[real-eyes] Accessible Web sites reach widest audiences

From: <bigdaddylou63@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2009 10:23:36 -0500
> The Cincinnati Enquirer
> Tuesday, May 03, 2005
>
> Accessible Web sites reach widest audiences
>
> By Jason Whong
>
> Web sites are business necessities, but making sure they reach wide 
> audiences remains a challenge. Ensuring your Web site is "accessible" is 
> one way to connect with potential customers.
>
> Accessible sites work with any Web browser and across a range of devices 
> including cell phones, personal digital assistants or video game consoles. 
> A Web site visitor using a 15-year-old computer or one made last week will 
> be able to browse and interact with all of the information on an 
> accessible site.
>
> Accessible sites also are essential for reaching users with special needs, 
> such as the blind, who might use a browser that speaks the text of a page 
> or prints it in Braille.
>
> Here are some pointers for designing accessible Web pages:
>
> Use valid HTML. Web browsers, including Microsoft Internet Explorer or 
> Mozilla Firefox forgive small syntax and structural errors in HTML, which 
> is the code used to design Web pages. However, these errors can create 
> readability problems for someone browsing on a cell phone or via a Braille 
> interface. The Worldwide Web Consortium, which develops standards for Web 
> design, provides a validator at http://validator.w3.org where you can 
> check your code.
>
> Use non-HTML technologies with care. Macromedia's Flash can give your Web 
> site some visual zing, and many designers use the JavaScript language to 
> add interactivity. Using these technologies is fine as long as you provide 
> an HTML alternative for folks browsing your site with a cell phone or 
> other devices that can't take advantage of them.
>
> Use image-based text sparingly. Because HTML text isn't displayed 
> identically across browsers and computers, Web page creators often rely on 
> text that is represented by images when exact appearance matters. This 
> solution works as long as "alt" tags accompany the image text. Alt tags 
> include a word or words to describe an image. Search engines and Braille 
> readers can use the tags, and they appear in place of images on cell phone 
> browsers that only display text.
>
> Specify HTML type in relative sizes. When building a Web page, a designer 
> can specify text and other page elements in absolute sizes (such as pixels 
> and points) or relative sizes such as percentages. Using relative sizes 
> ensure that a site's layout and type are readable on giant monitors as 
> well as tiny mobile screens.
>
> Avoid nesting tables to create page designs. Before the widespread 
> acceptance of cascading style sheets, an HTML technology for creating Web 
> pages, designers relied on tables to achieve sophisticated layouts. Tables 
> originally were intended to display columns and rows of numeric data. When 
> used to present the layout of page in a Web browser or a Braille reader, 
> they sometimes break, especially when several tables are nested inside of 
> each other. Cascading style sheets offer alternatives to tables, such as 
> floats and positioned boxes, which translate more effectively across a 
> range of devices.
>
> Web designers often have to change the way they build pages to make them 
> accessible. This requires time and experimentation. The reward is 
> compatibility with the widest audience possible, which might add up to 
> more customers and sales, especially for companies doing business on the 
> Web.
>
>
>
> http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050503/BIZ02/505030337/1003/BIZ
>  

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[real-eyes] Accessible Web sites reach widest audiences

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