Lead Developer at Look Touch & Feel, Simon McFarlane, explains our "everyday approach" to Web Accessibility.
"We're often asked by clients what we do to ensure Accessibility. Whilst we realise that this is often just to enable a stakeholder to put a tick in a box, it's actually more important than many clients realise. BUT! Let's not get obsessive about it...it's about common sense as much as anything else.
The most important element required to make your site accessible is the use of well structured pages created using XHTML and CSS - the building blocks of your site.
Web users have many specific requirements... almost too many to list. Trying to second guess users wants and needs is very hard, and a bit of a red herring too.
What we typically do is completely separate the style from the content of the site using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). By using CSS the web user can customise their browser in anyway they wish. For example they can remove all the style, change font size, background colour... all with relative ease.
We ensure the content of the site is well structured using headings, paragraphs and lists... all images have an alternative text description for screen readers. We try where possible to keep the contrast high on text and if it doesn't affect the integrity of the design, we'll use underlines to signify links in the main body text.
Because of the well structured content; screen readers wouldn't have a problem with our sites. Most screen readers are separate programs which you install on your computer. Due to this there isn't much you can do apart from make your site reader friendly - which we have done.
We hide at the top of the screen 'skip to navigation' / 'skip to content' links which are specifically for screen readers to speed up the use of the site.
Internet Explorer 7 / 8, Firefox, Chrome and Opera all allow 'zooming' of site rather than just increasing the font size (Try holding down Ctrl and pressing +). This means everything gets bigger - in many ways this is more useful than simply increasing the font size...
Often we'll add an accessibility page to the site explaining what has been done and a link to the BBC accessibility site... this has lots of information, options and instructions: http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/
For example, all the methods on this page will work with the majority of sites we build: http://www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/win/sub_root.shtml.
If you'd like to know more about Web Accessibility or our methods for designing and developing websites, just drop us an email (rick@ltf.email) or give us a call (01327 828 443)"
Graphic and Web Design in Daventry and Northampton from Look Touch & Feel Design
Leave your name and email and we will continue to deliver you insights into Digital Marketing:
Home