WEB ACCESSIBILITY

Accessible web design should not be mistaken for creating for the disabled. A large percentage of the general audience suffer from circumstances that alter their online experience compared to the vast majority.

25% of the Irish population are "functionally illiterate", meaning that while they can read to some degree, they would have difficulty reading a newspaper, filling in a form or following the instructions on a medicine bottle. The trick is to keep it simple.

Anyone, disabled or not, is entitled to the same online experience as everyone else.

• Visually Impaired Users - How To Help Them
  "A fairly large percent of Internet surfers are visually impaired. Whether members of this group are blind, colour blind or do not have the vision they once had, it's important their needs are recognised. Web designers should be aware to the importance of making websites accessible, aiding visually impaired users and the HTML guidelines to creating a universal design solution."
  

  
  
• Good Navigation - Reaching The Information Instantly
  "Creating good website navigation is one of the most important tasks a web designer has to accomplish in the web design process. Website navigation is the pathway people take to navigate through sites. It must be well constructed, easy to use and intuitive. Poor navigation hinders users and often, your site can prove to be less accessible than others."
  
  
  
• Liquid Design - A Step Forward To Making Web Sites Accessible
  "Liquid design is used in order to make websites more accessible and user-friendly. Among the many problems web designers often encounter, one in particular is this accessibility issue. The goal of liquid design is providing similar experience to people and eliminate possible irritating design flaws such as too much white space, disappearance of certain sectors of information due to lack of space."
  
  
  
• Improve Accessibility While Maintaining Design Attractiveness
  "The perception amongst designers that improving accessibility or designing accessible websites is a process that necessitates switching from visual attractiveness to extreme simplicity. If we look at this issue from the designers' point of view we see that making such a compromise is often something many are not willing to make."
  
  
  
• CSS Layouts Vs. Table Layouts - Alternate Browsers and Accessibility Issues
  "When developing a website one can choose between creating a CSS-based or TABLE-based website. Both types of layouts have advantages and disadvantages and perform quite differently. They also raise (or address) accessibility issues.
  
  
  
  
• Code Validation - Does It Really Help Users?
  "Using standard HTML code ensures that the website is written using the correct syntax. W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium has published specifications regarding HTML/XHTML and guidelines on how to use them to the best effect. The primary purpose of W3C's involvement in this area of web development is the standardisation of HTML code usage."
  
  
  
  
• Bobby WorldWide Web Accessibility Tool - How Accessible Is Your Web Site?
  "Because it covers all accessibility guidelines, Bobby can identify and report problems which are ultimately easy to fix but often overlooked. Web designers will find that by thoroughly going through the report and making minor changes to their website, the degree of accessibility will improved significantly."
  
  
  
  
  
• Flash - New Technology That Slows Down Users
  "In recent years the web appears to have become trendier and more multimedia oriented. While in some domains the new technologies work and prove successful in most cases they don't add to the user experience, on the contrary, they make browsing the Internet more difficult and time consuming."
  
  
  
  
  
• Design Guidelines To Making Websites Usable and Accessible
  "Design works differently in print than it does on the web because the online audience has different needs and expectations. While printed design has to persuade and be visually impressing, web design has to often pass unnoticed and let people reach the content quickly."

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