Website Accessibility, a Priority?

[espmartin]

Website Accessibility does not only help assure that everyone can surf your
website without hindrance, but did you know that making accessibility in
your design a priority will also assist users of PDA's, cell phones, and other
"alternative" browsers to view your site.

So besides the advantage of helping everyone with a PC, a MAC, or even a
Linux box succeed in surfing your site, you can even be one of the cool crowd
and show off your site to your friends on their iPhones.

So let me ask you all a couple of questions:

• How many of you all make accessibility a priority?
• How many of you all would like your sites accessible via a PDA or cell phone?

[ultimate handyman]

I think this is very important, I often test my site in firefox and very often something will screw up. Mobile phones are a big challenge and I try to make my sites mobile phone friendly, but it is often not easy!

[Resonate]

All my websites i aim for complete accessibility & i believe very highly in it.

[espmartin]

Just gave you some rep. Resonate

[Resonate]

Originally Posted by espmartin

Just gave you some rep. Resonate

Straight back at you, theres not many who even think about all elements of web standards but i can tell you do & i appreciate that immensely.

[TnT]

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.

[KingPin]

Originally Posted by espmartin

So let me ask you all a couple of questions:

• How many of you all make accessibility a priority?
• How many of you all would like your sites accessible via a PDA or cell phone?

Before I create any site and send the specs to my designer I research that industry very carefully to figure out my target audience and do a lot of competitive research and evaluate my competitors websites.

This enables me to rip apart their sites, take out the good bits and improve upon them.

Usability/accessibility is the most important thing when I design the website architecture. My designer and I will probably have several revisions of the site covering everything from colour to text font. I even ask for outside opinions before I make my mind up.

It's one thing for you to like it but how does the general public view it? you might love shocking pink but that could cost you sales.

Everything gets tested, download speeds, image speed load, everything.

Plus their are two types of user I have found. The type that love to browse every single product and the type that knows exactly what they want and just log on, log in and buy it.

Since the iPhone has been introduced and other phones, I have seen a dramatic increase in people buying things from my sites using their phones. So now every single e-commerce store I own is stripped out when it detects a mobile browser just to display "Whats Needed".

For example, the iPhone is not compatible with Flash so it's pointless showing that up.

I also think about users who are visually impaired and how I can enhance their experience.

The main thing for me is I treat my user/visitors like gods because if it was not for them I would not have a business and if I can enhance and make their visit more enjoyable then it can only be good right?

KP

Does anyone here know about any good online tool which check how accessible a website is?

[TnT]

WAVE - Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool is ok to use, but you're better off checking manually too. It will give you a good idea and a few pointers, but there's nothing better than a real check by a real person.

Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by TnT

WAVE - Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool is ok to use, but you're better off checking manually too. It will give you a good idea and a few pointers, but there's nothing better than a real check by a real person.

Hope that help!

Nice tool, thanks for sharing. + rep.