website, enter information into a purchase form, and even glean data presented in graphs, maps, or other images – if the page has been designed with this in mind.

In order to explain how we need to understand a little of how a web page works. As you probably know, what you see on a webpage is what the author has chosen to show you – to accomplish that she needs

Accessible web design is a way of building a website so that people who may experience difficulty accessing the information from or purchasing goods or services on a website can do so. These difficulties range from older hardware/software and slower internet connections to people for whom English (or whatever language the website is presented in) is a second langue to people living with disabilities. It is for this last group that most effort is expended when considering accessibility and where this article will primarily focus. However it is important to note that all accessibility issues are interrelated and can help a website do its job better for any potential client.

People with partial or complete visual impairment present perhaps the biggest set of challenges to the web designer. After all, the web is primarily a visual medium. The power of the web, though is that it doesn’t rely on only one way of presenting. A video can have running captions for the hearing impaired. Text can be resized for those who find it too small or colors changed for people who can read it better with different contrasts. And it can be read aloud for those who can’t see it at all.

Many blind and partially sighted internet users rely on what are known as screen readers. These are programs which act a bit like your browser except, as the name implies, they read what is on the page aloud. They allow the user to not only hear the copy but also to navigate through the website, enter information into a purchase form, and even glean data presented in graphs, maps, or other images – if the page has been designed with this in mind.

In order to explain how we need to understand a little of how a web page works. As you probably know, what you see on a webpage is what the author has chosen to show you – to accomplish that she needs

people living with disabilities. It is for this last group that most effort is expended when considering accessibility and where this article will primarily focus. However it is important to note that all accessibility issues are interrelated and can help a website do its job better for any potential client.

People with partial or complete visual impairment present perhaps the biggest set of challenges to the web designer. After all, the web is primarily a visual medium. The power of the web, though is that it doesn’t rely on only one way of presenting. A video can have running captions for the hearing impaired. Text can be resized for those who find it too small or colors changed for people who can read it better with different contrasts. And it can be read aloud for those who can’t see it at all.

Many blind and partially sighted internet users rely on what are known as screen readers. These are programs which act a bit like your browser except, as the name implies, they read what is on the page aloud. They allow the user to not only hear the copy but also to navigate through the website, enter information into a purchase form, and even glean data presented in graphs, maps, or other images – if the page has been designed with this in mind.

In order to explain how we need to understand a little of how a web page works. As you probably know, what you see on a webpage is what the author has chosen to show you – to accomplish that she needs

sent perhaps the biggest set of challenges to the web designer. After all, the web is primarily a visual medium. The power of the web, though is that it doesn’t rely on only one way of presenting. A video can have running captions for the hearing impaired. Text can be resized for those who find it too small or colors changed for people who can read it better with different contrasts. And it can be read aloud for those who can’t see it at all.

Many blind and partially sighted internet users rely on what are known as screen readers. These are programs which act a bit like your browser except, as the name implies, they read what is on the page aloud. They allow the user to not only hear the copy but also to navigate through the website, enter information into a purchase form, and even glean data presented in graphs, maps, or other images – if the page has been designed with this in mind.

In order to explain how we need to understand a little of how a web page works. As you probably know, what you see on a webpage is what the author has chosen to show you – to accomplish that she needs

erent contrasts. And it can be read aloud for those who can’t see it at all.

Many blind and partially sighted internet users rely on what are known as screen readers. These are programs which act a bit like your browser except, as the name implies, they read what is on the page aloud. They allow the user to not only hear the copy but also to navigate through the website, enter information into a purchase form, and even glean data presented in graphs, maps, or other images – if the page has been designed with this in mind.

In order to explain how we need to understand a little of how a web page works. As you probably know, what you see on a webpage is what the author has chosen to show you – to accomplish that she needs

website, enter information into a purchase form, and even glean data presented in graphs, maps, or other images – if the page has been designed with this in mind.

In order to explain how we need to understand a little of how a web page works. As you probably know, what you see on a webpage is what the author has chosen to show you – to accomplish that she needs to write so called code. To see what it looks like simply look at the top of your browser and find View. There find the View Source (or something similar) and click it. A page will appear which, if you don’t read HTML, looks like gibberish. This is the language of web presentation. Most of that code is there to tell your browser how to present the page. On a given page there are likely to be decorative images like navigation buttons, informative images like maps, text, and navigation. There may also be videos, embedded sounds, animations, complex forms, etc. And if the page has been designed with accessibility in mind then it also contains options so that a person with an older computer or a screen reader can still benefit from the information or services being presented. This is accomplished by including bits of HTML code which screen readers can find but which may or may not appear on a browser. For instance adding a little to the code which presents and places a picture can also include a verbal description ordinarily it is invisible but a screen reader will find it and read it aloud.

Now this article is about how making all this extra effort will increase sales to everyone. After all, going through the process of website accessibility testing, the first step, and then changing a current site accord