Accessible Web Design
Web Accessibility means your web site can be used and viewed by anyone, accessible design is not just about making content available for users with disabilities, we take a broader view that your site should be accessible to users despite visual impairment, browser version or viewing device.
'The power of the web is its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect'
Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and Inventor of the World Wide Web.
Many 'professionally designed' web sites simply don't work across different mainstream browsers, never mind allowing for disabled, visually impaired users, or those who wish to view the web through different devices such as mobile phones or Web TV.
'90% of FTSE web sites fail basic levels of accessibility standards'
Abilitynet (www.abilitynet.org.uk).
There are many reasons why a web site may not be accessible:-
- The web site was designed before the advent of accessibility standards and guidelines, and may use older non-standards compliant code.
- The web site may make use of 'proprietry' tags in the coding which are only supported by one or a small number of browsers.
- Accessibility may not have been considered at all in the design.
- Designers who use WYSIWYG software to create web sites often don't understand what code is written to the page.
If a web site is not accessible, then a user may experience great difficulty in navigating around the site and may not be able to do anything at all. Common causes of accessibility issues that a user may face are:-
- User may be visually impaired and need to use an increased font size on the screen.
- May have poor or restricted motor skills, and so use keyboard for navigation instead of a mouse.
- May require the use of screen reading or other such software to interpret content.
- May have a low screen resolution, common on older PC's.
It is important to remember that all users not just those with a recognized disability can face these issues. If you are using a laptop it if often easier to navigate via the keyboard rather using a touch pad, equally we can all suffer from restricted motor skills as a result of an injury or illness.
If a user cannot access your web site easily they will become irritated and are likely to leave your site never to return.
The Case for Accessible Design.
If you already have a web site and you are happy with its performance, why should you care about accessibility?
Ethical Case
As a responsible business you aim to build a level of trust with your customer base and the community as a whole. If your site excludes sections of that community how does that reflect upon your company's reputation?
A key benefit of e-business is that you empower your customers to shop where and when they like, denial of this service restricts personal choice and freedom. Many business have benefited from the reduced costs of doing business online, and offer incentives and discounts for purchases made via the web. By not allowing all users to benefit from these incentives your are in effect discriminating against a portion of your customer base.
The Legal Case
In the UK, the Disability Discrimination Act has been in effect from 1st October 1999. The act covers disabled access to buildings, packaging, signage and the web. There are some gray areas as to how a company should act to comply with the act, but the key elements are :-
- Web sites should be accessible, and if they are not they are in breach of the act.
- Applicable to web sites covering goods and services, education and charitable activities.
- There is no defined level of accessibility only guidelines (see next section).
Whilst there are is no strict legal definition of what is an accessible web site, the accepted standard is the AA Rating as specified in the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines formulated by the W3C.
As a web site exists in a space that is a far more flexible than a physical building, it is likely that whilst there may remain to be significant exemptions for modifying existing bricks and mortar premises, these will not apply to the web.
The Business Case
Moving to an accessible design is a win/win situation. Disabled or restricted users will be able to use your site and existing users will experience no negative impact, moreover the simplified navigation is likely to significantly enhance their experience.
Increase your market share; just over 10% of the UK population have some form of disability, and it is precisely because of mobility issues that these users will increasingly turn to the web to consume goods and services. A high proportion of web users are over the age of 50, statistically 20% of this group will have some form of visual impairment and this demographic has one of the highest percentages of disposable income.
Not just people with disabilities benefit, as the uptake of 3G mobile data increases, users will want to view your site through their mobile phone. Additionally pages can be prepared to be printer friendly and so ensure a consistent professional image both online and offline.
The underlying changes to the code also lead to smaller file sizes and faster loading pages and are easily read and indexed appropriately by Search Engine robots.
The key Advantages of Accessible Design are:-
- Increase the size of your market
- Provide an improved service to existing customers
- Benefit from increased usage of mobile devices.
- Ensure a consistent professional image across media formats
- Faster loading pages
- Improved indexing of your website in Search Engines.