4. Some guidelines

In order to make the web a bit easier to use, a number of organisations have come out with guidelines on how to put together a well-designed, accessible web site.

This mini-web is just an introduction to accessibilty and so does not cover all the rules. However, it is worth noting a few of them

1. Use high contrast to help make it easier to read.

For instance, which of these do you think is the easier to read? The one on the right has a high contrast between background and the text, whilst the one on the left has very little contrast. A sensible thing to do when designing a web site in any case. It is amazing how many sites ignore this idea just to be a bit 'arty'.

2. Use sensible font sizes if you want to make it readable.

For example, 12 points is better than 8 points

3. If you have an image, then build in some text description as well.

This is called an 'Alt' tag. If the website visitor cannot see the image, then hovering over it with the mouse will allow text readers to speak out the descriptions. Like this

now the image below of the same flowers is deliberately missing and so you see the Alt tag.