information underload julie howell campaigns officer (digital access) rnib julie howell campaigns...
DESCRIPTION
Why good Web design matters 1.7m have sight problems in the UK (1 in 35) inaccessible design censors blind people’s access to information, participation, choice, democracy and consumer rights Disability Discrimination Act 1995 Government Web Guidelines 1999 don’t let blind people be paupers the of the information societyTRANSCRIPT
Information underload
Julie HowellCampaigns Officer(Digital Access)
RNIB
Yes, blind people use the Internet!! good Web design browser flexibility ‘access technology’
magnification software synthetic speech braille display
Why good Web design matters
1.7m have sight problems in the UK (1 in 35) inaccessible design censors blind people’s
access to information, participation, choice, democracy and consumer rights
Disability Discrimination Act 1995 Government Web Guidelines 1999 don’t let blind people be paupers the of the
information society
Guidance
http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital http://www.w3.org/WAI http://www.cast.org/bobby http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie http://www.iagchampions.gov.uk/Guidelines/websites/
Julie’s 10 top tips Is the text legible? Is the design flexible? Do all images have ‘alt-text’? Is there a site map? Do links make sense out of context? Are imagemaps accompanied by text links? Do frames have titles, is ‘noframes’ used? Are alternatives offered for Javascript, applets, flash plug-ins? Is Access Adobe available for PDF files? Do all pages pass the ‘Bobby test’? http://www.cast.org/bobby
Tip #11
User testing - ask disabled Net users for feedback!
“...the more barriers you put in the way, the less likely people with sight problems are to reach the information to which they are entitled...”
Julie Howell, 22 March 2000
Julie HowellCampaigns Officer (Digital Access)
[email protected] www.rnib.org.uk/digital 0171-391 2191 RNIB, 224 Great
Portland Street, London W1N 6AA