Forum Moderators: phranque
I have currently been looking at the issue of accessibility recently and how to create code for my html, php and flash sites that is compliant.
My problem is this - I have been running my little company for the last five years, learning as I go as far as coding and computers are concerned, I am by trade and qualification a graphic designer, I am unfortunately quite dyslexic and therefore I do a lot of the site design by eye and minimal coding as my spelling is not good for no other reason other than the fact that I can’t recall each word reliably. I use word mostly for spelling and checking my spelling.
Having looked at what I need to do to comply to w3c html standards and the issue of creating 'accessible' websites I’m pretty stumped. The w3c seem to like talking about it but don't give any examples of good coding practice I certainly have no idea where to start.
Of my piers in the web design business locally not one agrees that these standards should be forced on the web community, the direct implications are that a website will have to go up in price for SME business in order for them to be compliant and this when most of my clients sites are completed for less than 800 pounds. I can see that many potential clients will be put off by the price going up initially let alone the possibility of being sued for being inaccessible.
on the flip side of the coin I also design for print therefore does this mean that should a company now want a brochure they should also have it printed in braille as a standard?
Is there a w3c type organisation for print design?
Will i be sued if i do not produce my business cards with the handicapped in mind?
thanks for listening to my rant - i know the whys and wherefores but i do think its a bit daft, why do they not make the synthesisers more capable of reading and interpreting the code and where would i get one to find out what experience a partially sited user would have on one of my websites?
Any opinions or pointers as to where I can learn more about how to create accessable codes I would be very grateful.
As for brochures and business cards, versions of them or the contents of, should be on the website anyway.
Being sued, I think it is unlikely - if you at least do some accessibility work on the site and are better than your competitors, disabled people will be more likely to use your site and less likely to bring a lawsuit against you.
Most of it is really simple things: using standard HTML links, not relying on Flash or JavaScript (or have a fall-back at least), using alt properties for images and perhaps using accesskeys to allow quick navigation.
There really is not a lot of work to it - once you have researched the basics.
Rants are good. Always best to get them off your chest! ha ha ha.
Accesibility is a big thing these days. I have for and against opinions for both sides of the argument, but live with the fact that accesibility is gradually becoming an absolute MUST on the web - whether we all agree with it or not. I also don't agree that i should have to pay road tax for my car, but if i don't i will get into trouble - its just the way it is.
That said, i agree with you that although there is a lot said about the topic, there are few actual resources describing exactly what to do. Many of the sites i find are just sites to chat about it.
We recently started building our sites to be XHTML 1.0 valid. The easiest way (in my opinion) to do this is to add the relevant tag to the top of your page i.e.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?><!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
Then validate and make the relevant changes until your site qualifies as being valid.
Another good resource i try and use is Bobby (http://bobby.watchfire.com/bobby/html/en/index.jsp) This checks your site according to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0.
I find this helpful as it informs you of changes you need to make to your site.
I do agree with you however that although accessibilty in the long run is a reasonable expectation, it is a little unfair that it seems to have a different level of importance in web than it does in print.
But, unfortunately, it is just the way things are. I also feel that even if your site is not 100% accesibility friendly - as long as you are making an effort you should be ok ...... for now!
Hope all this helps!
