_____________________________ Creating Accessible Websites Bethany Antonio _____________________________ Note: If this shows in your browser, simply click "File" in your browser and select "Save As" and make sure that file type is text (.txt) Links in this article do not show as active because this is a text file. Why text (.txt) format? Text files are much easier to download, don't require much disk space, and easier to print. ======================================================== THE CENTER FOR INTERNET MARKETING RESEARCH AND EDUCATION http://bizinfo.manila.ph ======================================================== Hi, This is Ave Ramel, the Coach of the Center for Internet Marketing Research and Education, exponent of internet marketing since 1999. This article was evaluated by your Coach and made available for The Center's archive for new subscribers. After mastering this article, proceed to our Internet Marketing Knowledge Base at http://bizinfo.manila.ph/knowledge-base As a favor, please forward this article to all your friends you want to help and who would like to earn income from the Net. Cheers, Ave Ramel, Coach P.S. Start your home business online with this global opportunity - the world's first instant powdered green iced tea P.P.S. You can do your business in 32 countries using the internet. Proceed now to http://freeonlineschool.manila.ph/resensa ================ YOUR NEXT STEPS: ================ Internet Marketing Services: 1. Get Coached - personalized coaching, at your most convenient time and place Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/coaching 2. Hire A Retainer-Consultant for your corporation or marketing campaigns Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/consultancy 3. Add one profit center to your company minus the overhead costs - your own internet marketing arm. Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/outsourcing Available on the Web: 1. Internet Marketing Knowledge Base - the archive contains selected and annotated articles, lessons, and ebooks, including secrets, tips and tricks, categorized into the following general subjects: - Advertising - Affiliate Programs - Beginner and Web Design - Customer Relations Management - E-mail Marketing - Sales Conversion - Search Engine Marketing - Search Engine Optimization - Strategy and Tactics - Web Promotions This includes The Net Marketing Review (newsletter) containing researches, latest updates, and strategies that are analyzed and tested by The Center. Proceed now and download free stuffs like this article at http://bizinfo.manila.ph/knowledge-base 2. Do-It-Yourself for ... Beginners or Newbies Intermediate Students Advanced Students Professionals Proceed now to http://bizinfo.manila.ph/school 3. Proceed to your Coach's Weblog located at http://aredconsult.blogspot.com and discover secrets, tips, and tricks _____________________________ Creating Accessible Websites By Bethany Antonio _____________________________ An accessible website is one that allows people with visual, aural, or physical disabilities full access to the information and services available in the same way as able-bodied people. Is It Worth The Effort? In the United States around 53 million people have some form of disability with two-thirds of those having a severe disability. About 1 in 10 men are fully or partially colour blind. You probably already spend much time and effort ensuring your website displays perfectly in a broad range of browers, you probably spend time ensuring your colour scheme and images look great in a range of display resolutions and how many hours do you put in ensuring your website is indexed by all the major search engines? So with all this effort, why do so many web designers ignore the needs of those who may have difficulty using a mouse or may suffer from one of the many visual disorders? The answer is that building an accessible website is considered to be difficult, time-consuming and simply not worth the effort. This is not true, creating an accessible website is relatively easy and will allow a greater number of people access to your website. Simple Ways To Improve Your Website Accessibility These are some simple steps you can implement today to improve the accessibility of your website. =================== Colour And Contrast =================== Many people need extreme contrast between the text and background colour in order to be able to read your text. If your text is dark blue, avoid using a light blue background colour. Using colour to convey information or request an action from the user should also be avoided, for example telling someone to 'clïck the red button to continue' is not much help to a person who cannot distinguish red colours. It seems obvious, but it's overlooked on many thousands of websites. ========== Font Sizes ========== Font sizes should be relative rather than absolute. Absolute font sizes, those measured in points or pixels should be avoided as they prevent the visitor from resizing text. If someone cannot read your page they are simply going to leave. Relative font sizes allow your visitors to display the text on your website in a size that suits them best. These font sizes can be specified as a percentage, for example the base font for a web page may be 100%, headers could be 120% and so on. ====== Images ====== All images on your website should be accompanied with additional text information describing what the image contains. You do this with the alt attribute of the img tag. For example... Clïck to proceed to shopping cart You should avoid the use of transparent images spacer images for formatting. You can achieve the same layout precision by using cascading style sheets (CSS). Do a quick search for 