The Check List
To get the best web site for your money, you need to check that who ever builds it meets all of the criteria listed below.
- Provides you with a web site that conforms to W3C web standards.
- Provides accessible navigation. Not Flash or table based.
- Provides a design that is both easy to view but also provides high contrast to make the text readable to visually impaired.
- Does NOT use tables to build any structural elements of your web site.
- Gives you the ability to provide ALT tags for all site images
What is required of you?
The Disability act 1995 recognises your web site as a public space just like a shop. Therefore all web sites should have provision for those with disabilities inc the visually impaired.
Text should be easy to read (no tiny fonts). Text should also be in a high contrast to any background colours, making it easier to read.
Web Standards
The internet has grown at a phenomenal rate. As is often the case a lot of people have jumped on the band wagon of web design. This has lead to a huge number of poor web sites being developed that are good for nothing more than scrapping and building from scratch.
But some clever soles realised that if the web was to survive as a valid and successful resource for the future, some guidelines should be put in place.
Essentially the web standards say that a web site should be usable and accessible. To this end a set of guidelines have been drawn up that give best practice advice.
Not only do these practices lead to a better built web site that is more accessible to more people, but they also lead to a site that is future proof.
A properly built web site will not only give disabled visitors a better experience, but presenting content clearly and being more intuitive to navigate will improve every visitors experience.
If you are planning on marketing and promoting your web site online, it will be found and navigated more easily if it is accessible.
Navigation
Navigation allows your web site visitors (and search engines) to move around your web site and find all of the information they want.
Get it right and everyone is happy. Get it wrong and your visitors will leave, and you will get lower search engine rankings.
Make sure your navigation is built using lists, not tables. If Flash or Javascript is used, make sure you provide an alternative for those who don't have it installed.
Alt Tags
Provide alternative text for images. Not all of your site visitors will be able to view your images as you see them.
No tables please!
Web sites are not built with tables any more. Ask your web developer if they build structural page elements using tables? If they do, then they aren't going to build you the best web site for your money. At the very most a table should be used in your web site as a method of displaying data in a tabular format only. Although there are methods around this now too.
Pages built with tables are not accessible and do not present well to visitors using screen readers.
When you come to redesign / update your web site every page that has used tables for structural elements will need to be rebuilt.
If you have any questions or concerns about your web developer, call us to discuss them.
