Website Accessibility Guidelines
When creating a website, it is important to consider how the site content may appear to those that may not be able to view the site in the standard way. Some people have disabilities that limit sight, hearing, or information processing. Others may simply not have access to the latest web browser, or be limited in some technological way; browsing the internet with a PDA or cellphone. There are a few things to consider when designing and writing webpages to ensure that they are accessible to all users.
During the design process, we normally consider the aesthetics of a page, ease of use, navigation, and content optimization. However, accessibility is one area that is often overlooked by website designers. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed an excellent set of guidelines that provide advice to website developers regarding accessibility.
Before diving too deeply into the guidelines, it is important to understand the difference between the content, structure, and presentation aspects of a webpage:
- Content:
The page content is the information actually conveyed to the user through text, images, audio, or other forms of media. - Website Structure:
The page structure is the way the content is organized, and this organization is defined by structural elements such as the paragraph tag <p> or header tag <h1>. - Presentation:
The page presentation is the way this organized content is actually presented, and is defined by presentation elements like the font <font> or bold <b> tags.
A web page that is well designed will be legible no matter what method the page visitor uses to access the page. W3C refers to this as ensuring "graceful transformation" when technological constraints are applied, such as the use of text based web browsers, voice browser, or mobile phones. I encourage the reader to visit W3C's website and review the accessibility guidelines in detail. It is interesting to note that a few of the guidelines overlap with good SEO practices. Here are a few examples:
- Use markup and style sheets and do so properly:
Not only will incorrect use of HTML markup impact the accessibility of a page, but it can also cause problems for search engine spiders that are attempting to index the content of a website. - Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully:
Many websites today make use of technologies such as Flash, which we primarily use, applets, and scripts from various scripting languages. It is good practice to consider what the website looks like with these elements disabled because search engines spiders cannot always interpret information presented using these technologies. - Provide clear navigation mechanisms:
Creating an easy to use navigation system for a website is essential. Not only will your visitors appreciate it, but search engines will have an easier time indexing the site's content. A good site map is a recommended addition to any website. - Ensure that documents are clear and simple:
This guideline seems like common sense, but it is one that a surprising number of designers fail to put into practice. As W3C's guideline puts it, "using clear and simple language promotes effective communication." If your goal is to communicate with visitors to your site, then try to embrace the concept of simplicity whenever possible.
Google has been working on an interesting new project called Accessible Search that prioritizes search results that are most easily accessible to visually impaired users. Sites that have followed W3C's guidelines have a much better chance at achieving good rankings on this engine. It might be instructive for website owners to see how their sites actually rank on this engine to get a measure of how well the site is complying with general accessibility guidelines.
In Conclusion:
Website accessibility is an important, yet often overlooked element of web design. If W3C's accessibility guidelines are put into practice, not only will visitor's with disabilites or technological limitations benefit, but the site's visibility on search engines may also improve.