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The Disability Discrimination
Act says that websites must be made accessible to disabled
people. So how can you check that your website is up to
par? There are a number of basic tests you can make to
address some of the main issues that provide a good start
in increasing accessibility to your site visitors:
1. Check informational
images for alternative text
Place the cursor over an
informational image, for example, the organisation logo.
Does a yellow box appear with a brief, accurate
description of the image? For users whose browsers do not
support images, this alternative text is what they will
see (or hear) in place of the image.
2. Check decorative images
for alternative text
Place the cursor over a
decorative image that does not have any function other
than to look nice. Does a yellow box appear with a
description of the image? It should not. There is no
reason for users whose browsers do not support images to
know that this image is there, as it serves no purpose.
Be careful though as this
is not a foolproof test. If a yellow box does not appear,
this could mean one of two things:
- The alternative text of
the image is assigned a null value, which means that it
will be ignored by browsers that do not support images.
This is the ideal scenario.
- The alternative text of
the image is simply not set at all, which means that users
whose browsers do not support images will be alerted to
its existence but will be unable to find out what purpose
it carries – something which is very frustrating! This
is certainly not the desired outcome.
3. ‘Listen’ to any
video or audio content with the volume turned off
If you turn your speakers
off, you are clearly unable to listen to, or follow, any
audio content. This situation is faced by a deaf person on
a daily basis. Ensure your website supplies written
transcripts, so that deaf people can understand the
message that your website is conveying.
4. Check that forms are
accessible
Usually there is prompt
text next to each item in a form. For example, a contact
form might have the prompt text ‘name’, ‘e-mail’,
and ‘comments’, each one next to a box where your site
users will enter the information. When you click on the
prompt text, does a flashing cursor appear in the box next
to that text? If not, your forms are inaccessible.
5. Check that text can be
resized
In Internet Explorer (used
by over 90% of Internet users) go to View > Font size
> Largest. Does the text on your website increase in
size? If not, then your website is inaccessible to web
users with poor visibility.
6. Check your website in
the Lynx browser
The Lynx browser is a
text-only browser and does not support many of the
features that other browsers such as Internet Explorer
have. You can check how your site looks in this browser
with the Lynx Viewer, available at
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html. If your website
makes sense and can be navigated through the Lynx browser,
then it will be fulfilling many of the web accessibility
guidelines.
7. Check that you can
access all areas of your website without the use of a
mouse
Can you navigate through
your website using just tab, shift-tab and return? If not,
then neither can keyboard- and voice-only users.
8. Check that there is a
site map
Can you find a site map? If
not, then neither can people who are lost on your website.
9. Ensure link text makes
sense out of context
Blind Internet users often
browse websites by tabbing from one link to the next. Does
all the link text on your website make sense out of
context? ‘Click here’ and ‘more’ are two common
examples of non-descriptive link text.
10. Check your web pages
with an automated program
Two programs available for
free on the Internet are Bobby (
http://bobby.watchfire.com ) and Wave (
http://www.wave.webaim.org ). They are unable to provide
you with all the information that you need, as some checks
must be done by humans, but they can tell you some of the
areas where your site might be going wrong.
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About
The Author
This
article was written by Trenton Moss. He's
crazy about web usability and
accessibility - so crazy that he went and
started his own web usability and
accessibility consultancy ( Webcredible - http://www.webcredible.co.uk
) to help make the Internet a better place
for everyone. |
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