Title: Don't neglect basic accessibility when designing your Web site
By: Jonny Buroker
Can your Web site be “seen” by blind and visually impaired (B&VI) persons? If not, not only could you be breaking the law, but you could be preventing a significant population from having the ability to use your site, buy your products, apply for your job openings or become a loyal and outspoken proponent of your company.
Web site accessibility: It’s the law
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires covered entities to provide effective communication, regardless of whether they generally communicate through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Target Corp. recently agreed to a $6 million settlement class-action lawsuit after their failure to accommodate B&VI customers on their Web site. Target fought the lawsuit, claiming the ADA applies only to “brick and mortar” stores. The court found that Target.com was a “gateway” to stores and was heavily integrated with the physical stores, making the Web site subject to ADA requirements.
As part of the settlement, Target will make all necessary changes to its Web site to ensure that customers who use screen-reader software can access the same information and make online transactions just like all other customers.
As a private business, what guidelines should you use to develop or modify your Web site to comply? The ADA laws as they relate to Web site design and accessibility are not clearly defined. The federal government established Section 508 to provide access to electronic and information technology to people with disabilities. However, Section 508 applies to federal agencies only and no such regulations are available to guide private business.
A set of industry standards for accessibility has been developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (better known as W3C), but these standards are not enforceable in the U.S. The W3C (www.w3.org) has some tools to test your site for compliance with their standards.
A growing population
According to my interview with Betsy Gruba, director of technology for the Wisconsin Council for the Blind & Visually Impaired (WCB&VI), there are more than 200,000 self-reported B&VI people in Wisconsin. Add to that the unreported cases and the aging baby boomers who have or will contract age-related eye disease (the four most common of which are cataracts, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy), and it quickly becomes apparent that there is a growing population of Internet users who are being shut off from what the sighted population takes for granted.
Most restrictive design elements
According to Gruba, the most limiting design elements that prevent B&VI users from effectively using a Web site include:
- Lack of “alt” tags. Alt tags provide a text equivalent for every non-text element on a page. For example, consider the pictures on your Web site. Drag your mouse over the pictures and the alt tags should “appear” to provide a description of that picture. Without that Alt tag, B&VI impaired persons cannot “see” your pictures.
- Lack of labels on forms. B&VI persons use screen readers to view Web sites. When used in conjunction with an online form, the screen reader is able to tab through the form fields. If the form field says only “edit”, the B&VI person cannot know what information goes in that field.
- Lack of “skip navigation links.” Most Web sites are not designed with the content being the first thing on a page. People using screen readers are often forced to listen to a long list of navigation links, subpage links, corporate icons, site searches and other onscreen elements before getting to the main content on a page. Sighted individuals have a natural skip navigation link – their eyes. The skip navigation link allows B&VI persons to bypass all of the navigation links and get straight to the main content – a significant time saver!
Web accessible workshop available
As part of its mission, the Wisconsin Council of the Blind & Visually Impaired has developed Accessible Web Sites 101. Gruba is the instructor for the 3-hour online workshop, which was specifically designed for Web and marketing professionals to teach them the programming methods and skills to make Web sites more accessible for your visually impaired customers, prospects and clients. The workshop is offered each Wednesday through July 1st from 9 a.m. to noon, and if there’s enough demand, more workshops may be added. The cost $149 for businesses, or free for nonprofit organizations, and you can sign up online at www.wcblind.org/websites101regform.htm.
If you take the time to remove the barriers from your site, not only will you be complying with the law, but you’ll be opening up your business to a whole new segment of potential customers.