What is an accessible website?
An accessible website is designed so that all the information on the site can be read by the greatest number of visitors as possible, including
- visitors with visual impairments and disabilities
- visitors unable to use a mouse, who must navigate and interact with web pages using a keyboard only.
Aspects of an accessible website are:
- Users must be able to resize the main text content (using their browser's text-size or zoom controls, usually under the 'View' menu)
- Blind/partially blind users should be able to navigate and and read a website using assistive technology such as screenreaders
- Users must be able to navigate around each page on a site, and between pages and sections of a site, using a keyboard only. The should equally be able to complete search, enquiry/contact and e-commerce forms with keyboard only, without the need for a mouse.
What this means in practice:
- All images used to convey information on a web page (illustrative photographs, diagrams, graphs etc) should have a text-only explanation of what such images convey, for those browsing with images turned off.
- The same applies to Flash or other animations, videos and all other informative visual media - a text-only alternative to these should always be provided.
- Web pages which use Javascript to create special visual effects, drop-down menus etc should also be easily viewable when Javascript is switched off in the browser.
- Pages need to include code to allow easy navigation around the page, and between pages, using the keyboard only. Among other things, a logical ('hierarchical') page structure and site structure contributes much to such accessibility.
The benefits of making a website as accessible as possible from the outset far exceed the small amount of extra work involved when making a new site.
Existing sites with accessibility issues due to outdated design and coding will similarly reap significant rewards when re-designed for accessibility, quite apart from current and future legal requirements in this respect, especially for websites in the voluntary sector.
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