Hi
It's the first time I've actually come across this subject being taken seriously, one site my wife and I work on is Trust-Ed.org a charity set up to aid children and their families who have an acquired brain injury.
They wanted a simple, basic site that had to be accessible, the site is still being developed, but eventually there will be resources on there aimed at the very individuals who may find small text, moving a mouse etc. problematic. It's a long arduous learning curve, we've just got a streaming video onsite, we now have to work out a way of providing a transcript for people to use.
Testing the site with various online checkers is fine, but it's the real people you need to test the site. Also to be able to get a unique prospective of how they actually see or hear a site. Blind people are often left out and not so long back I was able to experience first hand what a web site sounds like to a blind person, tag lines being read out or certain quotes, brackets, strong tags, they certainly know their html off by heart whilst surfing the net!
When website design first took off when we were all playing with 33.3 and 56k modems it was how many cool quick downloadable graphics can you put on one site, roll over images, java pictures, and then with the launch of broadband we had all flash sites, every site created was full of design and colour. Thankfully, despite our increased Internet speed, sites are starting to become simple in nature, pleasing to the eye, coordinated colours, graphics and design are being used appropriately and gradually they're becoming more accessible. What people tend to forget with the new EU and DDA regulations, it's only going to take one individual, or a group to pursue a website over an accessibility issue, which in turn raises a whole new debate.
I've heard of a few cases against companies who's sites were not accessible, they've not received that much media coverage, but what would happen to the vast majority of websites and designs that would come under a breach of accessibility?
So for every new website out there, accessibility has to be a priority, I think especially for those from this forum who rely upon revenue from their websites with adverts / click thru's products on commerce sites etc. I think we all need to remember that blind, deaf and people suffering motability and coordination issues also participate in surfing the net They to are customers and visitors to those of us who have websites. Plus, don't forget that the more accessible your site, the better it will be for everyone out there who comes across it.
It's only going to take one media charged case to bring a halt to flashy websites and poor design - which may or may not be a good thing. How would we all verse in having to meet strict enforced guidelines over content and design? It’s better to start now than later.
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