The days of scrollers, dragable elements, gaudy animation, etc are over, as far as website design is concerned. Even though designers have long prided themselves on their ability to create 'unique' structures for their sites, they have, in fact, stuck to the same, mundane elements that have rarely helped their sites. In today's age, accessibility is the order of the day. Designers who have not changed with the times have been left alone in this rat race.
When the World Wide Web came into existence, everything that was new and different became an instant hit. But, let us not forget, this is the age of increased awareness wherein a great number of web users know almost as much as the designers themselves! Therefore, designing elements that were considered cool at one point of time, are now not even worth discussing.
Bettering accessibility simply means making a site easily accessible to a greater number of visitors, irrespective of their varied handicaps. Getting into this kind of design you have to be aware that the users' whims and fancies also need to be taken into account. As a web developer or designer, you have to be flexible and open to change.
The following important points ought to be taken into consideration by designers:
1) Images – To make images easily accessible, it is imperative that they have a textual equivalent on the site. This equivalent should not necessarily be in the form of a caption, but can also be an HTML coding that 'describes' it. You can make use of Alt Tag or incorporate important keywords in the Title attribute of the image.
2) Colour – Accessibility guidelines do not allow designers to use colour as the only means of distinguishing page elements from one another. This means, you need to give users an explanation for the use of different coloured buttons in different menus. They should be clear as to which colour stands for which element in your
Website Design.
3) Layout – All operating systems and Internet browsers have varied layout definitions and stylesheets. Accessibility options recommend the use of CSS, or Cascading stylesheets in design.
Apart from these elements, data tables and navigational issues also need to be adhered to when you shift focus to better accessibility for your site. As a designer, you might take time to adapt to change. But, do remember, it is for the benefit of your site, and the business at large.
