The Digital Divide: Treating the Disabled as People

Life is hard enough for people with sight and motor disabilities, why should the Internet make it harder?

Jacob Nielsen conducted a test on 19 websites; observing 84 users who were either blind or had low vision or motor impairments. His results concluded that general websites treat the disabled 3 times worse than the average user.

Here are a few suggestions when considering web design for disabled users according to NetMechanic:

1. Text Equivalent: Always provide a text equivalent to any information you present with graphics, videos, applets, etc. Use the text to describe the content and/or function, not merely to describe the graphic. If you include a chart that illustrates how company sales rose 300% in only a year, use that descriptive text in your ALT tag ('Sales Up 300% in FY2000!') instead of merely labeling it 'sales chart graphic.'

2. Alternate Navigation: Always provide a text links somewhere on your page if you rely mainly on image maps for site navigation.

3. Color: Don't use color as a primary means to impart information. If you display sale items in red text, try to group them together under a text section header that says: "Sale-Priced Items!" Choose colors and color combinations carefully too: as many as 1 in 12 white males have some sort of color blindness.

4. Links: Clearly label your links as links and describe the destination. Be particularly careful with this if you're using an image as an important link. A graphic of a shopping cart should clearly indicate that it links to the shopping cart page: 'View the contents of your shopping cart' and not merely 'Shopping Cart.'

5. JavaScript Alternative: Remember that some browsers don't support JavaScript or that users may have it disabled. Provide JavaScript alternatives to any critical functions on your Web page.

When you are finished coding, you may check your site for “quality, accessibility, and privacy issues” at Watchfire WebXACT by simply typing in the URL.