Accessible web design
Tips on ensuring your website meets accessibility requirements
Web accessibility is about making your Website accessible to all Internet
users, regardless of what browsing or assistive technology they are using
(such as screen readers)
When designing pages to be accessible to as wide a number of users as possible
certain design principles apply. Below we have outlined the main 'do's and
don'ts' of accessible webpage design. For further information on this topic
go to the W3C Web Accessibility
Initiative site.
Do's of accessible webpage design
- Always include 'alt' text for images (users may be visually
impaired or have images disabled for fast browsing and the 'alt' provides
a textual explanation in lieu of the image)
- Use style sheets and templates to ensure consistency across the site
- Use XHTML or strict HTML
- Ensure forms are accessible
- Use meaningful page titles - the first thing that appears
on a webpage and the first thing that visually impaired users hear is
the page title
- Use headings and sub-headings - visually impaired users can scan webpages
by tabbing from heading to heading so ensure your headings are correctly
marked up using <h1>, <h2> tags
- Ensure colours used on the site have sufficient contrast
for users with colour-blindness
- Test your page to ensure they are accessible, you should
do both automated
tests and users tests
Don'ts of accessible webpage design
- Don't use ambiguous hyperlink text where the text doesn't
make sense out of context
- Avoid deprecated HTML and invalid markup
- Don't rely on tables for formatting content (some tables
can be used for structure if labelled correctly but it is better to avoid
them if possible)
- link to large files without informing the user of both
the file type (if not HTML) and the file size
- Use flickering images
- Rely on images to convery vital information that is not available in
text form
