|
||
 |
||
 |
Does Your Site Make You Illegal?Building a site that is friendly to "text to voice" and "text to braille" programs is not only logical, it is essential. October 2004 sees the small employer exemption removed. Disabled visitors present a formidable potential market, subsequently it should not only be the threat of prosecution that drives your web representative into doing the right thing. There are over two million people with sight problems in the UK. Good design can make your websites information, goods and services accessible to them. Furthermore these efforts are easy to implement with the proper knowledge, and go a long way to improving your placement in search engine results. What's involved?Accessibility is the degree to which anyone can access and use a website using any web browsing technology. A fully accessible site is one that is designed to make use of the latest web technologies such as multimedia, while at the same time accommodating the needs of those who have difficulty with or are unable to use these technologies. This includes at a basic level, descriptions for images and for more prominent sites the use of the latest technologies (CSS).Well designed graphics and multimedia are a positive aid to using and understanding websites. Our developers maintain strong W3C coding standards throughout our web developments and, proudly, within our cutting edge content management system. A solution that allows accessible pages and content to be added by our clients easily, without any special knowledge. Checking your siteWhilst much of the accessibility code is hidden behind the scenes, every image on your site should have a description as a bare minimum. If hovering your mouse over an image fails to display a text description, your site is not likely to be legal, nor does it promote itself to search engines. It is unlikely that the smaller websites will be taken to court and the precise levels have not been tested in court, however, making sure you site makes a good effort is essential and ethical. What to do nextIf your sites appears to be letting you down, our assistance is available in complete confidence, please contact us on 0845 330 2550 to discuss how to protect yourself and your business. |
Reaching all customersLegal compliance apart, disabled web visitors represent a potential market your website should welcome and accommodate
|
