Web accessibility
Web accessibility refers to the practice of making pages on the Internet accessible to the widest number of users.
Graphically intensive pages, for example, may be virtually useless to those without high-speed internet. deaf people, meanwhile, may have difficulty fully understanding pages with audio components.
Most accessibility initiatives, however, have been geared towards the blind and visually impaired.
People with visual impairment may use text-based or aural browsers, such as Jaws and Window-Eyes to read text on the internet and worldwide web. These programs work best when web pages are designed in a specific way. Those pages that do not meet certain specifications are inaccessible to the blind.
The World Wide Web Consortium recommends that designers adopt the following techniques to increase accessibility:
- The use of alt attributes to describe the content or function of visuals, such as animations and images
- The use of client-side map element and text for image maps
- The use of descriptions for video content
- The use of hypertext links that make sense when read out of context
- The Employment of headings, lists, and consistent page structure to make navigation easier
- The use of Cascading Style Sheets, rather than tables, for layout and style
- 'The summarisation of graphs and charts, or use of the longdesc attribute
- The development of alternative content for scripts, plug-ins and applets, in case active features are not accessible, or are unsupported by the user's browser
- The use of a noframes element, and meaningful titles on framed pages, limiting the use of frames if possible
- The organisation of tabular data so that it reads sensibly in linear form
- The summarisation of tables
- The use of validation tools