Web standards and accessibility

Web standards and accessibility are very important issues in the world of web development. Many people don't realise that in the UK it is actually a legal requirement for websites, which provide services to the public, to not discriminate against users with disabilities.

If you are currently looking to develop a new website or update your existing one, you should ensure that your web designer will build a site that meets with the accessibility guidelines set out by the Web Accessibility Initiative WAI. These guidelines describe the various standards a website must meet, to be able to cope with the demands of being accessed by users of varying needs and disabilities, using a range of technologies and browsers

These guidelines are broken down into a number of categories and I have summarised them briefly below.

Guideline 1. Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

If your website is using images or multimedia, then it must be able to cope if these can not be viewed by the user. A simple step towards achieving this is to use alt tags with all images - to describe what the image depicts. If the image is simply used for presentation purposes then leave the alt tag blank.

For audio and video features, alternative versions such as a text only transcript should be made available.

Guideline 2. Don't rely on colour alone

It is important to ensure that text and images can still be understood when viewed with no colour. Examples of this include having adjacent colours at a sufficient contrast and not allowing usability to rely on colour alone such as having levels of text importance highlighted only by colour differences.

Guideline 3. Use markup and style sheets and do so properly

All websites should separate content and presentation through the appropriate usage of CSS style sheets and web pages that are coded to W3C standards. Using proper markup only for their correct roles such as header tags only used for headers and lists making use of the list tags ensures that the structure of the page and its content is easier for specialised software (including search engines) to understand.

Guideline 4. Clarify natural language usage

Properly written content does not just help your users better understand the information on your website, it also allows specialized software (including search engines and the language translation tool Babelfish) to properly translate and process the text. One example of good practice in this area is to include the full definitions alongside any abbreviations used.

Guideline 5. Create tables that transform gracefully

Tables should only be used to markup tabular information and using tables for layout purposes only, should be avoided. This will directly benefit users who use screen readers or other specialized software as these may have problems accessing the contents of tables.

Guideline 6. Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully

With modern technology advancing, more and more web users will be able to access your website with fast internet connections from powerful computers. This allows web developers to employ media rich and dynamic content in the knowledge that most of their visitors will be able to view it.

However the key aspect to making an accessible website is that if a visitor does not have all the necessary requirements, then the website will transform gracefully and still retain its full functionality, structure and looks as good as possible. For instance this means that alternative content is available if Flash is not installed or JavaScript is disabled. Web content should also be arranged in a way as to retain its meaning if CSS style sheets are disabled.

Guideline 7. Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes

Users should be able to disable any content that uses flashing, moving text and images as some may have difficulty in reading this. This also applies to dynamic content that is auto-updated. In my opinion flashing text and images screams ads and as such I tend to ignore these when viewing a web page. So I would recommend limiting the use of this technique anyway.

Guideline 8. Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces

When designing the navigation menus for your website you should ensure that these will be accessible for all your users. If using Flash or scripts you should also provide a Sitemap that contains normal html links to all the pages of your site. This will also let search engines crawl the entire site.

Guideline 9. Design for device-independence

You should not limit the use of your website to one type of input device such as a mouse. This could mean that users using voice recognition software or some other non pointing device will not be able to use your site. As a general rule, if the website can be used simply by keyboard interaction then it should be accessible.

Guideline 10. Use interim solutions

Some older devices used to view web pages are unable to handle certain features such as being unable to correctly handle empty form fields or rendering adjacent links as one long link. Solutions to these two problems are to use placeholder characters in empty form fields eg. "Enter name here" for a name input field and to separate adjacent links with non-link characters such as a comma.

Another key problem is the use of opening new windows when a link is clicked. This is very frustrating for users who are then unable to access this new page or get confused with more windows being opened. While the new versions of browsers now open these links in the same window but a new tab, it is still highly advisable to avoid this technique.

Guideline 11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines

One of the best ways to make your website accessible is to use the latest W3C technologies and standards such as XHTML and CSS style sheets. This has the advantage over other technologies such as Flash and PDF documents as being fully accessible by different user devices and search engines. However valid markup must also be used with the other accessibility guidelines to produce fully accessible websites.

When designing and developing a website you should ensure that your web developer produces web sites that can be validated by the W3C. This should come as standard and shouldn't lead to you paying more.

Guideline 12. Provide context and orientation information

An important aspect for all users is to be able to quickly and easily understand what the content is about. Therefore when arranging a complex web page's content you should aim for short paragraphs that are organized and structured in some way.

Guideline 13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms

The navigation of your website is one of its key aspects and a lot of thought should be put into deciding which technique to use. There are a number of popular techniques, including the use of tabs, drop down menus and bread crumb trails that are all widely used and easy for users to understand and follow.

If you intend to use a new more unique method of navigation then great care must be taken that it is easy to locate and use as many of your visitors may give up and leave your site if they can't quickly find what they want.

The use of Flash and JavaScript for navigation should be backed up by a comprehensive Sitemap and alternate methods if these technologies are not available to the user.

Guideline 14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple

When designing your website you should aim to have a consistent look and feel throughout, such as using an overall colour scheme with company branding (if appropriate). Another general rule is to have a consistent navigation that is located in the same position on every page. This increases user's confidence when browsing your site.

In terms of content, you should aim to make all the text clear and simple to understand. This will have benefits to any user who has cognitive or learning disabilities or who does not have a strong grasp of the language in question. If the content is describing something of a complex technical nature then the use of clear, simple language will help the majority of users who will not be experts on the subject matter.

Conclusion

While no one has yet been prosecuted in the UK for a non-accessible website, it is only a matter of time before this occurs. As the benefits of producing an accessible website, coded to W3C standards, goes far beyond just increasing your potential visitor numbers, the above guidelines should be in the mind of anyone looking to now develop or build a website.