Creating User-friendly Websites

Earth Art: Website

Meg — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:36:34 +0000

I have created a website that adheres to the principle of designing websites for users with a vision impairment.

There are a few things you may notice about this site that improve readability:

Text has strong contrast (black/white)
Text size is larger than normal
Images have descriptive alt tags
Navigation is straightforward

The site, Earth Art, is about the beauty of nature, and how nature photographs can be manipulated to create interesting graphics and textures.

Perceivable. Operable. Understandable. Robust.

Meg — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 01:58:39 +0000

…do those words describe your website? Things to consider if you want your website to have maximum accessibility:

Insert text alternatives for objects and images
Make content readily available to screen readers
Ensure plenty of contrast, particularly with text colour against background colour
Make content predictable and easy to follow
Create simple navigation

For more details, check out the W3C: Web Accessibilty Quicktips

Open Door – Making the Internet accessible to the disabled

Meg — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:05:54 +0000

This video makes you realise how much you can accomplish using the Internet, and how an inability to access it can be (and is) a major disadvantage for users with a disability.

Something to consider when designing your next website: how can I design this site in the most user-friendly way?

Vision Australia

Meg — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 00:59:43 +0000

Vision Australia provides important information and resources for web developers/designers concerned with website accessibility for users with a visual disability.

A web accessibility toolbar, colour contrast analyser, and a complex table mark-up toolbar are available to download – see “Web Designer’s Toolkit” links on the far right.

Can you see me?

Meg — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 23:41:11 +0000

Various Tests for Colour Blindness

Can you identify the numbers and letters in the images above? If you can, well you aren’t colour blind, but you’ll need to consider those who are when choosing the colour scheme for your website.

First of all, let’s define colour blindness. Many people with colour blindness are not technically ‘blind’ to colour, rather they perceive colours differently and may have trouble distinguishing between red, yellow and green. For this reason, it is important to choose a colour scheme that will not disadvantage any users. For more information on this topic, go to ‘About Colour Blindness’.

What are the needs of users with a vision impairment?

Meg — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 01:12:45 +0000

This blog exists to provide links to resources that will assist web designers and developers in the creation of websites accessible to all people, particularly those with a vision impairment.

Users with a visual impairment such as blindness, low vision or colour blindness experience barriers to using some websites. These barriers can be overcome in part by use of assistive technologies, such as screen readers. However, users with a disability are often disadvantaged by poorly designed websites that do not adequately support assistive technologies.

Some barriers that users with blindness (significant or whole vision loss) may experience include:

Complex page elements and images that are inadequately described or do not provide alternative text
Tables, frames and forms that do not have meaningful labels or proper sequence
Browsers and authoring software that lack interface support

Some barriers that users with low vision (poor acuity, tunnel vision, central field loss, and clouded vision) experience include:

Absolute (unchangeable) font sizes, particularly if set small
Web pages with inconsistent layout and poor contrast
Text presented as images (think twice about slicing up a text-heavy Photoshop layout !)

Users with colour blindness can usually overcome barriers by using customised CSS styles that override the site’s existing style sheet.

For more details on this subject, go to ‘How People with Disabilities Use the Web’.