Two Types of Web Accessibility

Technical

Technical Accessibility is fairly easily defined. The standards followed for The Template System are the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. They usually follow a pattern of code checks and sometimes strict rules for the structure of your HTML. This includes the types of tags you use, Cascading Style Sheet usage, Character Encoding and a variety of other checks.

It is this developer's position that while meeting or exceeding the Technical Standards will yield a technically accessible page, it is only half the battle to obtaining a truly accessible web presence. The other half is a bit more of a 'gray' area, and can be defined differently depending on what type of site you are building. I call this second type 'Ease of Use' accessibility.

Ease of Use

Obtaining a Technically accessible site is always the first step. However, there are many additions that a developer can make to enhance the usability and functionality of a site. Some common examples are Skip-To Menus, which allow users to bypass the navigational structure (menu systems) of the page, in order to begin reading the content immediately. This would be helpful, for example, for someone who is using screen reader software and has become familiar with the layout of the site. Each time a page is loaded (a link has been clicked), the reader will begin at the start of the page. If the user just wants to get to the content, they can activate the Skip-To link, and the reader will begin reading the content.

This is just an example, but it illustrates how a web developer can go the extra mile to make the site more user-friendly. Other examples are covered in detail in the Tutorial Section.