Web access (user friendly)
Hi
Many web-sites I cannot use due to my visual impairment as it is not user friendly- such as no large font options and contrast adjustment etc. I speak to these web site owners and either they say nothing they can do or they say I will have to speak to their web developers. Is this right? Am I expected to do all of the chasing. They give me the web developers phone numbers but I am deaf too! I am unable to but things on line becaus of these barriers. Any advice would do?
R
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It's bad that authors don't make their sites accessible. However, browsers have accessibility features to help you use sites that have accessibility barriers.
If you use Internet Explorer you can go to Tools, Internet Settings, General, Accessibility.
If you use Firefox you can go to Tools, Options, Content, Fonts & Colors.
Simon Pieters
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Nearly all desktop browser have built-in text sizing features. In Windows, most browsers have a View > Text Size menu.
If you havn't already, I would recommend you try out the Opera web browser. It includes a sophisticated "Page Zoom" feature. This will not just resize text, it will also resize images and borders so the whole layout is easier to see.
I've tried to make a text size and page zoom friendly website for the local school I'm contracted with (Calthorpe Park School). Does this website respond to text size settings in a more useful way? If so, you could use it to show other websites that there are things they can do to improve accessibility. If it isn't then...humbug!
Incidentally, how are you finding the usability of this forum? Some members (me included) have been hoping the staff will move to a more accessible system. Does the current system cause you any problems or inconveniances, though?
Last edited by Ben Millard on 08 Apr 2006 01:42 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Thanks for the information. What about providing pages without graphics? And in two colours only? ARe web providers under a legal obligation to make web site more accessable?
Ta
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Most browsers which support graphics allow the user to turn them off, although this setting is often hard to find. Opera comes with several accessibility stylesheets which you can apply to the current page at the click of a toolbar menu. These include two colours only styles with large text and very high contrast styles.
Companies with websites in the UK are legally obliged to make "reasonable adjustments" to accomodate disabled users, as set out in the Disability Discrimination Act. Other laws throughout Europe generally state something similar and some states in the USA have laws which seem to apply to services provided via a website. Here in the UK, the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) aids disabled users who are having difficulty getting companies to act on their legal (and social) responsibilities.
These laws have been in effect for quite a few years with regards to services as a whole, including websites. Companies have been required to physically alter their premises for a shorter amount of time but this seems to have been done very promptly. Do you know of any shops (other than tiny ones) which have stairs without a ramp or elevator? I don't. Quite why most websites havn't already been rebuilt in an accessible way is a mystery to many accessible website designers, myself included.
Some big names like Tesco, Dabs, Legal & General and so on have found that their newly accessible websites have turned out to be extremely profitable. You'd think other businesses would want to make money, wouldn't you?
Last edited by Ben Millard on 08 Apr 2006 02:20 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| russellm wrote: |
| Thanks for the information. What about providing pages without graphics? And in two colours only? ARe web providers under a legal obligation to make web site more accessable?
Ta |
There is no reason for providing pages without graphics. Accessibility is not about making different version of a site for "Notrmal" & one for "Disabled".
It is about making one web site that is good for both. Your experience simply shows that we still have a ways to go to teach others that it is possible and is the "right thing to do."
CSS based deisng allow the user to modify the CSS used by there browser to change the look of a site to meet their needs. Again Opera is ahead in that it has multiple Style sheets built in that you can easily use to modify a site to your needs. I believe Firefox allows custom style sheets but I am notsure how to do it.
The US (Section 508 of the ADA) and Germany (BITV) have the affor mentioned laws that require accessibility for government web sites. The UK has the DDA that requires accessibility for Government & comercial services, this does include theoretically some/most commercial web sites, but commercial web sites are not specifically covered.
There have been court cases, PricePoint, Ramada, Austraian Olympic Comitee and now Target, as well as South West Airlines who won the case. I have tried to list some of these cases for refference on my web site if you are interested:
Listing of accessibility law suites
--
[size=9]Kyle J. Lamson
Analyst/Programmer III, State of Alaska
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Hi thanks for the information
I am frustrated by the cont attitidue towards people with disabilities. One internet shop said to me..my customs is not important! There are plenty of other out there! They gave me a phone number of their developers based in the USA. They said it is the reponsibilties (developers) and not the internet shop itself although they said they pay for their services.
thanks
[/b]
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| lsw wrote: |
| I believe Firefox allows custom style sheets but I am notsure how to do it. |
Simon Pieters
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This is a comment from one of the web site to me:
Perhaps you will be good enough to forward a copy of the legislation
that requires a web site to provide the service you require and as its a
US based server the legal requirement for it to be imposed
internationaly. If you have any knowledge of web site design you will apreciate
that an upgrade of this nature would cost millions to
introduce.Regretfully although I appreciate your point of view and with out being
discrimatory I doubt if Miva would even consider at this point in investing
that kind of money. however I have forwarded your comments and well see
what response we will get. Other than building a new web site Which I
have neither the time or the inclination to do at this time. we can but
wait and see.
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You might want to mention to the company who sent that response that if they are a UK-based company the Disability Discrimination Act certainly applies to them - as does the Data Protection Act which, with a US-based server, they are almost certainly in breach of.Accessibility != Bobby
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Difficult to make a judgement about that message without seeing it in context. I'm not certain but I think that the Disability Rights Commission here in the UK can interact with overseas organisations.
The W3C maintain a Policies Relating to Web Accessibility which covers legislation around the world, most of which can be read online. It includes a United States section.
A well researched list of legislation is also available from UI Access Resource Links. A couple of clicks from these resources brings up some real gems of official US transcript, such as Applicability of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to Private Internet Sites from the 9th of February 2000 (very and longwinded but a very informative read). The guidelines from US government about the accessibility of telecommunications (of which the Internet is part) are also available from there. There seems to be an abundance of law about the accessibility of services to disabled users.
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This is a response from a website I am complaining about:
Russel, you do what every one else does, you use the settings on your
computor,thats what there there for. You stand no chance of getting any
one to change thier web sites. The facility is already available to
you. Look under disabilty in control.
Peter
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| russellm wrote: |
| This is a response from a website I am complaining about:
Russel, you do what every one else does, you use the settings on your computor,thats what there there for. You stand no chance of getting any one to change thier web sites. The facility is already available to you. Look under disabilty in control. Peter |
These guys need to get a crash course in customer service and a nasty letter from the DRC or someone. See if they can stand a chance of getting people to change their websites.
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To Cerbera: pages without graphics..are you saying it is not necessary?
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| russellm wrote: |
| To Cerbera: pages without graphics..are you saying it is not necessary? |
of course it's not necessary. if you provide appropriate ALT text to meaningful images, and an empty ALT to purely decorative ones, users that can't see images or have them explicitly disabled (to conserve bandwidth, for instance) will still get the exact same experience. HTML already has fallbacks built into its language architecture, so there's really no point in duplicating efforts.
Patrick H. Lauke / webmaster / University of Salford
co-lead: WaSP Accesibility Task Force
take it to the streets ... WaSP Street Team
personal: splintered | photographia | redux
co-author: Web Accessibility - Web Standards and Regulatory Compliance
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