The W3C, a collective group comprising of Microsoft, IBM, and Sun amongst
others, have created the main website development and design guidelines
that are most prevalent today. Adhering to these guidelines usually
ensures website work with most users and browsers and hence perform
better for businesses. But, the W3C is not the only organization committed
to continually improving the web. Organizations such as WebAIM, the
Disability Rights Commission (DRC), and even the European Commission
have laid out guidelines for website developers to improve the way sites
are built as well as the user experience.
While it reigns true that the majority of all
websites built do not comply with the most basic level of the W3C accessibility
guidelines, it should no longer be the case for sites built recently.
With at least 10% of the world's population having disabilities, it
is essential to meet the needs of these users. Dynamic Digital Advertising
(DDA), a professional custom website design/redesign and development
company, understands that adopting the accessibility standards and implementing
small changes can make all the difference for businesses in any industry
segment. Aside from markup and style sheets, we utilize techniques that
help us significantly improve accessibility for all users regardless
of the level of their ability.
Features of DDA's Website Design and Redesign
Services for People with Disabilities:
· Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
- Non-text elements refer to auditory and visual content including,
but not limited to images, animations, frames, graphical buttons, and
sounds. As we design a website with non-text elements, we supplement
that information with textual equivalents wherever possible.
· Create tables that can be read by a speech synthesizer
- Other than identifying table row and column information in the markup,
we will often provide a table caption that describes the nature of the
table in one to three sentences so that all the data can be read by
a speech synthesizer.
· Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes
- Flickering or flashing screens may cause seizures in users with photosensitive
epilepsy. We avoid causing the screen to flicker by implementing user
controls.
· Identify the target of each link - Using "click
here" to link web pages implies that the site is device-dependent
and says nothing about where the link will take the user. Instead of
"click here," we can use more detailed text links, such as
"more information about this service" or "text-only version
of the page."
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