Web Design

 

Why is accessibility important

 

Accessibilty is about incorporating features into your website that enable visitors of all abilities to access the information and services availible on your site regardless of what browsing technology they are using.

 

 

W3C Compliant

 

All sites built by SLK are passed through the W3C HTML and CSS validators, these check the coding on the site and ensure that it passes validation. Passing validation means that your website will be compliant for the vast majority of browsers. You can check the pages on this site by clicking on the following logos at the foot of every page.

 

  

 

 

Providing alternatives

 

Some technologies built into modern websites are not always supported on devices such as mobile phones and Apple iPad for example. In addition, some older browsers may not support some of the new web coding techniques available today.

 

Toimprove accessibility we can help ensure that your site remains relevant and comprehensive and that users experiences are not limited on your site.

 

Here are some ways we can achieve this:

 

Images

We can use ALT text to describe the contents of the image this is useful when the image cannot be displayed and to enhance text reading services.

 

Flash

Flash is a multimedia platform popular for adding animation and interactivity to web pages. We can provide alternatives to flash such as HTML (images, text or information).

 

Audio or Video

Some devices do not support audio or video. We can provide information in text format that mirrors the narrative.

 

 

Server side technologies vs client side

 

When we build a website and there is a need for some scripting (coding) we always try to use a server side technology such as PHP rather than client side such as javascript.

 

The technology used to process any site functionality is done on the server rather than the individual users computer. So if they do not have javascript enabled or their browser doesn't support it, the content will still be generated and visible to them.

 

 

Website structure and presentation

 

All websites built by SLK are developed to modern standards with the future in mind and are coded with pure Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and each element of the design has the associated Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) tags assigned, such as paragraphs and headings.

 

All text is sized using ems rather than pixels. Ems are a reletive measurement meaning that the actual point size varies, that is to say, text can be enlarged to the individual users requirements. The definition for Pixels is quite complex, but in this context, they do not give the user any control to alter text sizes. Pixels are used sometimes to support the site layout and would not affect the users experience.

 

 

Giving users choice and control

 

By using CSS for all the design elements, your users can decide through their browser settings how they wish to view and use your website enhancing the users overall experience. SLK will help to ensure your website encourages participation enabling users to make choices and take control.