Designing For Web Accessibility
Accessibility lies at the heart of what the internet has always been designed to do. From its inception, the idea behind the World Wide Web was simply to facilitate conveying information between those who could provide it, and those who needed access to it.
As Tim Berners-Lee has noted:
As Tim Berners-Lee has noted:
"The power of the Web is in its universality.
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
Over time, a set of “best practices” for promoting digital accessibility has been proposed and refined. These include: providing text alternatives for images (so that screen readers can alter visually impaired users as to the content of the images); providing keyboard input capabilities (which can be accessed through voice-assisted control interfaces) for those who are not able to physically operate a mouse as a pointing device; and including transcripts for audio content, so that users who are hearing impaired can access that content.
Overall, four fundamental principles group user accessibility protocols:
1) That content be Perceivable;
2) That content be Operable;
3) That content be Understandable; and,
4) That content be Robust (in meeting the demands of future needs and technologies).
There are many considerations that should be addressed within each of these general categories for accessibility, but a few basic principles go a long way toward guiding designers in creating more accessible work:
(This infographic was created by Lindsay O’Neill, lindsay-oneill.com, CC BY SA 4.0.)
For further information on the principles and best practices that underlie web accessibility, you can consult these video presentations:
Introduction to Web Accessibility and W3C Standards
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Web Accessibility Guidelines - How to make your code Web Accessible
Fullstack Academy:
“Web Accessibility refers to the inclusive practice of designing websites and applications that enable people with disabilities to participate equally on the World Wide Web and have equal access to information and functionality. In this video, we give an overview of the concept of Web Accessibility and the WCAG guidelines to how the web can be made more accessible to people with disabilities.”
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