WebJunction

Why build an accessible Web site?

Think about it. You wouldn't intentionally build a Web site that shut out all users from the state of California, or blocked Latino computer users, or put together pages that were not accessible to anyone whose favorite color is green. Yet well-meaning design teams often build sites that exclude the 54 million Americans with disabilities, the largest minority population in the United States.

According to a recent usability study by the Nielsen Norman Group, Web users without disabilities were able to accomplish tasks and find information online three times faster than Web users with disabilities. Considering site visitors with disabilities in your design strategy isn't just a stroke of philanthropy; without it, you drastically reduce your ability to reach your constituency.

What are the rules?

The legal rules today are no different for libraries than they are for anyone else. Many states have enacted “guidelines for compliance” or “best practices” that correlate to the W3C WAI guidelines (World Wide Web Consortium Web Accessibility Initiative guidelines), but they are not laws and cannot be legally enforced. When states have passed any sort of legislation or put out any compliance information, most of it applies to the state governmental agencies, not to libraries specifically. However even though your library doesn't legally need an accessible Web site now, someday it might. So now is as good a time as any to start thinking about it.

At first, the prospect of building an accessible site may seem daunting, but building an accessible site really takes the same amount of effort and resources as any other well planned site, as it incorporates the same solid aspects of design and usability. The key is educating yourself on the right building materials.

Retrofitting an existing site

Building an accessible site the first time is less costly and less time-consuming than going back to retrofit an existing site. However, if a retrofit is your only current solution, here are some quick tips toward making it more accessible.

Annotate all pictures and graphics and make sure your navigation doesn't require a mouse interface. Simple text is the solution to both of these problems. Annotate the tables and add text labels to the fields of all forms.

If the site you're trying to fix is visually oriented or packed with inaccessible content, as a last resort you may want to create a text-only version of the site, or at least of some of its more inaccessible pages. This is a band-aid approach, however, and should not be your total solution. First off, you've created twice as much for yourself, dedicating needless resources to two sites to update and maintain instead of one. Having an alternate text-only site also says to your audience with disabilities that they must use the "back door" to interact with your library, and that they were not first in your mind when considering your library's interface to the world. Most likely, this is the not the image you want to present, or the message you want to send to your audience.

Building an accessible site from the start

Building from the ground up is the best way to build your site correctly. The official guidelines on developing an accessible Web site are published by the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI). The following list of tips for building accessible Web sites is a short cut you can use right now. While we advocate total site accessibility for all users and strict adherence to the W3C guidelines, we know that meeting every single requirement is time-consuming, and that your library may not have the resources to allow developers to learn these standards end-to-end. Many libraries have good intentions, but not a lot of time. Rather than taking not thinking about accessibility at all, try printing out this list and keeping these design tips in mind as you build.

1. Say it with words

Label everything with ALT tags. Many blind and low-vision visitors use screen reader programs to view your site, meaning they are limited to access to your Web site via text only. For these visitors, every image needs an ALT text tag; otherwise they won't be able to navigate your site. So be sure to title all graphics, photos, buttons, and menus, even if they're just for design and not for function. Keep users in the loop by adding textual elements to every part of the site.

2. Cross your media

Convey information in multiple media formats. For example, PDF (portable document format) documents can't be read by screen readers at all. If you post documents in PDF, there should also be a text or HTML format of the same data. If critical site data is only available through Flash or Java, you also need a text option with equivalent information. If you're streaming video, be sure to have an audio track for visually impaired users. If you're streaming audio, be sure to close caption the soundtrack for those who are hard of hearing. Except for plain old text, information should never be conveyed in just one format, just in case a user can't see it or can't hear it the way you've intended.

3. Eek! A mouse!

Don't rely on mouse interaction. A user who has limited manual dexterity often cannot use a mouse, so make sure your site doesn't use pull-down menus or other navigation elements that are mouse-reliant. Keyboard navigation is also a good idea for the myriad of users using text-only browsers and the wireless Internet.

4. Respect user preferences

Let users set their own text size and color. Allowing the size or color of text to change with the user's browser settings isn't just a good idea for your low-vision visitors, but it also benefits the Web's growing senior audience and users on different platforms and browser configurations. Though that eight-point Palatino might look good on your 21- inch design station, will it play in Peoria? Probably not.

5. Set the table

Tables aren't great for screen reader users, but they can work if they're small and if you add text labels to each row and column.

6. Bad form

Label all form fields. Forms are the crux of e-commerce and a common and necessary component for searching and entering user information into a site. However, if you don't label every field, you're not allowing your visitors to share their personal information with you. Take two extra seconds and label each field rather than just relying on adjacent outside text, which is often confusing to screen reader programs.

7. Clear as black and white

What if a user of your Web site is color blind? Are your visual clues color-dependent? Do you have to see red and blue to gather data? Make sure that all information is clear even if you can't differentiate color.

While this list is in no means a complete solution or a total road toward accessibility for all users, it's a quick start toward a critical mission. Building accessibility into the mix is an essential component of good site design. When your design is an open door, all users will feel welcome, and your library is truly serving the public at large.