Solutions, a web development company
However, one must not forget that there exist users that cannot see images and that navigation on the web nowadays has become more difficult. Whereas for seeing users, page layout is important, for visually impaired users, page layout does not mean much. It is important to note that a fairly large percentage of internet users are visually impaired to varying degrees. Whether they are blind, colour blind or simply see less than they once used to, a large percentage of users have sight problems which need to be recognised.
Most of the time, effort from the web development side would be minimal when compared to the great difference made to the users who manage to find the content of website accessible and their needs recognised.
Visually impaired users who are aware of their difficulties might use powerful assistive technology programmes to help them out through their navigation, such as ones that interpret text and page layouts, however such users still miss out on content in graphics and video.
In order to have content available to everyone, developers need to start designing websites with accessibility in mind from the planning stage at the very beginning. It is important that all content is accessible through multiple channels, at the very least it needs to be text-based, like the use of alternate text for images and links to video transcripts. A high contrast and high visibility version of the site is another thing which can be done to enhance usability for visually challenged users.
By doing this, not only visually impaired individuals will benefit but also other people with other disabilities. By following the idea of universal accommodation for one disability, a site becomes accessible for a varied range of disabilities.
Over the past few years, some browsers have been developed specifically to help people with disabilities.
This does not mean that development companies should not make improvements to make this design accessible to these particular groups.
Poorly constructed websites cause difficulties to alternate browsers to interpret correctly and thus prevent the website from making sense to the user. This is where web design which is accessible becomes crucial.
• Ms Suda is a director at Abakus Solutions, a web development company