How To.. Make Your Website Accessible

Accessible websites can be just as innovative and as visually creative as inaccessible web sites. Accessibility is about designing websites for the broadest range of abilities and disabilities and should be seen as a creative challenge, not a problem.

In developing and designing for accessibility for the broadest range of users, we advocate the following process:

Accessibility is something you should consider at the start of your website development. Retrofitting can be difficult and expensive. If possible, consider the issues of accessibility from the beginning of the development process. Considering the user's requirements early will minimize any additional cost of designing for accessibility.
Involve disabled potential users [link to Involve Users] of the site from the beginning of the development process, consulting them about the design, and having them formally test the site under realistic conditions. You may already have a process for testing the site with potential users that can be expanded to include disabled users.
If you are unfamiliar with working with users, you should get expert advice.
Follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG1.0). Ensure that you understand as much as possible not only about the actual Guidelines, but why they have been proposed what effects do they have on disabled users. This may involve reading about web accessibility, attending courses, and consulting accessibility experts. But it will mean that you can use any Guidelines sensibly, rather than following them blindly and perhaps not really designing accessibly.
Allow users to change the default presentation of your web pages - allowing them the flexibility to have content the way that best suits them.
Our key accessibility issues section provides information on how to make accessible websites.
As it develops, test the web site yourself with assistive technologies such as screen readers, screen magnification programs and programs for dyslexic users.
Take a bit of time to learn how these programs work, you may not become an expert in them, but it will improve your understanding of how the assistive technology interacts with the content of your website and why the Guidelines ask you to adopt certain practices. It will also mean that you can also discuss problems more sensibly with your disabled users [link to Users] and not offer them material with obvious accessibility errors.
Your company also needs to ensure that there is commitment from management and adequate resources and training available for web developers to design and develop for accessibility.