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What the heck is W3C, accessibility and the ASA all about?
How we make websites accessible is not important to you, so this presentation is going to briefly explain why it is important and how it could affect your website.
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Accessibility
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium): Set standards for web coding and development. You can use their free markup validation service to check your site code and if it passes you can add these icons to your site. http://validator.w3.org
WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative): The division of W3C responsibly for accessibility. http://www.w3.org/WAI/
DDA (Disability Discrimination Act): The only law you need to consider with regard to your website and yes it can result in prosecution. http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/lawsandstandards/Pages/uk_law.aspx
ASA (Adverting Standards Agency): The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, including, from 1 March, marketing on websites. It can take just one complaint for the ASA to launch an investigation, the result of which can be that an ad has to be withdrawn. http://www.cap.org.uk/CAPServices/Digital-remit-advice.aspx
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Accessibility
Examples of Banned Adverts
These were asking to be banned
Pot Noodles - The slag of all snacks
United Colours of Benetton
But what about this one?
Polo singing dog
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Accessibility
Accessibility - What does it mean?
Making a website available to the widest audience possible.
This includes different browsers and platforms. As well as
considering those with disabilities, from colour blindness to
the severely handicapped.
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Accessibility
Browser and device compatibilityBelow are the current stats for browser use. Different mobile devices
support different programming languages. Some support WAP and WML, some support HTML or a limited version of HTML, and some support both or a different language. View latest stats here
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Accessibility
Firefox 38%
Internet Explorer 22%
Google Chrome 35%
Safari 4%
Opera 2.5%
Netscape is dead February 1, 2008
Screen sizeA vast range of screen sizes are now available and this will continue to
grow, therefore part of accessibility is to make sure websites can be viewed comfortably across a range of sizes. View latest stats here.
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1280x1024
14.8 %
1280x800
14.4 %
1366x768
10.1 %
1440x900
9.9 %
1680x1050
9.2 %
1920x1080
6.2 %
1920x1200
4.5 %
1600x900
2.5 %
1152x864
1.5 %
1360x768
1.3 %
Other high resolutions
10.7 %
e.g. HTC Desire 480 x 800
1024x768
14%
800x600
0%
Accessibility
Sight
How many of you wear glasses for working on the computer?
Approx 15 million (25%) people in the UK suffer from long-sightedness (Myopia)
Almost two million (1.2%) people in the UK are living with sight loss
9 - 12% of males in the UK suffer from colour blindness
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Accessibility
Are you colour blind?
Colour is a useful tool but never rely on it alone to convey important information as those with colour blindness will struggle, it is also important to keep contrast high as some colours will merge together if you are colour blind.
Colour Checkers
http://juicystudio.com/services/coloursaferatio.php#luminosity
http://www.snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html
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Accessibility
Ishihara testIf you can not see 35 left or 5 right you may be colour blind.
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Accessibility
How the blind and partially sighted view the web
They have two options, braille readers or screen readers. These read the code in the order in which it is constructed, so if the code it badly formatted then it will be read in a way that won’t make sense. It will also read everything, so imagine every time you change pages all of the heading description, navigation etc being read out over and over. To avoid this links to skip sections can be added that are invisible to sighted users. See example here of what you might see compared to what is read by the poor sighted.
Normal View
How a reader receives the code N.B. Images will also be shown as text only, your browser may allow you to switch of images for full effect.
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Accessibility
Other disabilityAre you deaf?
If you insist that someone completes their phone number on a form and they are deaf what will happen when you call them? Your company would require a minicom system to communicate with them.
No mouse
Who has ever tried to navigate a site with flyout menus on a laptop pad and nearly thrown it out the window?
Now imagine how difficult it must be if you can’t use a mouse i.e. have assistive technology that is nothing like as precise as a mouse to try and navigate.
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Accessibility
Over doing it!
It is possible to add too much information in an attempt to cover your bases, this can be very frustrating for those with disabilities, so don’t abuse options available always put yourself in the users position if in doubt.
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Accessibility
Example of breach of DDA
A simple example would be that if someone wanted to buy something from an e-commerce site and was unable to complete the sale due to poor accessibility on the website and the owners attitude is that they should get someone to help then that is discrimination.
Never assume that you know who is viewing your website.
Blind woman successfully sued Sydney Olympic Games website for AU$20,000
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Accessibility
How to check accessibility
Accessibility can only truly be checked by a human being, but there are a couple of validators that will help you.
http://www.cynthiasays.com
http://wave.webaim.org
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Accessibility
What does this all mean for my website?
Small businesses do have some dispensation, but should aspire to at least pass the W3C validator. I suggest a disclaimer along the lines of: We intend to keep this website inline with DDA compliance, if you are having any problems please contact us and we will endeavour to correct them.
Never say that they should get someone else to help them!
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Accessibility
Benefits of accessibility
It will increase your number of visitors
It will make your site more usable also for people with no disabilities
Google loves it
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Accessibility
