Accessible web design

At 7dots we'll ensure that all the websites we design and build are as accessible as they can possibly be. We recognise the "kite mark" standards, but take a pragmatic approach to compliance; it's not a tick box exercise.

Advantages of accessible web design

Taking the time to make your website accessible offers so much more than you might think:

• Cross browser and platform compatibility (e.g. Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari on PC and Mac).
• Easier to build in PDA, Pocket PC, Blackberry, mobile browsing support.
• Widening your audience - non-discriminatory against ability or setup.
• Improved performance with search engines.
• Improved load speed.
• Meeting legal requirements of Disability Discrimination Act.

What do you do to make a site accessible?

This is something that needs to be thought about from the start of a project; it's not something you bolt on at the end. The sort of things that need to be considered are:

• Don't hide pages behind Flash or JavaScript based navigation.
• Use system text where you can.
• Label buttons and links as appropriate (e.g. avoid ambiguity like "Read more").
• Make sure each page is semantically structured (e.g. heading 1, heading 2...).
• Label images correctly.
• Make sure the site looks OK when you change font size.
• Use CSS (cascading stylesheets) to control as much as you can. If that means nothing to you, read our article "What is CSS?"