AccessibilityIs your web site open to all?

There are tens of billions of web pages online and they all have one thing in common…

textmark-up language

hyper

And there’s one important group of users for whom text is all that matters…

search engines

search engineslike to see you nakedand that means no socks either

Web standards…A user centred approach

• Text should be independent of its presentation• It’s inherently more adaptable to other devices (eg: mobiles) and

more malleable to the specific needs of particular users• It’s also easier to redesign: just change the stylesheet

• Your site should not be reliant upon JavaScript• Around 1 in 20 people turn JavaScript off

• Your site will work on all modern web browsers• (Internet Explorer dominates but 1 in 10 users don’t use it)

• Web standards are the future of the semantic web• The process of making content more meaningful to both people

and machines

Web standards are…Consistent with good accessibility

• Search engines can properly evaluate your content• And may attribute more value to it than they would otherwise

• Your web site will be DDA compliant• A legal obligation but particularly important if you have public

sector customers/clients• Your pages will be leaner and load quicker

• If your site has really high volumes of users, this can lower your hosting costs

• Your site can be delivered to mobiles more easily

Some resources for your designerIf they’re any good, this will be old news to them!

This page is 4 years old, but still a great primer on the issues…www.hotdesign.com/seybold Web forms pose particular

difficulties for users with disability if done badly. This site explains how to do them well…www.websemantics.co.uk/tutorials/accessible_forms

This presentation available at www.slideshare.net/tag/impact-071031