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Tips for Evaluating a Site for Accessibility

Written by: on June 17th, 2009

Accessibility is the development of information systems flexible enough to accommodate the needs of the broadcast range of users regardless of age or disability. 

 

When creating a site that is accessible, make sure that it is accessible no matter what Internet browser is being used.  You will also want to take into consideration that there are different types of assistive devices that users may be using and of these devices there are different versions of each device.  Below are few tips and considerations to take when evaluating a site for accessibility.

 

Browsers

You will want to view the site in different browsers and test for keyboard accessibility in different browsers by using the keyboard only (not the mouse) to navigate through the site.

  • All Internet browsers behave differently.  For example, when testing for keyboard accessibility, Safari will only tab to text elements.
  • There are very specific rules for html and browsers are good at following the rules, but nothing tells a browser what to do if you break the rules so the browser will make up for it.  Html will still display and the browser will fix it – browsers all “fix” it differently.
  • From a purely accessibility standpoint, it is not important that a site looks the same in all browsers. It is important that the site is readable in all browsers. That being said, the site should still look “good” in all browsers.

 

Screen Readers

A screen reader attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen through text to speech. Visually impaired people with little or no functional vision usually use a screen reader to “view” a web page.  Testing your site using a screen reader ensures that screen readers users will be to access your site.

  • Examples of screen readers are JAWS, WindowsEyes, and HAL. A free trial version of JAWS can be downloaded to be used for 40 minutes.  You can also download an accessibility toolbar such as WAVE and view the text only version of a page which is similar to what a screen reader will hear.
  • Don’t cheat when using a screen reader, turn the screen off.
  • If you test with one screen reader, you usually find everything that is inaccessible. The really important tasks need to be tested with a second screen reader. 
  • Sometimes there can be known bug in a screen reader which causes a page to work incorrectly.  Don’t hack the page to work in a screen reader because it’s likely it will get fixed, and the hack job will no longer work after the screen reader bug has been fixed.

 

Screen Magnifiers

A screen magnifier is software that interfaces with a computer’s graphical output to present enlarged screen content. Visually impaired people with some functional vision will often use a screen magnifier to enlarge the site.  Testing with a screen magnifier ensures that the context of the site will not get lost when it is enlarged.

  • Examples of screen magnifiers are Zoom Text Magnifier (most common) and MAGic.  Ctrl + and Ctrl – can also be used to increase and decrease the font size.  
  • When testing, increase the text to 300% and check readability; you can enlarge just the font or scale everything.  Firefox and IE7 enlarge everything by default.
  • The site should have minimal to no horizontal scrolling after it is enlarged.
  • It is better to have a max and min width than a fixed width to work with screen magnifiers.

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