Website accessibility checklist

We cannot count on our users having standard technology, therefore, to ensure access to our information on the web the onus is on our web managers to deliver the message in a way that allows everyone to benefit.

It is very important that your organisation's website is not only user - centered and usable at the outset but maintains that level of accessibility and usability throughout its existence.

Checklist

  • Keep pages simple
  • Be consistent throughout the website
  • Use HTML as the default information format
  • Browser-specific HTML or scripting methods should not be used in the website
  • Keep the use of images to a minimum - consider the use of thumbnails
  • Do not rely on colour to convey information
  • Text colour must always contrast with background
  • Only use clear, commonly used fonts
  • Use HTML to structure the document, not style it
  • Use Cascading Style Sheets to format and style basic elements of a website
  • Any font sizes defined in the Cascading Style Sheet must be customisable by the end user - do not hard code
  • Any colour used must be customisable by the end user
  • HTML page should validate against specified version of HTML
  • All important images must have an ‘alt' attribute and description
  • ‘alt' descriptions should be meaningful
  • A consistent text navigation bar should be used along with a ‘skip navigation link'
  • Other forms of navigation should be available for users who cannot use pointing devices
  • If used, image maps should always be in client-side format
  • A text alternative must be offered if a client-side image map is used
  • An alternative text version of any information offered in audio or video format must be supplied
  • Any information offered in a format that requires a plug-in must also be offered in HTML
  • All web pages must comply to the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) ‘A' standard
  • The appropriate WAI logos can be displayed on the organisation's homepage to illustrate compliance with W3C recommendations

Summary

A myth surrounding website development is that building accessible and inclusive pages is expensive, they have to be dull and boring, and they have to be written for the lowest common denominator - this is not the case! It is also not the case that users must view a web page the way the designer intended. With the range of browsers, screen sizes, colour depths and other user preferences it is often not possible to have a web page look the same to all users.

What is important is that users should be able to view a web page the way they wish to view it with the equipment that they have available and avoid those negative experiences that result in losing repeat visits.

Integrating accessibility into your web development process efficiently creates websites that work effectively for more people in more situations - and that means more users. The challenge to your web developers has to be in creating web pages that are both visually appealing and fully accessible to a wide range of users.

We are moving into a world in which managing different versions of your content will become the norm. You will provide different content for different media such as mobile devices. You are likely to design and write content in order to communicate with different audiences as well. The advent of broadband access will mean that more multimedia content will also be appropriate.

Equally, to make a website inclusive, there needs to be alternatives to support people and systems with differing abilities. This is not just an issue for the disabled. Some corporate systems are protected by firewalls that strip out active content. Accessibility is also an issue when communicating with a business audience