What is Web Accessibility

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. More specifically, Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.

Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. The document "How People with Disabilities Use the Web" describes how different disabilities affect Web use and includes scenarios of people with disabilities using the Web.

Why Web Accessibility is Important

The Web is an increasingly important resource in many aspects of life: education, employment, government, commerce, health care, recreation, and more. It is essential that the Web be accessible in order to provide equal access and equal opportunity to people with disabilities. An accessible Web can also help people with disabilities more actively participate in society.

The Web offers the possibility of unprecedented access to information and interaction for many people with disabilities. That is, the accessibility barriers to print, audio, and visual media can be much more easily overcome through Web technologies.

People with Disabilities on the Web

The major categories of disability types are:

Visual

blindness, low vision, color-blindness

Hearing

deafness

Motor

inability to use a mouse, slow response time, limited fine motor control

Cognitive

learning disabilities, distractibility, inability to remember or focus on large amounts of information

Essential Components of Web Accessibility

Introduction

It is essential that several different components of Web development and interaction work together in order for the Web to be accessible to people with disabilities. These components include:

• content - the information in a Web page or Web application, including:
  • natural information such as text, images, and sounds
  • code or markup that defines structure, presentation, etc.
• Web browsers, media players, and other "user agents"
• assistive technology, in some cases - screen readers, alternative keyboards, switches, scanning software, etc.
• users' knowledge, experiences, and in some cases, adaptive strategies using the Web
• developers - designers, coders, authors, etc., including developers with disabilities and users who contribute content
• authoring tools - software that creates Web sites
• evaluation tools - Web accessibility evaluation tools, HTML validators, CSS validators, etc.

Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites

Quick Tips

The links in the Quick Tips below mostly go to the techniques documents that provide implementation guidance - including explanations, strategies, and detailed markup examples.

1. Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
2. Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
3. Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
4. Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid "click here."
5. Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
6. Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
7. Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
8. Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
9. Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
10. Check your work. Validate.

Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG