Web accessibility: people, problems and solutions

It is not very difficult to realize how many people can’t access the Web the way we do. It only takes a look around. It is selfish to believe, even without saying so, that these people need the Web less than we, healthy people, do.

Handicapped people have to overcome some terrible difficulties in their every day life e.g. cross the city on a wheelchair. In most cases a better life for these people means that the state needs to do certain things e.g. provide them such a wheelchair. Beaurocracy, time and money bump procedures.

When it comes to the Web things are less complicated because a website is made by experts and for experts is certainly easier to work with best practices. It may be not simple but it is certainly easier than buying wheelchairs for handicapped people.

People who have accessibility problems are a few, no?

Not exactly. The list below shows groups of people who can’t access the Web the way we do. It also shows how they access it. No, they are not a few.

• Blind users Web users who have no sight at all may utilize a screen reader, which reads the content of the web page, or rather the HTML, back to them. This software, which sits between the user and the browser, sifts through the HTML markup and the technology deciphers what needs to be read aloud and what should be ignored.
• Partial or poor sight People who wear glasses might land in this category. To take full advantage of the Internet, users with partial or poor sight need to be able to enlarge the text on web pages.
• Color blind users It is estimated that one in 12 men and one in 200 women have some form of color blindness. Enough contrast is one of the various ways to help them view a page without difficulties.
• Deaf users Deaf users are able to access the Internet in much the same way as non-deaf people with one key exception — audio content. If it’s a key function of your website for people to be able to hear a message, then be sure to provide written transcripts at the very least.
• Keyboard users Some of your site users don’t have access to a mouse when browsing the Internet. Try putting yourself in their position by navigating your website using only tab, shift-tab, and the return keys.

The list goes on but I won’t go further.

How we can help

So what does it take to help such people? How Wed designers, developers, webmasters etc. can be involved? We can do several things actually:

• Understand handicapped people. Put ourselves into their shoes for a moment and try to act like they have to.
• Learn about WAI. WAI is a part of W3C which works around accessibility. It is a great movement for a great cause. We need to support the group. The less we can do is to apply the guidelines provided by it.
• Learn about WaSP, Web Standards and the use of standards. WaSP is a group of Web experts, works for standards and evangelize them in order to help all people around the globe to have access to an equitable Web. You can read even in this website about Web standards.
• Become better by taking accessibility into account. Write accessible code. It takes study and time but it is rewarding. It is equally important to realize that using better practices isn’t a matter of trend but a real need.
• Talk about accessibility. We blog, we write in forums, we chat. Why not for accessibility too? We should also help our customers learn about it and explain them why is important for them to provide their customers great services.
• Be helped by the government or private sectors, depending on for whom we work. It was great to see a while ago a lawsuit over web site accessibility for the blind which became class action. I hope this is a clear message for all people who avoid work towards accessibility

What else does it take?

Accessibility goes beyond technical actions. It is strongly attached to semantics as well. A website might pass validation tests. This doesn’t make it fully understandable though. Web semantics talk about writing code a way which conveys meaning to people who can’t read the words at a web page.

Let’s see an example: a list of fruits might be written in HTML as a paragraph. Each fruit is separated from the previous and the next one by a line break. The same list could be supported by the relevant list tags in order to let a blind user understand what is about. Obviously, the latter is the proper one.

So it is important not only to look accessible but to feel too. Using semantics is great help for blind people and developers. A great article around Web semantics, Semantics — Why Bother?, is a good place to start from, in case you haven’t heard the term before.

Can all websites be accessible?

Yes, but it is not always simple. There are certain levels of accessibility. Each level includes a list of criteria which must be fulfilled in order to be a website accessible. The first level is simpler than the second and the third one. On the other hand each level affords users with different disabilities.

Every website can be accessible but not all websites are the same. The larger the site the more difficult to sustain it clean. The more people they contribute to it the easier to destroy accessibility. But don’t forget that a popular site attracts more people, among them handicapped too.

OK, I own a website which sells products or provides services. Why should I pay more to have it accessible?

The cynical view: business is business. Everyone who sells needs to increase his potential buyers. If you keep your website accessible, more they will see it, so you increase the possibility to sell you stuff.

The humanistic view: It all has to do with ourselves. We need to offer people the same opportunities to do things. I certainly can’t write a manifesto about the good and the bad things in life and I am pretty sure that nobody would read it. In such cases I call to my mind the, not so rare, scenario of being myself someone who can’t see. You can do it too from time to time. The more we do it the better for all of us.

Focus on the important aspects

Web designers often think: “My website passes all validation tests. So I did the best for my visitors. Right?”.

I agree, but why you don’t take one more step? Take the most of accessibility by making it an everyday practice. Think of it before the beginning of a new website. Change the way you approach your work, the Web and your clients.

It is better to focus on what is really important, not on a validation error. Important aspects could be:

• Can someone read your content when your CSS is disabled?
 
• When your JavaScript is disabled?
 
• Does your Flash website come with a second one built in plain HTML for handicapped users?

And the list goes on.

Welcome to the accessibility world.

Before I go off there is a thing needs to be clarified. Accessible websites don’t mean ugly, dull, un-sexy websites. Web standards are here to help us keep our well crafted websites accessible.

There is a myth around this issue which springs from designers who don’t take the time or don’t have the guts to evolve. Do not miss an outstanding message from A. Rutledge around this myth: Web Misunderstandards.

What is already said could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship… or a boring theory about helping hands in the Web. It is up to us to make it accessible too.

[The list of groups of handicapped people was borrowed from: A List Apart - What Is Web Accessibility?]