Web Accessibility

Today's post will be about a recent presentation on Web Accessibility, conducted by Lucy Dodd. Dodd worked as an accessibility specialist at BBC and therefore has exceptional knowledge on the subject. The presentation tackled some basic difficulties that users might have when using a web site.

I had never given any though of how a website would look to a person with disabilities. The presentation talked about different disabilities that users might have and the difficulties they may encounter. Different methods exist, that web site developers can implement to improve accessibility to these users. In the presentation, different tools help developers achieve these tasks where mentioned. These tools include software that can test web sites for their accessibility. Some of the methods illustrated are quite simple to achieve but sometimes they are not implemented simply because developers are external to these user accessibility problems.

There were several disabilities discussed but they can be categorized into: Auditory, Cognitive and Neurological, Physical, Speech and Visual disorders. Some of the solutions are easy to think of, for example a good choice of colors and large fonts for people with slight vision disorders, and subtitles or video descriptions for users with hearing disorders. Other solutions are harder to think of, especially because you have to know what technologies are available to provide the appropriate accessibility. People with no Vision use text readers which read out the text contained in the websites. If the content of the web site is not well structured, people using text readers may find it difficult to find what they are looking for.

Standards are important when creating a website. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is a group that provides a list of accessibility standards and Guide lines that should be followed when creating a website. The page http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/people-use-web/browsing provides a paragraph that describes briefly the software and hardware used to improve interaction with the web. Along with the screen readers which I already mentioned, other technologies can be used. People with low vision may use screen magnifiers such that text can be large enough for them to read. Users who cannot use keyboard or mouse may use voice recognition software and selection switches to allow them to browse through the web. Since these users use different hardware, it is important to make website that work with all types of inputs such that they do not rely on one type of hardware only.

Usage of external technologies such as flash and scripting languages may make pages look better but may also decrease usability for certain users. For example, if text in flash objects is not read by screen readers, people with no vision would not be able to use the website. A lot of animations may also disturb some users, so websites should avoid using to many animations, or provide a way to stop them. The same things apply to the use of sound and music.

Another thing which I had never though of, is the level English used in a website. The content should use plain and simple English such that everyone can understand it. It is not the first time you enter a website and get confused on what to do next. Well to people with lesser knowledge of the English language or to people who have lesser knowledge of computers, orientation in these sites may be even harder.

I think that web developers should be aware of the different difficulties users might have and should also use the different guidelines which can be easily found on the internet. Since web is for every one, it should be also accessible to everyone when possible. For obvious reasons these guidelines are more important to heavily used websites but this dos not mean they should be ignored when creating small websites. This presentation introduced me to an important perspective which I never though of.