Web accessibility is the law!

You can earn their business with a few simple techniques that are quick, easy, and don't involve changing your basic page layout.

The disabled are a large audience with growing political clout. In 1996, the U.S. Justice Department ruled that Web sites are public accommodations that fall under the Americans with Disabilities Act. In January 2001, the U.S. government gave all government Web sites until June 21 to comply with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Since Web site accessibility is a major initiative for government Web sites, it's only a matter of time before civil suits force non-governmental Web sites to likewise address disabled access.

Designing an accessible Web site isn't hard or expensive, and can increase your potential audience by 20 percent. Even so, many Web designers have been surprisingly resistant to the idea of Web site accessibility, believing accessible means boring, text-heavy pages with no graphics. In fact, most design techniques that make a page accessible to disabled users increase the usability level for all users. All it takes is good coding technique and attention to detail. Most existing Web sites need only minor changes to make them accessible.

Accessibility in 5 Steps

Imagine that you were hearing your Web page read aloud (as with a text-based browser - this is how an assistive technology device would see it) instead of looking at it online. Does the information make sense? Do you understand how to navigate through the site?

If not, start with these 5 techniques to modify your code.

1. Text Equivalent: Always provide a text equivalent to any information you present with graphics, videos, applets, etc. Use the text to describe the content, not merely to describe the graphic. If you include a chart that illustrates how company sales rose 300% in only a year, use that descriptive text in your ALT tag ('Sales Up 300% in FY2000!') instead of merely labeling it 'sales chart graphic.'

2. Alternate Navigation: Always provide a text links somewhere on your page if you rely mainly on image maps for site navigation.

3. Color: Don't use color as a primary means to impart information. If you display sale items in red text, try to group them together under a text section header that says: "Sale-Priced Items!" Choose colors and color combinations carefully too: as many as 1 in 12 white males have some sort of color blindness.

4. Links: Clearly label your links as links and describe the destination. Be particularly careful with this if you're using an image as an important link. A graphic of a shopping cart should clearly indicate that it links to the shopping cart page: 'View the contents of your shopping cart' and not merely 'Shopping Cart.

5. JavaScript Alternative: Remember that some browsers don't support JavaScript or that users may have it disabled. Provide JavaScript alternatives to any critical functions on your Web page.

NetMechanic's HTML Toolbox will help by alerting you to most HTML coding problems and errors on your page. When you correct those errors, you take a big step towards accessibility.

Those 5 steps are just common sense design. Sites that don't bother with them lose visitors. They aren't just losing disabled visitors either: text-based content is becoming more important as consumers embrace new technologies like personal digital assistants and cell phones with Web access.

Want to know more about Web Accessibility? Read our newsletter articles on accessibility and visit our Accessibility Resource Center for current stories on accessibility issues.