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With the migration to Webstandards coding, greater acceptance of CSS and the eventual freedom from v.4 browsers, there should be a heightened awareness of the WAI or Web Accessibilty Initiative:
[w3.org...]
As we trim bloated code from our pages and enjoy the benefits of CSS with true separation of content and presentation, can we ignore accessibility guidelines? In fact, how familiar are any of us with the WAI? I will admit that I am just beginning to give this issue serious study. I feel good about it too.
As smaller, faster, more powerful Internet appliances become available to all, isn't it logical to assume that these same devices will be enhanced to offer greater freedom to those who live with certain physical limitations?
I can see many uses for specially designed PDA's, cellphones, pagers and laptops. The possibilities to provide enhanced mobility and communication for the those with certain disabilities will become reality...
Are you prepared to to code accordingly? Do you know where to start, or how difficult or how easy it may be?
What sort of limitations can we expect? What will be the learning curve? I admit... I don't have the answers... yet. I do intend to find out.
Let's talk about this as a very positive movement. I think we can all learn some things.
This is a very important question .. But I think most of us are a bit 'scared' because this will require change, and a new way of thinking. Plus, we'll have to learn and evaluate results in an environment we are not familiar with.
It is, however, inevitable if we want to stay in business. I have had my fair share of complaints from people who loved my pages, but had a hard time viewing them because of certain disabilities. Now I've learned to surround myself with people who know nothing about web design, and who need user friendly layouts. They give me the hints and advice I need!
Aural browsing does not have as easy a time scrolling as visual browsing.
Tedster, great suggestion! And quite easy as well. I'm certain it would make navigating a page (or site!) that much easier. This is one of the basics that is easy to overlook, but even easier to follow. Logical navigation.
PRINCIPLE IV: Make sure your pages can be navigated by keyboard. Not all users can use, or will have access to, a graphical pointing device such as a mouse. A good web page will be navigatable via keyboard (or voice) commands. While this is often a user agent (browser) issue, there are things that a web author can do that will cause a page to become unusable with keyboard-only navigation.
One example is imagemaps - client-side imagemaps should be used instead of server-side imagemaps, and proper ALT tags provided, because these can be utilized by a browser agent to provide keyboard navigation to the user. Another is through the use of the ACCESSKEY and TABINDEX attributes for form elements. Test your pages without using a mouse - can you navigate your site by keyboard only?
Six Principles of Accessible Web Design [hwg.org]
13 Using style sheet positioning and markup to transform gracefully [w3.org]
Using the positioning properties of CSS2, content may be displayed at any position on the user's viewport. The order in which items appear on a screen may be different than the order they are found in the source document.
Hey papabaer, that's us!
I would have to quote the entire page... there is so much crucial info here, instead, I'll just post the link: [w3.org...]
A great read!
CSS allows precise control over spacing, alignment and positioning. Authors can thereby avoid "tag misuse" - the practice of misusing a structural element for its expected stylistic effects. For example, while the BLOCKQUOTE and TABLE elements in HTML are meant to mark up quotations and tabular data, they are frequently used to create visual effects instead such as indentation and alignment. When specialized browsing software such as a speech synthesizer encounters elements that are misused in this way, the results can be unintelligible to the user.
Couldn't resist... this one is close to my heart.
(edited by: papabaer at 7:07 am (utc) on May 2, 2002)
3.4 Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values. For example, in CSS, use 'em' or percentage lengths rather than 'pt' or 'cm', which are absolute units. If absolute units are used, validate that the rendered content is usable.
This one will send many on find and replace routines...
3.5 Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification. For example, in HTML, use H2 to indicate a subsection of H1. Do not use headers for font effects.
