True Power of Web Accessibility

Defining Web Accessibility

Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can use the Web. Web accessibility also benefits older people, with changing abilities due to aging. However, web accessibility is favored, more among the disabled, given its top quality attributes that are disabled user-friendly. For instance, comprehension, navigation, interaction, as well as contribution to the web become much easier for the disabled users, with the use of web accessible software. Extraordinary software so designed that both the able and disabled users can use the site with utmost ease.

Different disabilities that web accessibility aims to address

Web accessibility encompasses all disabilities that affect access to the Web, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, and neurological disabilities. As more accessible Web sites and software become available, people with disabilities are able to use and contribute to the Web more effectively.

Visual impairments: Blindness, poor eyesight, and color blindness.

Immobility: Trouble while using hands, including tremors, muscle slowness. Especially useful for people afflicted by Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, stroke.

Auditory: Deafness or hearing impairments.

Seizures: Photo epileptic seizures caused by visual strobe or flashing effects.

Cognitive/Intellectual: Dyslexia, dyscalculia, etc and cognitive disabilities of various origins, affecting memory, attention, developmental “maturity,” problem-solving and logic skills etc.

How web accessibility helps disabled to use the web?

• For blind users using text-to-speech software and/or text-to-Braille hardware, the web accessible site becomes pretty resourceful as it is coded with semantically meaningful HTML. Images are defined textually, and links are named meaningfully.
• For users with poor sight, the text and images are coded in such a way that they are large by themselves and /or can be enlarged.
• For color blind users, the links are underlined or otherwise differentiated and colored.
• For those who cannot control the mouse with accuracy, the site has clickable links as well as areas that are large.
• For those who cannot use a mouse or a standard keyboard, the pages are so coded, that users can navigate by means of keyboard alone, or a single switch access device.
• For deaf and hard of hearing users, the videos are closed captioned and even a sign language version is available.
• For users affected by seizures, the flash effects are avoided or made optional.
• For users affected by dyslexia and learning difficulties, the content is written in easy language and is very well supported by instructional diagrams and animations.

Essentials components of web accessibility

Web accessibility depends on several components of web development working together in order for the Web to be accessible to people with disabilities. These components include:

Content: The information in a Web page or Web application, including natural information such as text, images, and sounds, code or markup that defines structure, presentation, etc.

Display Agent: Web browsers, media players, and other “user agents”

Assistive technology: Screen readers, alternative keyboards, switches, scanning software, etc.

Authoring tools: Software that creates Web sites.

Evaluation tools: Web accessibility evaluation tools, HTML valuators, CSS valuators, etc.

Developers: Designers, coders, authors, etc., including developers with disabilities and users who contribute content

Users: Users’ knowledge, experiences, and in some cases, adaptive strategies using the Web

Following diagram explains how all above mentioned components collaborate to enable web accessibility for disabled users.

Summary

The web accessible software makes the disabled as competitive as the non-disabled users in web world. Simply put, when sites are correctly built and maintained that all the users can operate it, while not impacting on the usability of the site for non-disabled users.

How Rightway can help?

Rightway has spent significant time and effort researching into the different web accessibility standards to gather knowledge that is more practical and usable for our customers. Today our designers can produce web accessible software (Websites and Web Applications) which follows all major accessibility standards (Section 508 standard and W3C WCAG compatibility).

About Rightway

Rightway Solution’s has been blazing the trial in the outsourcing world, offering a range of strategic offshore outsourcing solutions to cater to the burgeoning needs of Information Technology industry. Our dogged determination to continually upgrade technology, has invaluably aided us in offering futuristic solutions to our clients, constantly bogged down by surprising changes in the IT domain. Today Rightway’s service offerings includes, some revolutionary services like, Web Design & Development, Portal Development, Open Source Customization & Implementation, RIA Application Development, Custom Application Development, Enterprise Application Development, Framework Based Application Development, Software Product Engineering and Project Outsource Consultancy services, offered to enterprises world-wide.