Accessible Web Design Checklist

According to Webcredible.co.uk, a London-based outfit that provides usability andaccessibility services for websites, intranets, mobile devices and applications, a seven-point checklist for your site’s accessibility is as follows:

1) Use ‘informational images’ – where possible, dependent on browser support, empower logos or images with descriptive ALT or Title text in pop-up boxes when the cursor is hovered over them.

2) Clean up ‘decorative images’ – in contrast to the first point, make sure that purely decorative or illustrative images do not have pop-up boxes that could distract blind users unnecessarily.

3) Listen with the sound turned off – put yourself in a deaf person’s shoes: listen
to your site’s audio sections with no sound; this way, you can see where subtitles or written
transcripts could help.

4) Make sure your text can be resized – okay, this is an obvious one guys, but it is a key consideration for the visually impaired. Equally as obvious, make sure you’ve included a
site map for finding accessibility options etc.

5) Check your site’s performance in a text-only browser – Lynx’s scaled-back browser is a great way of checking your site’s accessibility performance. See how it looks at:
www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html.

6) Access without a mouse – are you able to navigate through your website
yourself using just Tab, Shift-Tab and Return? Well, if not, then neither can keyboard- and
voice-only users.

7) Check your site with automated tools Human checks will always form the backbone of the accessibility runs you will need to carry out, but automated tools, like Wave, can help provide extra direction.

If you haven’t addressed any of these points, then there’s every chance that your site is committing the seven deadly sins in terms of accessibility. Come on people, get with the program and do your bit! Although all major vendors have dedicated accessibility portals on their sites (www.ibm.com/accessibility is a great example), some of it may be no more than paying lip service to the issue for PR value. Real progress in this area of technology demands
investment, and that may be why the bigger players are telling a more credible story. But
ultimately, the responsibility for making the web a more accessible environment for all will always rest with the individual web designers who create it.