What is web accessibility?
Web accessibility is the ability of people with disabilities to use the Web. This means that people with physical, mental and technological disabilities can also access the Web. Providing an accessible web site helps these people to read a web site. For example, there are screen readers for blind people that enable them to ’surf’ the web. By making a web site accessible, you allow them to read a web page faster. These readers literally read the HTML.
Web accessibility means access to the Web by everyone, regardless of disability. Web accessibility includes: • Web sites and applications • that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with; • Web browsers and media players • that can be used effectively by people with disabilities, and • that work well with assistive technologies that some people with disabilities use to access the Web; • Web authoring tools, and evolving Web technologies • that support production of accessible Web content and Web sites, and • that can be used effectively by people with disabilities.
People use the web in different ways. While most people use a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and a common web browser like Internet Explorer, others rely on assistive or other technologies to deliver the content of a web page. Some users may not be able to see, hear, move, or process some types of information easily, or they may: • Have difficulty in reading or comprehending text. • Be unable to use a keyboard or mouse. • Have a text-only screen, a small screen, or a slow Internet connection. • Be unable to speak or understand fluently the language in which the document (the Web page) is written. • Be in a situation where their eyes, ears, or hands are busy or interfered with (e.g., working in a loud environment, etc.). • Have an early version of a browser, a different browser entirely, a voice browser, or a different operating system.
