The following challenges are faced by groups historically overlooked in quality assurance for web sites. Steps taken to ensure access to these groups can provide benefits for everyone. Sharron Rush refers to these benefits as virtual curbcuts.
Physical Disabilities
- Blind and low-vision
Most web accessibility concerns aim to support this group of users. The internet is is too-often thought of as a purely visual experience, rather than the open exchange of information it should be. Blind or low-vision users may use a screen reader, large fonts, screen magnifier, or other Assistive Technolgy (AT) devices to access the internet.
- Mobility-impaired
Many web users are unable or prefer not to use a typical pointing device like a mouse. When developing sites, make sure your interface can be used with other input devices like a keyboard.
- Hearing-impaired
While most web sites don’t provide audio content, take special care in considering this group if your web site does. Provide video captions or transcripts of your essential audio content.
- Color-blind
When using color on web sites, do not rely on color alone and provide sufficient contrast between background and foreground colors. For example, do not use the phrase, “Select green for yes and red for no.”
- Learning-impaired
Disablities in this group can vary and include disorders such as dyslexia or attention deficits all the way to severe mental retardation. By using all accessibility techniques possible, you’ll make your site a more usable and accessible experience for all, including this group.
Also use proper grammar, spell correctly, and
use the clearest and simplest language appropriate for a site’s content.
Technical Disabilities
- Different user settings
It’s best to test the default install settings of many browsers, but even the most inexperienced web surfers change their settings a little. Test with as many combinations of settings as possible.
- Disabled user settings
Some user may surf with JavaScript turned off, some may have cookies disabled, some may have a browser incapable of using style sheets or they may have disabled them. All of these setting differences can affect your user’s experience for better or worse.
Anyone who tells you that this
isn’t an issue
either isn’t checking their server logs or isn’t getting any traffic. Perhaps they aren’t getting traffic because they aren’t paying attention to their users’ other needs either. - Missing typefaces
Test all your specified fonts and provide a default generic font-family as sans-serif, serif, or monospace.
h1 { font-family: garamond, times, serif; } - User styles
User style sheets can override all or a portion of your styles. You can’t test for everything, but try to test out different user style settings, like large fonts or high-contrast color settings.
- Disabled user settings
- Slow internet connection or old computer
Just because your graphics-heavy, richly-interactive web site renders quickly on your new Mac G5 with your high-speed internet connection, doesn’t mean it will render the same way on Joe Average’s 486 with AOL dialup. Keep bandwidth and processor limitations in mind.
- Text-only browsers or disabled images
Believe it or not, some people still use text-only browsers (like Lynx) and many more people surf with images disabled for bandwidth savings. Arrange you document content in a way that makes sense from a linear perspective and provide text alternatives.
- Limited newer browser
Many PDAs and mobile phones contain limited browsers with limited bandwidth. Provide for these users by serving your site as light, semantic markup with an available style sheet for handheld media.