Accessibility

There are about two billion people who identify themselves as having a disability of some kind.

Websites have been intrinsically awkward, to say the least, in conveying information to those who have certain disabilities. It is relatively recently that accessibility has become a significant issue in website design, and that is largely because of the U.S.A.'s ADA, Americans with Disabilities Act, that mandates certain kinds of websites and audiences be accomodated with technology inherent in a website.

For instance, screen readers are used by visually impaired people, or those with certain motor skill difficulties. Or colour schemes that allow those with common colour blindness to see content easier. Big cursors, or bigger - or smaller - text. Some of these tools can be built in to a website and some are specific to the browser a visitor uses.There are several types of aids that can now be triggered on a website I build. All with a simple plug-in that hides in the code.

However, there are ongoing efforts to improve accessibility and I will be exploring those and making improvements on this website. Has this question occurred to you as you browsed here?

Why don't I have a fancy, spiffy, special effects filled website if I am a website builder?

There are two answers. One is that the ultra-fast servers needed for those whiz-bang effects are quite expensive, and not needed for my target clientele. At least as importantly, though, is the issue of accessibility. Screen readers, those little add-ons that will read an entire page out loud, are not yet capable of reading more than the basic elements of a web page. So I chose to keep it simple, to allow most or all of my content, to be accessible to more people. Additionally, this keeps the page loading speed faster, which Google appreciates.

If your website needs specific functions to be accessible, or perhaps you cater to people with certain restrictions in functions, we can talk about what you need to accomplish on your website.

Drop me a line, using the Contact button.