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A few weeks ago A List Apart published my article about web accessibility and the UK legal requirements surrounding it. The article provoked a heated discussion and what seemed like a lot of confusion surrounding web accessibility, which is what led me to write this follow-up article.

What follows will be familiar to many ALA readers but new to a few. As with all overviews, it is somewhat oversimplified and does not cover exceptions and edge cases. The editors and I hope that it will provide a useful touchstone for those readers who have been standing at the shores of accessible web design, fearing sharks where there are only gentle waves.

About this article

This article will not tell you how to make an accessible website. That's already been done by Mark Pilgrim in his excellent Dive into Accessibility and by Joe Clark in his extensively researched and beautifully written Building Accessible Websites.

Although they can be vague and confusing in places, after reading Pilgrim and Clark you might also want to check out the W3C accessibility checkpoints. I'm not going to preach at you about the benefits of accessibility - I've already done that elsewhere. Instead, this article will tell you who you need to consider when making your website and what their unique requirements are. So, let's get started ...

Disabled users

Blind users

Web users who have no sight at all may utilize a screen reader, which reads the content of the web page, or rather the HTML, back to them. This software, which sits between the user and the browser, sifts through the HTML markup and the technology deciphers what needs to be read aloud and what should be ignored.

Windows users, try it yourself with the IBM Homepage Reader, which you can download for a free 30-day trial. (You'll need a recent version of Microsoft Windows and a fairly capable PC with Pentium processor or equivalent.) Once you've downloaded it, go to your website, turn your monitor off, and try to navigate.

Open source screen readers for Linux include Emacspeak and IBM ViaVoice.

The next major revision to Mac OS X will include built-in spoken interface technology. Mac OS X users who complete a brief questionnaire may be able to download and use a preview version.

Partial/poor sight

To take full advantage of the Internet, users with partial or poor sight need to be able to enlarge the text on web pages.

As this magazine's readers know, Opera, IE5 Macintosh Edition, Mozilla/Netscape/Firefox, Konqueror, Safari, and all other modern browsers but one provide text resizing widgets that work no matter what method a designer has been used to specify type size.

But for IE/Windows users to be able to resize text, you must specify the font size in terms of %, em or a relative value (small, medium, etc.) as this magazine does, or use a basic or advanced style sheet switcher to provide this functionality.

Users with poor vision may also use a screen magnifier. You can download a screen magnifier for free and try it for yourself.

Color blindness

It is estimated that one in 12 men and one in 200 women have some form of color blindness. You can check how Internet users with different strains of color blindness are viewing your website with Vischeck.

Deaf users

Deaf users are able to access the Internet in much the same way as non-deaf people with one key exception - audio content. If it's a key function of your website for people to be able to hear a message, then be sure to provide written transcripts at the very least. (To do more than the very least, see Chapter 13 of Joe Clark's Building Accessible Websites.)

Keyboard/voice only users

Some of your site users don't have access to a mouse when browsing the Internet. Try putting yourself in their position by navigating your website using only tab, shift-tab, and the return keys.

Other users

Other people who may access your website that have disadvantages include:

1. Epileptic users who must always be careful to avoid seeing flickering between 2 and 55 Hz

2. Web users from outside your industry who may not understand industry jargon or acronyms

3. Web users whose first language is not English and who may not be able to comprehend complicated language

To really put yourself in the position of one of these web users try out the DRC's inaccessible website demonstration.

New (and old) technology

PDAs and mobile devices

The number of people accessing the Internet from handheld devices is increasing at a massive rate - almost three million PDAs were sold in 2002 in Western Europe and in 2008 alone there'll be an estimated 58 million PDAs sold.

Handheld devices generally have ropey support for large images, JavaScript, Flash and (too often) even CSS. Their width can be as small as 120px with horizontal scrolling not an option. Read Webmonkey's last-ever article which was about small screen web development. You can also check your website's accessibility on a handheld device for free with the Wapalizer.

WebTV

WebTV has a maximum width of 575px and horizontal scrolling isn't possible. You can download the free WebTV viewer and see how your website looks on a TV screen.

JavaScript

Approximately 6% of web users are surfing the web with no support for JavaScript. This could be because they're using a browser that doesn't support JavaScript (such as the text-only Lynx browser) or they've turned JavaScript off for security or to avoid popups.

Slow connections

Broadband isn't nearly as widespread as you'd expect. In the UK, for example, just one in six Internet households were hooked up to broadband this time last year. Users on slow connections might turn images off to enable a quicker download time. Some browsers, such as the Lynx browser do not display images at all. Make sure you put in those ALT attributes!

And finally ...

