Accessibility

The goal of accessibility is to make the web and other interactive systems accessible to a broad range of users, especially those with physical and cognitive disabilities. In addition to the McCracken and Wolfe text, an excellent overview of accessibility can be found at the WebAIM site.

Major categories of disability types

• Visual
• Blindness
• Low vision
• Color-blindness
• Hearing
• Motor
• Inability to use a mouse
• Slow response time
• Limited fine motor control
• Cognitive
• Memory
• Problem-solving
• Attention

Guidelines and Tools

• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0
• WebAIM Section 508 Checklist
• WebXACT (formerly Bobby)
• WAVE 3.5 Accessibility Tool

Benefits for all users

Here are some reasons why addressing accessibility issues can be good for all users:

• If information does not just rely on color, black and white print outs will still make sense.
• If audio also has accompanying text, all users will understand in a noisy environment.
• If a website has text that accompanies images and graphics, users who cannot download images and graphics will still understand the content.
• Separating logical content (e.g. with HTML) from presentation (e.g. with style sheets) is good for accessibility tools and content management.
• Providing multiple methods of presenting content allows users to check both presentations to verify comprehension.