Site Check Up: Accessibility

Doctors recommend that you get a physical check-up at least once each year. Web developers – your site need at least an annual check-up as well! There are so many things that need to be checked on a regular basis – some webmasters will even conduct these tests on a monthly basis… It all depends upon the size of your site, the purpose of your online business and the potential your site has for running into problems that could end up costing you money.

Not all programs are created equal – what works on one site may not work on another – you mileage may vary… or any other saying you can think of – they all apply here. Use at least 2 different programs or scripts of each type to ensure that you’ve got all your i’s dotted and your t’s crossed.

SITE ACCESSIBILITY

Site accessibility is a growing problem for some web developers. As more and more users go online every year with disabilities or special needs that require additional measures to “see” or navigate a web site – you, as a web developer – need to ensure that your site is up for the job. Otherwise, you could be missing out on a very important and growing demographic of potential customers!

The Programs
There are a few programs that you can choose from that will help you assess your site’s accessibility. Take some time to check these out – you may find something here that you’d never considered before:

Color-blindness Simulator
http://www.etre.com/tools/colourblindsimulator/
http://gmazzocato.altervista.org/colorwheel/wheel.php
Effective for all types of color-blindness, which affects between 10-22% of users.

Accessibility Basic Check
http://www.etre.com/tools/accessibilitycheck/
http://www.wave.webaim.org/wave35/index.jsp
Accessibility is a legal responsibility in the UK as mandated by law. And in the US there are already cases on the books of users with disabilities demanding accessibility be required.

Contrast Tester
http://graybit.com/main.php
Converts a full-color site into grayscale so you can determine the site’s contrast.
http://juicystudio.com/services/luminositycontrastratio.php
A full-service luminosity color contrast ratio analyzer.

Extra Tips
There are lots of resources online that can help you – particularly the data available at W3C (www.w3c.org) and the huge list of resources, online checkers, downloadable software and browser add-ons that can help you get on the right track at WebDeveloper.Internet.com (LINK).