Website accessibility - Definition

Website accessibility is the degree to which a website is accessible to Internet users with disabilities. For example, a web developer might make sure that all images have explanatory captions, so that they can be read by visually impaired people.

When Tim Berners Lee created the groundwork for the World Wide Web, he expected it to become a community with access for all persons from all levels and parts of society. Over the last ten years, the websites have proliferated into the millions but very few are accessible to the disabled. The W3C specifies guidelines in creating accessible websites, grouped into three levels, Level A—the most basic accessibility—Level AA, and Level AAA.

Accessible-web designers

Accessible-web designers are individuals and firms who create, develop, design, and write the technology for accessible websites. The most preferred and experienced are those who have accessible websites themselves. There are organisations that advocate accessible web design, such as the Guild of Accessible Web Designers (GAWDS) and the W3C.

External links

• Guild of Accessible Web Designers (http://www.gawds.org/)
• W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (http://www.w3.org/WAI/)
• Website accessibility designers (http://www.southbourne.com)
• Disability Discrimination Act UK (http://www.disability.gov.uk/dda/)
• Royal National Institue of the Blind (http://www.rnib.org.uk)
• Accessible Web Designers (http://www.mcu.org.uk/)
• The National Library for the Blind (http://www.nlb-online.org)