When designing a site, it is important to remember that not all of your users will be accessing your web site using a computer screen, keyboard, or standard computer mouse. People with disabilities use a variety of adaptive technologies to access web sites.
Screen Readers
People who are blind use screen readers to listen to web pages. Download the WAVE toolbar in Firefox to get a sense of what a screen reader user hears. After the toolbar is installed, go to the web page you want to view and click ‘Text only version’ in the toolbar. The text only version will give you a good idea of what someone who is using a screen reader is hearing.
For example, a sighted user viewing the Amazon.com would see:
Image 1: Amazon.com home page
And the text only version looks like this (which is also what a screen reader user would hear):
Image 2: Amazon.com text only version.
Follow these guidelines when designing a site for users who are blind:
- Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
- Provide empty alt descriptions (alt=””) for decorative images
- Provide skip links to skip over lists of navigational menus or use headings code
- Do not use color or markup (such as bold) exclusively to convey important information
- Make all functions are available from the keyboard
Screen Magnifiers
People who have low vision increase the size of the font on the web page or use a screen magnifier such as ZoomText to view web pages. Hold down the Ctrl key (Cmd on Macs) and press the plus sign to increase the size of a web page to get an idea of how people with low vision would view your site. For example, increasing the size of the Evantage home page looks like this.
Image 3: Amazon.com home page magnified.
Follow these guidelines when designing a site for users with low vision:
- Reduce the amount of horizontal scrolling
- Eliminate text within graphics
Adapted Mouse
Users with motor disabilities might use an adapted mouse to navigate the web such as the NoHands Mouse. Users control this mouse with their feet instead of their hands.
Image 4: NoHands Mouse (Source: www.indiana.edu)
Some users use joysticks to operate their computers. These users control the joystick with their mouths. They click by sipping or puffing into the joystick.
Image 5: Joystick mouse.
To get a sense of what a person using an adapted mouse might experience while accessing your site, turn your mouse around while you navigate through the site.
Follow these guidelines when designing a site for users with motor disabilities:
- Provide skip links since users may be come fatigued using something other than their hands as a mouse
- Make sure that all functions are available from the keyboard. Voice activated software cannot replicate mouse movements as effectively as it can replicate keyboard usage.
When designing a web site, it is important to keep in mind how using assistive technologies might change a user’s experience on your site. I have only listed a few of the assistive technologies you should take into consideration when designing a web site.For a further detailed list see: AbilityHub.
Tags: Accessibility, screen magnifiers, screen readers, W3C