Any web developer with basic HTML and CSS design knowledge, and a bit of time on their hands, can easily learn and implement web accessibility - it's not brain science after all. Web accessibility is all about following design standards and then adding in a few simple accessibility features. It's not just about disabled users being able to access your website - it's about everyone being able to access your website.

Most of us have experience creating "rounded" corners by erasing pixels. It's a rudimentary web design technique - or so we...

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While the methods we use to create accessible websites can be complex, the essential principles are simple: consider the obstacles your site presents to users who approach it differently than you do, then remove as many of those obstacles as you can. Trenton Moss provides a quick overview.

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4 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

This fall, the Department of Justice postponed its proceeding to adopt regulations on web accessibility for a few more years. The prolonged delay in those regulations has created a perfect storm for more litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). As a result, many companies should be adding web accessibility to their list of top priorities for 2016.
Related: Want a New Website? You May Have to Put in a Lot of Work to Get One.
1. What is web accessibility?

People with disabilities are able to navigate the Internet using a variety of assistive technologies. Some people might need speech-recognition software, or others might need a screen reader to convert information provided on a website into speech. Still others might need closed captioning of information in videos or the ability to interact with a website without a mouse or touch screen.

Many commercial websites do not have the features necessary for assistive technologies to translate their content into a usable format or only provide a limited amount of accessible content. Making a website accessible means removing these technical barriers that limit the content available to people with disabilities or make it difficult for them to navigate the Internet.

2. What does the ADA require?

The Americans with Disabilities Act generally prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against individuals on the basis of disability. Under the ADA, public accommodations include things like hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, recreational facilities, banks and retail stores. The ADA gave the Department of Justice the power to adopt regulations to implement and enforce the law.

3. When will web-accessibility regulations be implemented?

The Department of Justice began a proceeding in 2010 to update its rules to include web-accessibility obligations. But the proceeding was delayed for several years and won't resume until 2018. The Department of Justice maintains that all public accommodations must make their websites accessible under current law, even in the absence of specific regulations. It also takes the view that a purely web-based business is a public accommodation under the ADA if it fits into one of the categories listed in the statute.

This view is controversial. Courts have reached different conclusions on this, because the ADA became law 25 years ago -- well before widespread use of the Internet.
Related: How One Man Is Helping Businesses Reach More Customers With Cost-Effective, Inclusive Products
4. Why are lawsuits on the rise?

The ADA allows private parties to bring claims in court, and if they win the case, their attorneys' fees are paid by the defendant. While the Department of Justice's web accessibility proceeding remains on hold, more and more private plaintiffs are bringing these claims or at least threatening to do so. Companies often have incentives to settle quickly to avoid publicity. But that means that courts have not had the opportunity to rule on the merits of these cases or to articulate what standards, exceptions or limitations should apply in the absence of promulgated rules.

5. What can I do to protect my company?

The best way to protect your company from web-accessibility lawsuits and demands is to implement a plan to ensure that the core functions of your website will conform to internationally accepted guidelines (WCAG 2.0) within a reasonable time frame. Settling lawsuits will not protect your company from more lawsuits. Waiting for new regulations to be adopted may cost you more in the long run.

There are several things you can do in the short term. For example, you can incorporate provisions in your web-development contracts with vendors that give the vendor responsibility to conform to the prevailing standards. It costs a lot less to start with an accessible website than it does to remediate an inaccessible one. If you do your own web development, you can ensure that your employees get training from recognized web-accessibility experts. This increases the level of expertise within your organization and will help you prevent relapses as your website evolves.

You should also have an expert review your insurance coverage to see if it covers discrimination claims. And you should make sure you have a risk-management system in place to alert your insurers if a claim is made in accordance with the procedures and deadlines in the policies.
Related: Protect Yourself Against Common Discrimination Mistakes

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5 Things You Need to Know About Web Accessibility

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4 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. This fall, the Department of Justice postponed its proceeding to adopt regulations on web accessibility for a few more years. The prolonged delay in those regulations has created a perfect storm for more litigation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_accessibility
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253905
https://www.equalweb.com/html5/?_id=8591&did=1116&trace=ppc1
https://alistapart.com/article/wiwa

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Web Accessibility Solutions - WCAG 2.1, Section 508 EqualWeb

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world leader and a pioneer in web accessibility, focused on helping people with disabilities to access digital information. Our cutting-edge technology meets the compliance laws and regulations of ADA, Section 508 & WCAG 2.1 AA, guided by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

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This refers to practicing the removal of barriers that make it tough for you to interact with certain websites by people with disabilities. When these sites are designed the right way, all of the users should be able to use it the same way and have equal access to all of the information and the way that the site is used.