WebPage Design for the Writer - lesson 2 - Access

When J.K. Rowling’s new site was created, it was created byAward winning website design and build, Flash design, e-commerce design and build, digital strategy, analytics consulting, se... , to be accessible to those who are disabled, blind, partially sighted, mobility impaired, deaf and cognitively-disabled.

Now, while I have not contacted Lightmaker about my site, I am pretty sure they are beyond my budget. Heck, the guy down the street is beyond my budget. But there are some things we can do to make our sites more user friendly to all. And, did you know that there is actually are guidelines ADA Home Page - ada.gov - Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The website Internet Navigation by NetNav has tips of the day and examples. Now, on dial-up, that pdf may be too much for me to wait to upload, what with my slow dial-up, so Cynthia Waddell, JD has a very straight forward section on Web Accessibility: Websites Must Be User Friendly, Handicap Accessible and Meet the American's with Disabilities Act

But, what can you do, if like me, resources are limited and you are designing the website yourself.

1. Make sure you have Alt Text for your pages. Tell your reader what they would be looking at, if they could see better, AND what you would expect them to do. This might be “Welcome to my garden. Please explore the flowers and objects you find in it.”

2. Then, every time their cursor lands on something you add, “You have entered the Marigold section. This is a link to “a game for finding gold.” Or “Collect pill bugs to get into the secret garden.”

3. Sounds can be confusing for some disabilities and for screen readers, so be sure your site allows muting the sound. Make captions for the audio too for those who are hearing impaired. This is especially important if the sound is saying something important to your site. I personally turn off sounds on my computer, normally, so I would miss these clues also. Any time I need high speed, I work at the library and it’s either turn it off or wear headphones.

4. Another thing is to make a “text only” alternate to your site. The link for this should be on your opening screen. It will not take that long to just copy the words, without the coding, that you want your viewer to read. White page, black letters make it all the easier to see and there is a site, I will give you the link next post, that can convert your site for you.

I have barely touched the surface. My site will be the best I can do, with the help of my CoffeeCup HTMLHTML Editor, Flash & Web Design Software CoffeeCup Software software and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). More on this next post

Next, CSS and me.