Usability and Accessibility
Usability
You will want to ensure that your website is easy to use for the avery user so that they can perform a task and/or find information on your site. Keeping it simple is important.
Accessibility
Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web.
The Worldwide Web Consortium, the international arbiters of accessibility, tries to help by putting all of the relevant information in their Accessibility section, but it is a little ovewhelming. Kerry Webb, Internet Guide, Policy Office from InTACT has put together a description of a some simple steps that will make your sites accessible to a wide range of users in this document: "Simple Steps to Accessibility" (PDF document, 81KB)
Useful Accessability Links:
- Introduction to the necessity for web accessibility visit: www.w3.org/WAI/gettingstarted/Overview
- Useful tips for increasing accessibility visit: http://www.w3.org/WAI/quicktips/
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): http://www.w3.org/WAI/intro/wcag.php. There are 2 relevant guidelines, using version 1 is recommended at this point in time as it has been approved as a stable and referenceable version.
- Disability Discrimination Act: The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission refers to the W3C guidelines as part of its advisory notes under the Act. http://www.humanrights.gov.au/disability_rights/standards/www_3/www_3.html
- Need for government agencies to abide by the guidelines; The Australian Government Information Management Office explains this at: http://webpublishing.agimo.gov.au/Accessibility
