Some considerations in designing an accessible web site
There do seem to be two main strands to this discussion:
The limitations imposed by the current infrastructure of the internet
and the considerations imposed by the abilities of the target audience.
Firstly the present limitations of the web and of web browsers. The speed of loading any graphic, or sound file larger than about 30k makes picture based pages difficult to impossible depending on the state of the internet traffic. Hopefully all general web browsers will soon include support for Java, real audio etc.etc. Limitations with brail convertors and text readers make frames difficult at the moment.
The web is very far from a multimedia experience (as some adverts would have us believe) and the new 56k modems don't seem to help much.
Second the accessibility of web pages to people who have differing abilities: It does depend on what level of accessibility you want to provide i.e. who your audience is.
You can write web pages that are accessible to most people like the Meldreth school web pages are or you can write them for people who have access to ISDN, the full multimedia kit, pentium 11s, excellent hearing, good vision, and perfect understanding.
The Meldreth school web pages are written specifically for people who have difficulty controlling a mouse so all the page turning icons are consistently placed and all the pages should take up a single screen. Text is simple and symbol supported, all graphics have alternative texts so they can be used with a screen reader, graphics are clear, pages uncluttered and colour contrasts with the background are clear.
The Meldreth web pages as they stand are still not properly accessible to some of our pupils. They are also not terribly exciting to view, but fascinating to write with our pupils, which is perhaps the main reason for them being there. I also have them in many different formats: basic pages on the WWW., hard drive web pages with sound and better graphics, full multimedia presentations using Powerpoint, multimedia textease and Clicker, ordinary books with pictures and symbol text and tactile books with simple feely pages.
Even then I'm stretching it with some of our pupils.
There are however some perhaps some general guidelines although some of these are simply good page design:
The use of alt text
The use of text links in addition to image maps
Consideration for visual clarity of page design
Due regard for peoples individual differing abilities
Click on the following to read:
Writing Accessible HTML documents by Paul Fontaine from the Center for Information Technology Accomadation
Design of HTML pages to increase their accessibility to users with disabilities by the Trace R and D center