Exponetic

Web Site Accessibility

Exponetic White Paper:
Accessibility Standards Document

Accessibility is an increasingly important issue within the field of internet design and development. Not only is there now legislation in place in the form of the Disability Discrimination Act, which has been shown to apply to web sites, but companies and other organisations are seeing the benefit of making their services and products available to the widest possible audience.

The most commonly known accessibility problem is that encountered by blind and partially sighted web users. Although these form a large group there are a number of other factors which affect a person's ability to interact with a web site which can be improved by knowledgeable design and development teams.

Our Approach

Accessibility is vitally important to all web sites. At Exponetic we have developed our own accessibility standards based on those of the W3C/WAI and drawing on guidelines from the RNIB and other bodies.

There are a number of issues which need to be considered when discussing web site accessibility. Factors affecting site visitors include:

• They may not be able to see, hear, move, or may not be able to process some types of information easily or at all.
• They may have difficulty reading or comprehending text.
• They may not speak or understand fluently the language in which the document is written.
• They may not have or be able to use a keyboard or mouse.
• They may have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection.
• They may have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.

A number of elements can contribute to lowering the level of accessibility of a site, including an over-reliance on images or colour to convey information, time-sensitive animation or other elements outside of the user's control, as well as straightforward bad coding practices.

Exponetic will always use our expertise in this area to ensure your site meets the very latest coding and accessibility standards.

Find Out More

You can find out more by viewing our Accessibility Standards Document or contacting us.