'style sheets' for a wealth of information and tutorials. ======================= Using Tables For Layout ======================= Almost all websites use tables to a layout a page. Tables are easy to understand and achieve the desired layout quickly and easily. However, you should avoid them as a layout tool as much as possible. Tables can cause the size of your pages to increase dramatically slowing download times, they often require the use of transparent images to achieve the proper layout and they make it extremely difficult for screen readers to convey the information on a page correctly to their users. Screen readers are programs which read out the information on a webpage to someone who cannot see that information for themselves. Rather than using tables to format your pages you should start using CSS-based layouts. CSS offers you greater precision when laying out your pages, decreases the amount of HTML required for formatting and makes it much easier for screen readers to interpret your pages correctly. =========== Access Keys =========== Access keys are basically keyboard shortcuts that are primarily designed to help those people who have difficulty using a mouse. You can assign an access key to several HTML elements, however the first one you should consider is the anchor element. Here's an example: Homepage About Us Search Page Then when a Windows user visits your website they can access the home page by pressing ALT + h, the about page by pressing ALT + a and the search page by pressing ALT + s. This simple feature can dramatically improve the usability of your website for people with limited mobility. =========================== Provide A Text Only Version =========================== A text-only version of your website can help users with visual disabilities. However, unless your content is stored in a database, creating a text only version doubles your workload and makes it more difficult to update your content. This is where the Betsie parser is useful. Betsie, developed for the BBC website is a PERL script which produces a simplified text only version of a web page that allows text-to-speech converters and screen readers to correctly read out the contents of the page. Betsie also allows those with visual impairments to read computer screens easier. Find out more about Betsie (http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie/index.html). ========== In Summary ========== Of course, there are many more enhancements you can make to your website to ensure it is truly accessible, but implementing these simple steps will start you on your way in no time. An accessible website with good navigation, less html and a consistent, logical structure will not only benefit those with a visual, aural, or physical disabilility but will also help your content to be more easily indexed by search engines. ================ About The Author ================ Bethany Antonio is the web designer for UK Sprite Search (uksprite.com), a British based search engine which offers an alternative to pay-per-click. ============================== Let Me Help You Get Customers: ============================== AREDCONSULT SERVICES AND SOLUTIONS I. EXECUTIVE COACHING - for busy entrepreneurs, decision-makers and marketing executives who can't spare much time away from their office operations but must immediately grasp and harness internet marketing to contribute to the company's profitability. I will come to you instead. I offer you customized lessons, varied delivery, and at your own time, place and pacing. II. WEBSITE CRITIQUE - for those who already have a website but the results didn't satisfy your expectations, especially your bottomline - profit. I offer you immediate and in-depth assessment. III. RETAINER CONSULTANCY - for those who prefer to consult an internet marketing expert anytime, similar to a retainer legal counsel, especially for those who are launching regular internet marketing campaigns. IV. INITIAL EXPERT ASSESSMENT & STRATEGY FORMULATION - for those with no website yet but seriously planning to publish one on the Web, it is better to hear from an expert first before plunging to unfamiliar field. This might save you huge sums of money. Also, from the axiom "always start with a strategy in mind" - this shall cover your strategy and tactics. V. PROJECT CONSULTANCY - includes website design, installation of website functions, and search engine optimization (SEO); database design, programming, and development; installation of ecommerce functions. VI. STAFF TRAINING - for those who intend to maintain an internet marketing team or have already an existing one, I will analyze and improve your process, update your staff's skills, and provide them with continuous online training. VII. INTERNET MARKETING PROMOTIONS - for those who want to outsource or contract out the whole internet marketing promotion processes. We will become one of your profit centers with a very cost-efficient operation. Business processes that can be outsourced include submission of your website to search engines, email campaigns, mailing list management, product upsell and cross-sell, website content build-up, weblog content, link exchange with other websites, customer relations management, etc. http://bizinfo.manila.ph/coaching http://bizinfo.manila.ph/consultancy http://bizinfo.manila.ph/outsourcing ======== CONTACT: ======== Ask Aredconsult online for any internet marketing questions: http://www.aredconsult.com/ask-aredconsult.htm E-mail: mastermind@ask-the-expert.com Production Office: Tel. # 728-9613 or leave voice mail Corporate Address: Rm. 404 Parchouse II EDSA, Guadalupe Nuevo, beside Sogo Hotel 1200 Makati City, The Philippines ***Trust in the Lord with all your heart***