What the heck is W3C, accessibility and the ASA all about?

1. Accessibility What the heck is W3C, accessibility and the ASA all about? How we make websites accessible is not important to you, so this presentation is going to briefly explain why it is important and how it could affect your website. info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

2. Accessibility W3C (World Wide Web Consortium): Set standards for web coding and development. You can use their free markup validation service to check your site code and if it passes you can add these icons to your site. http://validator.w3.org WAI (Web Accessibility Initiative): The division of W3C responsibly for accessibility. http://www.w3.org/WAI/ DDA (Disability Discrimination Act): The only law you need to consider with regard to your website and yes it can result in prosecution. http://www.rnib.org.uk/professionals/webaccessibility/lawsandstandards/Pages/uk_law.aspx ASA (Adverting Standards Agency): The ASA is the UK’s independent regulator of advertising across all media, including, from 1 March, marketing on websites. It can take just one complaint for the ASA to launch an investigation, the result of which can be that an ad has to be withdrawn. http://www.cap.org.uk/CAPServices/Digital-remit-advice.aspx info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

3. Accessibility Examples of Banned Adverts These were asking to be banned • Pot Noodles - The slag of all snacks • United Colours of Benetton But what about this one? • Polo singing dog info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

4. Accessibility Accessibility - What does it mean? Making a website available to the widest audience possible. This includes different browsers and platforms. As well as considering those with disabilities, from colour blindness to the severely handicapped. info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

5. Accessibility Browser and device compatibility Below are the current stats for browser use. Different mobile devices support different programming languages. Some support WAP and WML, some support HTML or a limited version of HTML, and some support both or a different language. View latest stats here Safari 4% Opera 2.5% Netscape is dead February 1, 2008 Firefox 38% Internet Explorer 22% Google Chrome 35% info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

6. Accessibility Screen size A vast range of screen sizes are now available and this will continue to grow, therefore part of accessibility is to make sure websites can be viewed comfortably across a range of sizes. View latest stats here. 1280x1024 14.8 % 1280x800 14.4 % 1366x768 10.1 % 1440x900 9.9 % 1680x1050 9.2 % 1920x1080 6.2 % 1920x1200 4.5 % 1600x900 2.5 % 1152x864 1.5 % 1360x768 1.3 % Other high resolutions 10.7 % e.g. HTC Desire 480 x 800 1024x768 14% 800x600 0% info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

7. Accessibility Sight • How many of you wear glasses for working on the computer? • Approx 15 million (25%) people in the UK suffer from long-sightedness (Myopia) • Almost two million (1.2%) people in the UK are living with sight loss • 9 - 12% of males in the UK suffer from colour blindness info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

8. Accessibility Are you colour blind? Colour is a useful tool but never rely on it alone to convey important information as those with colour blindness will struggle, it is also important to keep contrast high as some colours will merge together if you are colour blind. Colour Checkers http://juicystudio.com/services/coloursaferatio.php#luminosity http://www.snook.ca/technical/colour_contrast/colour.html info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

9. Accessibility Ishihara test If you can not see 35 left or 5 right you may be colour blind. info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

10. Accessibility How the blind and partially sighted view the web They have two options, braille readers or screen readers. These read the code in the order in which it is constructed, so if the code it badly formatted then it will be read in a way that won’t make sense. It will also read everything, so imagine every time you change pages all of the heading description, navigation etc being read out over and over. To avoid this links to skip sections can be added that are invisible to sighted users. See example here of what you might see compared to what is read by the poor sighted. Normal View How a reader receives the code N.B. Images will also be shown as text only, your browser may allow you to switch of images for full effect. info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

11. Accessibility Other disability • Are you deaf? • If you insist that someone completes their phone number on a form and they are deaf what will happen when you call them? Your company would require a minicom system to communicate with them. • No mouse • Who has ever tried to navigate a site with flyout menus on a laptop pad and nearly thrown it out the window? • Now imagine how difficult it must be if you can’t use a mouse i.e. have assistive technology that is nothing like as precise as a mouse to try and navigate. info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

12. Accessibility Over doing it! It is possible to add too much information in an attempt to cover your bases, this can be very frustrating for those with disabilities, so don’t abuse options available always put yourself in the users position if in doubt. info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

13. Accessibility Example of breach of DDA • A simple example would be that if someone wanted to buy something from an e-commerce site and was unable to complete the sale due to poor accessibility on the website and the owners attitude is that they should get someone to help then that is discrimination. • Never assume that you know who is viewing your website. • Blind woman successfully sued Sydney Olympic Games website for AU$20,000 info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

14. Accessibility How to check accessibility Accessibility can only truly be checked by a human being, but there are a couple of validators that will help you. http://www.cynthiasays.com http://wave.webaim.org info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

15. Accessibility What does this all mean for my website? Small businesses do have some dispensation, but should aspire to at least pass the W3C validator. I suggest a disclaimer along the lines of: We intend to keep this website inline with DDA compliance, if you are having any problems please contact us and we will endeavour to correct them. Never say that they should get someone else to help them! info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk

16. Accessibility Benefits of accessibility • It will increase your number of visitors • It will make your site more usable also for people with no disabilities • Google loves it info@dizzy-webdesign.co.uk