07 April 2006
Creating accessible websites
Not many organisations realise that the UK's Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) now extends to websites - it will probably take a few high profile legal actions before anyone really takes notice. However, regardless of the legality of it, the practices that make your website more accessible to the visually impaired will also make it more accessible for everyone else.
So, how to do it? A good place to start is Mark Pilgrim's fantastic step-by-step guide at http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ (browse online or download a PDF). There's highly readable info on doc types, alt tags (all the stuff you'd expect), but also on the need to have an accessibility statement, and support for Access Keys (a completely new area for me - ironic considering my love of keyboard shortcuts!) - most browsers support keybard shortcuts to access specific pages (or anchors); on Windows, you can press ALT + an access key; on Macintosh, you can press Control + an access key.
So, how to do it? A good place to start is Mark Pilgrim's fantastic step-by-step guide at http://diveintoaccessibility.org/ (browse online or download a PDF). There's highly readable info on doc types, alt tags (all the stuff you'd expect), but also on the need to have an accessibility statement, and support for Access Keys (a completely new area for me - ironic considering my love of keyboard shortcuts!) - most browsers support keybard shortcuts to access specific pages (or anchors); on Windows, you can press ALT + an access key; on Macintosh, you can press Control + an access key.
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