<H1>web site accessibility</H1>

How can good web site accessibility help you?

Good web site accessibility is good for your visitors, good for the web and good for your business. Having a web site that is user friendly is not only good for the visitor it's very good business sense. It's not just about achieving the highest accessibility rating you can it's about making sure your site meets all of your visitor's needs. After all why prevent a large number of people not accessing your goods and services, especially if your competitor's sites are not fully accessible.

Good Accessibility

Web site accessibility means making your website and the content therein accessible to the broadest range of web users possible. This means allowing access to your content regardless of platform operating system or browser. So this means allowing visitors to access the content without impediment. Not only for normally-abled visitors but disabled visitors who need to access the content in a different way.

The following are the principle aspects to consider in making a web site accessible:

• Ensure you do not have technical barriers to entry that prevent users accessing content because they do not have the appropriate browser, operating system, screen size or plug-ins

• Do not use technology that impedes users or search engine spiders, so be wary of dynamic menus, client side scripting and urls with many non-alphanumeric symbols

• Ensure you follow good practice guidelines such as allowing your text to be re-sized, use HTML navigation and maintain good clarity between foreground and background colours

• Make your copy clear, concise and use hyperlinks appropriately, i.e., do not just use "click here" as your link, but make the link meaningful in its own right. This also voice browsers to illustrate links that are meaningful and also improve search engine listings.

Guidelines are issues by bodies such as the Royal National Institute for the Blind, as well as enshrined in legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act, which all UK organisations must now comply with.

Key benefits of implementing good accessibility practices

Apart from complying with legal requirements and knowing you have created a positive on-line presence, there are practical benefits in implementing good website accessibility practices:

• You are maximising the number of visitors who can engage with you through your website.

• It makes good business sense especially if your site can be more accessible than your competitors, thus exposing your goods and services in a more positive manner than your competitors.

• By making your content accessible you remove technical barriers to your content which makes it much easier to re-purpose your content to other platforms such as mobile phones, television and handheld devices

What Next?

Contact NVisage for a free accessibility audit and to discuss how we can help you

• improve your user experience

• increase repeat visits

• convert more visitors to clients and

• improve search engine rankings

• become legally compliant

All of the NVisage websites and products meet high standards of accessibility, including our ecommerce software and email newsletter