Unlock The Web

There are four types of disabilities to consider, visual, hearing, motor and cognitive. This can be defined as perceivable, operable, understandable and robust. We need to make sure that each disability is assessed and appropriately adapted to the webpage. With the correct amendments, everyone will benefit from good design considerations, not just those with disabilities.

James Roper, CEO of Interactive Media in Retail Group, states "…this year we are looking at £45 billion in sales that could be £55 billion if we made sites more accessible." (A World Denied, Web Accessibility - The Movie, n.d.). However, its not just about profit making, its about not breaking the law and considering basic human rights, enabling all website users to experience and explore the internet with ease, whether they are experienced programmers or have to use assistive devices, (WebAIM - Introduction to Web Accessibility, 2009. Laws and Standards).

When the Internet took its first steps, HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language) was the pioneering language used for the Internet where websites like Symbolics.com (Symbolics Technology Inc., 2000), Fig. 1, one of the first ever published websites, was designed with code and code only, there was no flamboyant illustrations encompassing the site like we see today in what is now referred to as Web 2.0, (N-design Studio, 2009), Fig. 2.

Ironically these first websites were no doubt more accessible than most of the modern websites we see today. Amanda states "When I was fourteen I lost my sight and I remember surfing the web and it was so much easier, I liked to get on it so much more and now it’s really frustrating, you can’t see the graphics and what’s going on sometimes." (WebAIM - Introduction to Web Accessibility, (2009).

HTML is still the foundation language that we need to be focusing on before we begin to style our webpage’s with CSS (Cascading Stylesheets). If we use good semantic code, sensible design considerations and common sense we won’t go far wrong.

If accessibility is planned through progressive enhancement before the work commences it will make website construction a lot easier, (A List Apart, 2008). It is good to bear in mind that nothing is inaccessible and there is no such thing as accessible either. Think of accessibility as being relative, you cannot make everything accessible to everyone; there will always be a minority that cannot access certain content, (Web Accessibility Principles, 2007).

Our job is about making a range; we must balance reaching as many people as possible whilst still delivering our clients requirements. We are socially responsible to apply appropriate accessibility considerations.