Accessible Web design

According to the Web Accessibility Initiative, web accessibility aims to ensure 'people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web'.

Our Approach to Accessibility

We feel it is important that branding and visual appeal are not sacrificed at the altar of accessibility. Indeed, visual appeal can contribute to accessibility. Effective use of images and colour can increase usability for people with cognitive disabilities, while also benefiting visitors as a whole. Checkpoint 14.2 of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) actually mandates this:

Supplement text with graphic or auditory presentations where they will facilitate comprehension of the page. [Priority 3].

When we design and develop a site accessibility is paramount at every stage. Meeting level 1 and level 2 checkpoints of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 1.0) is standard practice and we attempt to meet all but two of the level 3 checkpoints. If you want to know which of the level 3 checkpoints can't be met and why, then read our article, 'The Triple-A Myth'.

Accessibility can't really be separated from the development process. It is integrated across the board at sdesign1, so usually by the time we finish there are very few changes to make, any there are will usually be minor. However, humility can play a strong part in ensuring accessibility. sdesign1 tries to make as few assumptions as possible about our own and more importantly, our visitors' abilities. We constantly seek to develop our knowledge base by participating in discussions in forums such as Accessify. Incidentally, we strongly recommend this forum to anyone who either needs advice or would just like to increase their knowledge of accessibility issues.

PAS 78 Guide to Good Practice in Commissioning Accessible Websites

We recommend that, before commissioning your web site, you start by reading the Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 78. Its intended audience is you, not us.

PAS 78 has been developed by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) in conjunction with the British Standards Institute(BSI). This PAS outlines good practice in commissioning websites that are accessible to and usable by disabled people.

PAS 78 covers areas such as:

• How disabled people use web sites
• Defining the accessibility policy for the website
• Web technologies
• Accessibility testing and maintenance
• Contracting web design and accessibility auditing services.

It gives recommendations for:

• The management of the process of, and guidance on, upholding existing W3C guidelines and specifications
• Involving disabled people in the development process and using the current software-based compliance testing tools that can assist with this.

It is applicable to all public and private organizations that wish to observe good practice under the existing voluntary guidelines and the relevant legislation on this subject and is intended for use by those responsible for commissioning public-facing web sites and web-based services.

PAS 78 is now available as a free download from the Disability Rights Commission

Our Approach to Training

People make web sites not computers. Instead of focusing on a site that is inaccessible we should focus on the people who are responsible for making it accessible.

Accessibility training.