Accessibility Websites

 Overview

There are approximately 8.7 million disabled people in the UK with an estimated 600K - 800K being partially sighted or blind ( Office for National Statistics ). Incorporating additional facilities in your website to make access easier for the disabled makes good commercial sense, ensures that your business complies with the requirements of the Discrimination Act and demonstrates that your company is responsible and progressive.

At Design Atom we can incorporate functionality into new and existing websites, which complies with strict standards defined by the World Wide Web Consortium ( W3C® ) for accessibility. These standards are designed to ensure that those with sight problems, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairments can use your website with standard browsers, Braille readers and voice synthesizers. Additionally, compliant websites will allow greater accessibility for those with colour blindness as well as those using older browsers, slow internet connections and newer technologies such as PDAs.

 Including Accessibility

Whilst we would like to design and include accessibility into all our websites, the additional cost involved would make us uncompetitive with other designers that don‘t incorporate such functionality. Instead we offer accessibility as an optional extra to all of our designs. The additional effort required to ensure that a website complies with the W3C‘s strict accessibility standards does increase the cost of a website, but we do encourage our customers to consider the benefits that this offers to them and their customers.

In addition to developing a W3C compliant design we also offer extra functionality to further increase accessibility of your website for those with disabilities. Again this is optional and you can choose which facilities you would like to include in your specification.

If we design your new website and you choose to add our accessibility options we will build in that functionality right from the start of the design process. This is the most cost effective solution because your website can be coded with accessibility already included.

We can also modify existing websites to include accessibility either by changing existing web pages and/or providing new, compliant web pages and linking to them. The most effective solution will depend upon your existing website and the standards that were applied when it was designed and coded. If you would like to enhance your existing website to include accessibility functions, then we can evaluate your web pages and provide an estimate for the work.

 Accessibility Options

The W3C specification defines a minimum level for websites to comply with accessibility standards ensuring that they are usable with a wide range of internet browsers and accessibility devices. At Design Atom we also offer additional functionality that exceeds the W3C specification to ensure your website is enjoyed by everyone whatever their status.

Our accessibility options can be broken down into five areas as listed below and each option can be added separately or collectively, to a new or existing website.

Compliance with W3C Accessibility Standards. Design and coding/re-coding of your website to fully comply with W3C‘s "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" level A, AA or AAA as appropriate to your needs.

Large Text. One-Click action to render the page in a large text format. Text on the page will be shown at a minimum size of 14pt, and where available in the user‘s browser it will be shown in Sans Serif, as recommended by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) guidelines for printed matter. Once selected, cookies will ensure that all subsequent pages are shown in large text until the function is deselected. Show Me >>

Braille. The layout and content of many webpages confuses Braille readers and speech synthesisers, and results in incorrect output to the user. Following the W3C guidelines will rectify layout errors but much of the website content is irrelevant, unnecessary and breaks up the flow of the document when rendered by a braille reader. We will design an alternative page layout optimised for a braille reader, and even if you change the page content using our content management facility, the braille page will be updated automatically. Once selected, cookies will ensure that all subsequent pages are optimised for Braille readers and speech synthesisers, until the function is deselected. Show Me >>

Fastkeys. Some users are unable to use a pointing device such as a mouse or touchpad, either because of a disability or because no such facility exists on their device. Fastkeys allow the user to select menu options, hyperlinks and list selections, without the use of a pointing device. We will provide a facility to enable fastkeys using a single keyboard selection and will provide alternative graphics and text to display keypress options. Once selected, cookies will ensure that all subsequent pages are shown with fastkey options until the function is deselected. Show Me >>

Audio. Audio or "talking pages" are an ideal alternative for those with visual impairment, dyslexia, learning difficulties or those who prefer not to read the page. We can design your website so that the content and menu options are supplemented with an audio alternative. When enabled your webpage will be read aloud to the user. Once selected, cookies will ensure that all subsequent pages are are supplemented with an audio commentary until the function is deselected. Show Me >>

Find Out More

If you like the sound of our accessibility options, or you require any other aspect of software design then we can certainly help you. To find out more use the "Quick Links" to the right or Contact Us with your requirements.