|
Could Stevie Wonder use your Web site? Could Helen Keller use it?
By Susan Tenby, TechSoup.org These are the questions that Knowbility.org, an organization that promotes awareness about barrier-free IT, asks during their web accessibility events. These are questions that you should be asking yourself when designing a Web site. Sadly, despite the fact that fifty percent of all Americans are online, and 76 percent of Americans with disabilities are online, approximately 98 percent of existing Web sites are inaccessible. That is, they aren't compatible with the tools that people with disabilities use to navigate the Web, such as text readers and text-to-braille translators. Accessible Web design does not only provide access for people who are blind. It is also necessary for people who have mobility impairments, people who are color blind, people with dyslexia, and people with brain injuries. In addition, making your site accessible will shorten download time for all users, help people who are viewing your site from their PDAs or cell phones, and make it easier for people who speak another language to use your site. Accessibility is not just a civil rights issue. Building an accessible Web site makes sense in terms of broadening your organization's mission and reaching as many users as possible. Through the end of 2002, TechSoup is undergoing a three-tiered approach to increased accessibility. Our organization will be partnering with Knowbility.org to co-produce an accessibility event, we are redesigning our own site to make it more accessible, and soon we will be launching a new section on Web accessibility with the help of our content partner, Alliance for Technology Access (ATA). For more information on Web accessibility visit TechSoup's Web Building Section: From TechSoup...By The Cup -- March 21, 2002 The Newsletter from TechSoup.org | ||
