MM 440:
Web Presentation

Lecture//Accessible Design

Overview
The Question
Differences in Perception
Access Technologies

What to Consider
Background and Text
Images
Links
Frames
PDFs
Shockwave
Tables
User Interaction
Testing
Best Practices

Further Info

• If you create web pages in which the content and functionality is presented in formats other than plain HTML, you may be excluding some people from your site. Not everyone has the desire or capability to download and use all scripts and plug-ins. Always provide plain HTML alternatives so that everyone can access the information and services on your site.

• If you use a Flash movie on your entrance page, ensure that any meaningful content is available to users who can't access Flash, and do ensure that a plain text link is available to enable users to access subsequent pages of your site - embedding a "Skip intro" link in the Flash movie itself is of little use to anyone who can't access the movie!

• Some browsers can't read JavaScript and may tell the visitor only that there is 'an unsupported script' on the page. Wherever JavaScript is used, ensure that the page functions correctly without the script, or that a parallel page which is JavaScript-free is available.

• Browser detection scripts. Don't assume that because someone is using, for example, Internet Explorer 5 with Flash installed, they can actually access material presented in a Flash movie, and therefore route them automatically to a Flash version of a page. Some access software works in conjunction with a "standard" browser but is unable to translate and present to the user everything that the browser itself is able to handle. Always ensure that the user has some means of selecting how a page will be presented (e.g. by offering a choice between a Flash and a non-Flash version of a page).

• Moving, blinking and auto-refreshing text is hard to deal with if you have poor sight - avoid all of these if you can.

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