How accessible is your website? Hint – try turning off images
When I worked for a very big corporate, one of my colleagues was blind. Of the many things I learned from him (besides what it’s like to share an office with a dog*) one was the importance of website accessibility.
This guy was responsible for selecting and managing service providers for this big company – to be selected to provide a service to a company this size can completely change your business. Of course, when your only contact with someone is via email, you’d have no idea he was blind. And so many of those emails would contain the words “see our website for more details” so he would.
The way this guy used his PC was amazing. He had a small Braille device above the keyboard but most of the time he used his headphones. He had software on his PC that would read out every piece of text, menu, pop-up and option box. How he coped with this cacophony I do not know!
What’s this got to do with websites?
Now, your website is your shopfront. And just as you wouldn’t open a shop with a 2-foot step at the door to prevent the disabled getting in, you should be building your website to allow the visually impaired in. There’s some very useful information at the RNIB website about the UK law for website accesibility – yes, this is a legal requirement. In fact, the RNIB started their first case against a website earlier this year.
When this guy visited a website that he couldn’t read, well, that supplier got crossed off the list. Plain and simple.
There are lots of things you can do to make your website more accessible, but three really important starters are:
- Don’t use images as text, unless you have all the text available elsewhere or in ALT tags
- Don’t use tables to layout your design – screen readers hate these. Besides, if you’re a web designer who hasn’t learnt CSS yet, get your coat.
- Don’t build your entire site in Flash – lots of DIY website tools used to be built in Flash but fortunately that is starting to die out. Not so much because they are invisible to the visually impaired – because they don’t work on iPads!
Google cares too
Google indexes sites based on their content – i.e. the text on the page. Headings and text all play a vital role in your website competing against other sites in the all important Google rank. If your site doesn’t have text and headings, it won’t be ranked highly. We all know that adding a few meta keywords to your site does nothing for Google now. And a little description tag at least gives people something to read if they do find your site on Google. But for any useful search phrases, your site will appear right down at the bottom if it doesn’t have some content.
How can I tell what my site looks like to a visually impaired visitor?
The simplest check is to turn off images – this page explains how to disable images in your web browser. Try it now and you’ll see that although it looks a lot less pretty, on this page you can still read all the content and navigate the site. That’s because all our fairly marvellous website design work is accessibility and SEO friendly.
I’ll leave you with a screenshot of a website that demonstrates this perfectly – unfortunately I probably didn’t explain the issue too well so the owner remains someone else’s client! It does look fantastic when the images are turned on though.
How not to build a website
* This dog had a habit of ignoring his basket. I would come back from meetings to find him curled up under my desk – this blonde Labrador went so well with my black suit!
Sharing the love – 10 free iStockphoto images
We love using iStockphoto – for our advertising, blogs, websites and our clients’ websites when we give them the fairly marvellous Kent website design treatment.
They have very high standards for accepting images into their library which they then combine with great pricing.
Anyway, don’t just take our word for it, sign up by clicking here for 10 free images from www.istockphoto.com
And the great thing is, if you decide to purchase more images, we get some free credits as a bonus too. How cool is that?
Need to brush up your language skills? New website launch!
We’re a bit behind on our updates – they say “the cobbler’s children never have any shoes” and it seems this applies to web designers too.
However, even if it was a month ago, we’re still very proud to add First Contact Languages to our fairly marvellous Kent Website Design portfolio.
Tired of dealing with mopheads? New website launch!
Our web design arm, fairly marvellous, have been pretty busy lately. Their portfolio is expanding at an incredible rate and it’s proving difficult to keep their website up-to-date! However, no problem this time, as they are proud to announce the launch of another client’s website.
So, if you’re looking for commercial or domestic cleaners, and you don’t want mopheads, go to eXtreme Clean for professional cleaning services in Kent.
Made up for you? Actually, we’re made up for them
Sometimes the most satisfying part of building a website is not completing the design, not carrying out the implementation nor finding some particularly groovy way of doing something. It’s the bit when you let go, you’ve trained the client on how to update it and the next day… things have changed.
The client now really owns their site, it’s their content and they are in charge.
Feeling fabulous
I am fortunate that I am reminded why I enjoy running my own business at fairly regular intervals. This morning was one of these occasions.
Met up with a potential client to discuss a potential website. Things were going well when suddenly something went ‘click’.
We came up with (we think) a great theme for the site’s design. You could feel the excitement control turn up a few notches and by the end of the meeting we were both buzzing.
I’m not giving anything else away until November 1st, other than I hope I can do her justice and this is going to be fabulous…
New Website Package
Having had the pleasure of meeting some fellow small business leaders at a Business Link event earlier this week, a new idea came to us.
When exchanging business cards it occurred to us that while people invest time and money in their company name and possibly even logo, their email address can let them down. Let’s be honest – fred.bloggs@ aol.hotmail.bt.com just doesn’t look as professional as fred@ bloggsltd.co.uk.
So, for just £50+VAT we can put your business on the electronic map. We will register your choice of domain for you (in your name though – it will be your property) and create a simple page containing any text or images you provide. You get that all important email address and a presence on the web for less than the price of a box of decent business cards. Ongoing costs (after the first year) are £10+VAT per year.
You just don’t get better value for money.
Oh, actually, you can. If your name was on that attendee list at the Business Link meeting at Eastwell Manor on 11th June, we’ll do it for £45+VAT.
See more Website Packages