A2 Codesigner

Making your website accessible to all users is not only great for business it is the right thing to do. Disrespecting users with disabilities may not be against the law in the United States (unless your a Federal Government website) but it is illegal in some countries. Your not going to get in any trouble unless you live in one of those countries, but you will lose a lot of potential users as well as business. Developing an accessible website from the beginning only takes a few minutes, on the other hand making an inaccessible website accessible could take a few hours.

Here are some essential accessibility practices all websites should implement:

Simplicity and Clarity

The design should emphasize focus on important areas of the layout as well as provide scannable content that is straight to the point. Distracting  elements that could be confusing to users should be always be avoided. Keep your color contrast ratio for text to background around 4.5 : 1, you can always check the hex numbers at Juicy Studios.

Supporting Visual and Non Visual Navigation

Navigation should be clear and efficient for users with visual disabilities as well as for users with out visual disabilities. The design and opportunistic within page links are essential for accessibility.

Proper Structural Markup

Logical document structure assists adaptive technology in interpreting a document and conveying that to the user. Screen readers for blind users strongly benefit from proper document and content markup. Important information should always be properly marked up for meaningful access to all users.

Providing Content and Context

Since many disabled users experience content in a non-visual way, it is important that they have a proper context for interpreting the information as well as access to the content. Summaries, captions, and transcripts for certain media and information provide necessary access to all information pertaining to the website.

Device Independence

Requiring users to have a given input device such as a mouse ignores the fact that not all users will be able to use or even possess all input devices. Make sure you can tab through your website.

Graceful Degradation

The user experience must be maintained even when certain technologies are not used or upgraded on every users browsing device. Adaptive technologies should still function properly.

Allowing User Control

Control over the interface is essential for disabled users; any aspects out of their control could be detrimental to their experience.

Provide Clear Warnings

Let the user know they are trying to access a page that isn’t on your website and guide them back. Default error pages are confusing to users with cognitive issues. Provide a custom 404 page as well as other error pages that will guide the user back to the website.

Useful Accessibility Documents: Sample Accessibility Inspection and Accessibility Inspection Template

Useful Accessibility Blogs

http://www.theaccessibility.com/

http://webaxe.blogspot.com/