Compliance with WAI Accessibility Guidelines

Mark Kaelin feels that accessibility is something that is within reach for all web developers. “The Internet, through the interface of the World Wide Web, has become an important factor in almost everyone’s life, at least those of us living in the developed world. Along with other twentieth-century technological innovations like the telephone, radio, television, and the automobile, the Internet and the Web have revolutionized how human beings interact with each other. Unfortunately, just like the aforementioned innovations, the Internet also fails to take into consideration those members of society contending with limited physical accessibility.

The Web was designed for people who could see, hear, move a mouse, and type on a keyboard. If you cannot perform one or more of those functions proficiently, functions so many of us take for granted, you will likely find navigating the Web a challenge to say the least.

To address the needs of this select group of people, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), through its Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), has developed a set of guidelines and standards for Web site developers to follow that is intended to make accessibility more universal. While many developers will find compliance with all the provisions of the guidelines problematic, a measure of compliance can be accomplished with a minimum of additional effort, if you know where to look.”

Read the full article from the Tech Republic.