Information underload Julie Howell Campaigns Officer (Digital Access) RNIB Julie Howell Campaigns Officer (Digital Access) RNIB.

Information underload

Julie HowellCampaigns Officer(Digital Access)

RNIB

Yes, blind people use the Internet!! good Web design browser flexibility ‘access technology’

magnification software synthetic speech braille display

Why good Web design matters

1.7m have sight problems in the UK (1 in 35) inaccessible design censors blind people’s

access to information, participation, choice, democracy and consumer rights

Disability Discrimination Act 1995 Government Web Guidelines 1999 don’t let blind people be paupers the of the

information society

Guidance

http://www.rnib.org.uk/digital http://www.w3.org/WAI http://www.cast.org/bobby http://www.bbc.co.uk/education/betsie http://www.iagchampions.gov.uk/Guidelines/websites/

Julie’s 10 top tips Is the text legible? Is the design flexible? Do all images have ‘alt-text’? Is there a site map? Do links make sense out of context? Are imagemaps accompanied by text links? Do frames have titles, is ‘noframes’ used? Are alternatives offered for Javascript, applets, flash plug-ins? Is Access Adobe available for PDF files? Do all pages pass the ‘Bobby test’? http://www.cast.org/bobby

Tip #11

User testing - ask disabled Net users for feedback!

“...the more barriers you put in the way, the less likely people with sight problems are to reach the information to which they are entitled...”

Julie Howell, 22 March 2000

Julie HowellCampaigns Officer (Digital Access)

JHowell@rnib.org.uk www.rnib.org.uk/digital 0171-391 2191 RNIB, 224 Great

Portland Street, London W1N 6AA